Dallas: A Light To Remember
By: Mikaela Rosvall
I recently returned from a brief but eventful visit in Dallas, Texas. I—along with a few other design and lighting professionals—was invited by our fabulous local Western Lighting representative, Djana Venolia, to tour the WAC Lighting and Modern Forms showrooms at the Dallas Market Center.
[Left: Trade Mart Building | Right: “The Eagle” sculpture]
Our hotel was situated in the Design District and was just a short walk from the Dallas Market Center. For those of you who don’t know—and I had never heard of it before this trip—the Dallas Market Center is a 5 million square foot wholesale trade center that consists of four buildings that house a multitude of showrooms that sell consumer products such as home décor, lighting, housewares, florals, apparel, shoes, and fashion accessories. These four buildings are: The World Trade Center, The Trade Mart, The Interior Home and Design Center, and The Market Hall. Of these four buildings, the Market Hall is the only building that is open to the public and the other three are reserved for industry professionals, certified retail buyers, interior designers, and manufacturers1. Large scale events, fashion galas and trade shows are held at the Market Center throughout the year, but some smaller events and tours—like the one I attended—are held frequently as well.
The Trade Mart is a four-story building that is home to hundreds of showrooms that surround a large atrium known as The Grand Pavilion. The Pavilion is also home to the country’s largest marketplace pond—complete with coi and turtles2. This is where we spent most of our time on the trip. This place was a design-lover’s dream, and I was itching to visit every showroom in the building—believe me, if that had been an option I would have done so. An interesting yet sobering fact that our host shared with us is that the Trade Mart was the destination of President John F. Kennedy on the day he was assassinated in 1963. He was scheduled to give a speech at an event in the Grand Courtyard at the time. The eagle sculpture outside of the Market Hall was created in his honor.
[Top Left: Trade Mart pond | Top Right: Coi | Bottom Left: The Trade Mart Grand Pavilion| Bottom Right: View from the 4th floor of the Trade Mart]
[All: Trade Mart ceiling]
Our first day began with lunch and a tour of the Modern Forms showroom inside the Trade Mart. Modern Forms is a division of WAC Lighting, offering a wide range of indoor and outdoor lighting and ceiling fans. The fixtures are exclusively LED, dimmable and the aesthetic is minimal but elegant. The fixtures appear to be high end but are quite budget friendly when you consider the impressive quality.
[Top Left: Large rotating chandelier | Top Right: Tube chandelier | Middle Left: Black & Gold chandelier | Middle Right: Black chandelier | Bottom Left & Right: Metal pendant]
Though our time was very short on this trip, a little sightseeing was necessary. After dinner that first evening, our hosts told us about a must-see light installation at the AT&T Discovery District. Afterall, our trip was all about lighting, so why not keep that trend going? The AT&T Discovery District is a four-block development located in downtown Dallas. The district is a Gensler project and includes a network of indoor and outdoor digital and lighting displays that are meant to create a multi-sensory experience. The district plaza was a very active space—not only with tourists, but with locals dining at restaurants or walking their dogs, and there was even a group of young adults throwing a football on the grass. Aside from the 104ft tall media wall and the illuminated canopies, the AT&T globe was a genuine eye-catcher.
[Top Left: The AT&T Globe | Top Right: Illuminated canopy | Bottom Left: 104ft media wall | Bottom Right: AT&T Discovery District sculpture]
The main event—and my favorite part of the trip—was in the AT&T headquarters lobby where the ceiling, walls and columns were wrapped in high-end LED screens. The imagery shown in the lobby was ocean themed and played on a loop when we arrived. At a certain time, the imagery was changed to a featured theme—showing an abstract compilation of space footage taken by the Hubble Telescope. It was awe inspiring! I could have sat there and watched the footage for hours on end. It truly was an enlightening experience…pun intended.
[All: AT&T headquarters lobby light installation]
On our final day in Dallas, we toured the WAC Lighting showroom at the Trade Mart. WAC Lighting is a design-build manufacturer that provides a wide range of indoor and outdoor light fixtures for commercial, residential, hospitality and retail applications. What I like about WAC is that they have fixtures for every budget. The fixture I was most impressed with and hope to use on future projects is the new Ocularc track system and all its accessories.
[Top Left: WAC Landscape lighting section | Top Right: Black chandelier | Middle Left: Ocularc Track System | Middle Right: Tube pendant | Bottom Left : Black chandelier | Bottom Right: Black wall sconce]
We ended our tour with a CEU presentation and then it was time to head to the airport. However, we couldn’t leave Dallas without first taking a closer look at the Margaret Hunt Hill and Margaret McDermott bridges crossing the Trinity River. Both bridges were designed by Santiago Calatrava as part of the Trinity River Project and were named after two local Dallas philanthropists. It’s most likely just a coincidence that both women were called Margaret.
[All: Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge]
All-in-all this was an inspiring and educational trip. I would highly recommend that when an opportunity like this comes along for any design professional—don’t pass it up because no matter how brief the trip, you never know what you will learn, who you will meet, and what you will see.
Sources
1. Dallas Market Center. “About Our Campus”. https://dallasmarketcenter.com/about/campus/. Accessed 25 May. 2022.
2. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. “Dallas Market Center”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Market_Center. Accessed 25 May. 2022.