Miller continued the industrial aesthetic and straightforward, performance-driven approach to lighting in his permanent exhibits, a historical narrative that begins on the second floor. The show-stopping “roadway” formation of classic Harley-Davidson bikes is the core of the collection. Arranged chronologically through a double-height volume, the rows of motorcycles visually dominate both the groundfloor and upper-level galleries. The roadway presented a lighting challenge to Miller and John Newman of New York–based lighting firm Brandston Partnership: How to celebrate the dynamic, streamlined form of a motorcycle across 174- and 168-foot-long displays? General spotlights would create point reflections and break the design lines, so Miller and Newman looked to the history of automotive photography and found a technique that involved a larger continuous-base light source to highlight the bikes’ tanks, fenders, and handlebars in a single racing stripe.
On the mezzanine level of the roadway exhibit, two long, parallel rows of direct linear fluorescent luminaires illuminate the bikes. Each pendant-mounted 1×4 fixture is equipped with two 28W T5 lamps with a micro-pyramidal optic. The diffuser controls brightness, limiting it to just underneath the filter. Newman worked closely with the manufacturer to design a spine that would support the long run of multiple fixtures. On the lower level roadway exhibit, a custom 174-foot-long extruded aluminum fixture, equipped with staggered T5 lamps, provided the solution. Hanging 28 feet below the ceiling, it is fed by 120-volt cables at both ends. “We were pushing the limits of extrusion die sizes,” Newman says. “The whole thing is a puzzle: The complete extrusion is three parts, and the entire fixture fits together in 8-foot sections.”
Just off the roadway on the upper level is the Engine Room display. Harley-Davidson’s biomorphic engines are icons of engineering and performance, not to mention design. A motorcycle explodes into parts in the center of the room, but it is the display of more than two dozen engines against a bright orange wall that has a powerful, theatrical draw. The wall’s color-saturated intensity comes from lighting: 8-foot-long 54W T5HO linear fluorescent striplights outfitted with dual elliptical reflectors and orange gels the exact shade of the wall paint color. To highlight the engines chrome with cool, sparkly reflections, Newman used narrow beam fixtures with MR16 lamps fitted with daylight-white color filters. The system is dramatic, but not expensive.
MR16 tracklight lamps are the workhorse fixture of the exhibition design. Their standard components adapt to the demands of each piece of Harley history. For instance, in a gallery devoted to racing clubs and rallies, the designers used a combination of MR16s with linear spread lenses and low-voltage festoon lights, hidden behind a fascia at the base of the display, to illuminate the racing bikes underside mounted on a wooden curved board track. A ceiling-mounted MR16 framing projector with a breakup gobo washes the wooden surface in a texture that recalls the salvaged floorboards used in the history gallery. Artifacts and photographs under the board track are lit with simple track.
Much of the lighting in the museum is designed to disappear. Tracklighting and light boxes made up of T8 lamps, UV guarded for conservation, seamlessly integrate into the Harley-Davidson narrative. However, the Serial Number One motorcycle displayed on the second floor is the oldest Harley-Davidson model, and therefore is treated with special jewel-like attention. Enclosed in glass, the bike is illuminated from above and below by T8 fluorescent fixtures with 1×1 cell louvers on the upper source to control glare. Around the exhibition case is a dimensionally accurate luminous outline of the backyard shed where the company began. It is made up of 4-inch-wide electroluminescent film set in the floor and topped with frosted glass.
If Serial Number One is the epitome of the company’s history, then the Design Lab represents the company’s future. The difference between the two spaces is striking. “We wanted to tell the story that this is a modern company that isn’t tied entirely to the character of the past,” Miller explains. Here, new prototypes, design drawings, and manufacturing technologies are displayed under an even fluorescent glow. The soffited ceiling contains T8 lamps while 20-foot-long by 5-foot-wide rectangular, direct/indirect T5 pendant fixtures with luminous mitered corners add to the sci-fi atmosphere.
The museumgoer’s journey ends astride a Harley. Pentagram didn’t try to simulate a ride, but it used video and lighting to evoke something authentic and visceral. Visitors watch a video of a country ride on large high-definition screens.
Individually controllable RGB-based LEDs installed around the TV are connected to a video processor. Software recognizes the color on the screen, and projects the same quality and color of light to create an abstraction of the video. It is an interactive experience. “After an hour and a half walking through the galleries,” Miller says, “here is where the visitor can sit on a motorcycle and feel the open road in front of them,” Miller says.
Project Harley-Davidson Museum, Milwaukee
Client Harley-Davidson Motor Co., Milwaukee
Architect Pentagram Architects, New York
Architect of Record HGA, Minneapolis
Exhibition Design Pentagram, New York and Baltimore
Exhibition Lighting Design Brandston Partnership, New York
Project Cost $75 million
Photographer Paul Warchol, New York
Manufacturers and Applications, Exterior Bega: Inground uplights and roadway lighting; B-K Lighting: Inground uplights at planters and in museum; Focal Point: Round fixtures under bridges; Hydrel: Inground uplights at Rivet Wall and sculpture; Kim Lighting: Harley-Davidson sign lighting; io Lighting (Cooper): LED strips at benches; LightWild: inground light tiles; Visa Lighting: Cube bollards and canopy uplights
Exhibit Altman: T6 metal halides; A+L Lighting: Linear fluorescents throughout; Ardee Lighting: Harley-Davidson sign LED backlights; Cathode Lighting Systems: Bridge exhibit linear lighting; CeeLite: Electroluminescent photo mural backlighting; Philips Color Kinetics: LED strip above projection screen; E-Light Technologies: Harley-Davidson shed LED outline; ETC: Dimming panels; GE: T8 lamps; io Lighting (Cooper): LEDs in gallery shelving; Juno: MR16 tracklights; LSI: Tracklights throughout; Phaylux: Design Lab exhibit direct/indirect pendants; Prudential: Linear fluorescent wallwasher; Roberts: Incandescent steplight; Selux: Direct/indirect pendant; Vode Lighting: Custom linear fixture for motorcycle “roadway” and wall-mounted gallery lighting; Winona Lighting: Linear fluorescent striplights in Engine Room display; Zumtobel: Direct linear fluorescent pendants in upper-level gallery
