Emerson College – Dining Hall

Project Scope

McDonald Electrical provided comprehensive construction services in the renovation of Emerson College’s new two-floor dining hall. The scope included the installation of a new electrical distribution system in the building’s main electrical room and mechanical equipment wiring both in the basement and on the roof of the building. Operations also entailed the elaborate wiring of kitchens and food prep areas, as well as the installation of general convenience power and lighting throughout those areas. Throughout the dining and lounge areas, McDonald Electrical installed extensive decorative lighting, comprised of linear fixtures in the architectural woodwork and LED radius fixtures overhead. State-of-the-art color and scene-changing fabric light panels were also installed in the student lounge areas. The Emerson dining facility is the first building in the City of Boston to have fabric lighting panels installed.

Special Challenges

The McDonald Electrical team met significant challenges, many of which centered around the coordination, installation, and integration of the elaborate decorative lighting and new mechanical equipment in the existing building, which is over 100 years old.

Awards

This project won an International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD)  Award of Excellence in 2019. The lighting designer, Cline Bettridge Bernstein received the award for the project and it was a pleasure to be apart of this transformation with them.