Fibre optic Star Domes
A few years ago, when Starscape was first planning to add an "off the shelf" star ceiling product, we thought long and hard about whether our new project should take the form of a flat disk or a dome. Domes add a very dramatic focal point to any room, but their installation can be less than straightforward. The chief problem is that a traditional hemispherical dome - where the depth is equal to half the diameter - uses up too much ceiling height. You either need to drop your ceiling by a few feet or else settle for a very small dome.
The first of our domes went into a bathroom in Galway, Ireland, and included LED rim lighting, although the LEDs are not illuminated here. Just visible around the corner is a small hatch in the ceiling to provide access to the halogen light source for bulb changing. Photo: courtesy Irish Time Design
We went looking at the various domes being offered by GRP (fibreglass) companies in the UK, but couldn't find an existing dome of suitable shallow configuration. So, reluctantly, we decided to postpone development of a dome to our own design until after we'd developed our Galaxy star ceiling. We thought - correctly, as it turned out - that more customers would be able to accommodate a flat disk product.
However, in 2007 we decided to have another look at introducing a domed star ceiling to our range, and we commissioned a GRP company to develop a mould for a large (1.8 metres) but very shallow (15 cm) dome. The result is a product that provides the appeal of the curved geometry of a dome without using too much of a room's height. In fact, if the dome is being installed in a room where there is an existing plasterboard ceiling which is to be hidden by a new suspended ceiling, you could save another couple of centimetres by cutting an opening in the plasterboard between two joists to accommodate the very top of the dome.
In this photo taken in the workshop you can see the effect of around 500 optical fibres distributed across the back of the dome. You can't see it here, but those fibres are actually in five different diameters, so as to create stars of varying brightness.
The dome has a vertical flange or ring around the rim, which is chiefly there for ease of installation. The dome weighs less than 20 kg and can be quickly and easily suspended from the underlying ceiling structure. Where room height is really at a premium the flange also allows you to adopt a semi-recessed installation method, in which the lower part of the dome actually projects a few centimetres below the main ceiling level. It is also possible to fix the dome directly to a flat ceiling.
However, where possible, the recommended installation would be as above, where the rim of the dome actually "floats" a few centimetres above the finished height of the ceiling. This not only adds to the visual impact of the dome, accentuating the curve, but also allows for the addition of optional LED rim lighting.
The domes pictured here have about 500 fibre optic stars, laid out to depict a winter's night sky, with fibres of several different diameters used to create stars of varying brightness.
This dome was installed in a new hospital in Glasgow, in the "Quiet Room". The photo above show the dome hanging from the floor slab above, prior to installation of the plasterboard ceiling. The photo below shows the completed project. The dome floats a few centimetres above the opening in the plasterboard, enhancing the domed effect. The halogen light source is located in the ceiling void at the edge of the room where a suspended ceiling tile system allows for easy access for bulb change.
