Oceanside Library Blends Function and Wellness with Lighting Solutions

5/2/2025

For the Oceanside Library in Oceanside, New York, Architect Elisabeth Martin and her team incorporated USAI Lighting products to create an elegant, cutting-edge lighting scheme. 

“We believe the lighting design of a space can make or break a project’s success,” says Elisabeth Martin, principal at MDA Designgroup, who designed the lighting scheme for a wide variety of program spaces throughout the building. “Libraries depend on quality of light distribution to showcase their resources, enhance what we call ‘people space,’ and support staff work needs.” 

By partnering with USAI Lighting, the firm was able to meet a three-part set of goals for the project: create a design that was beautiful, functional, and memorable in a cost-conscious way, meet sustainability goals for efficient energy use and integrate lighting that supported user comfort, wellness and biophilic design.  

Each zone in a library, of course, brings specific needs and unique challenges. In areas with large numbers of bookshelves for browsing, the light must be even, with sufficient power to illuminate the spines of the books. In pathways, a more general ambient quality is appropriate. Wanting to avoid the pitfalls of typical, often too-utilitarian lighting, the MDA team layered in USAI’s compact and elegant recessed downlights, at times integrated into the wood ceilings, to balance and quietly complement other, more whimsical accent lighting.  

“Whether sculptural or minimal, the fixtures forge a dynamic partnership and provide excellent ambient lighting that supports use,” adds Martin.  

The user experience was always at the forefront of the designs, as was creating spaces both welcoming and memorable.  

Throughout the library, USAI lighting solutions were the ideal tools to achieve both aesthetic and functional goals.  

“Our products provide high performance, energy efficiency, dimming compatibility, and minimal architectural profiles with visual comfort, while balancing artificial and natural light throughout the space,” says Bonnie Littman, CEO of USAI Lighting.  

Highlights include the following areas: 

• The welcome desk, where USAI’s BeveLED 2.2 4.5-inch lights are paired with a dynamic loop fixture, quietly filling in the areas between the curvy accent light to avoid dead zones. 
• In the Main Spine, or primary traffic circulation area, USAI’s slender profile lights–including the BeveLED 2.2 Basic 4.5-inch -- helped solve the challenge of a complex ceiling structure, adding ambient light in a space that features comfortable armchairs in relaxed seating arrangements. In areas flanking the Spine (and elsewhere), Micro Multi-Cell 1.25-inch fixtures fitting perfectly between wood slats work in tandem with linear pendants to provide ample yet pleasant illumination.  
• For the theater, the goal was not to over-light. “You’re not reading books,” says Martin. “But you need to get in and out safely before a program starts and after it ends.” USAI’s LittleOnes Micro 1.25-inch square fixtures with black millwork trim were placed into the large wood panels to provide a softer glow between linear fixtures wrapping the space at regular intervals. Towards the back of the space, the company’s BeveLED 2.2 Basic 4.5-inch with black millwork trim provided additional illumination at the entry/exit point. 
• To support biophilic design goals throughout, MDA Designgroup incorporated clean, overall light to complement abundant natural illumination from the large windows and brought the feeling of daylight deep into spaces too remote to benefit from it.  

The fixtures also offer high energy efficiency, dimming capability, have minimal architectural profiles and high CRI values.  

“The color and temperature options enhanced the interior design choices and brought out the best of our biophilic design-inspired materials palette of finishes,” she says.  

The lighting design was instrumental in the striking outcome of the final project, which received a Lighting Design Award from the American Institute of Architects – Long Island Chapter. Martin notes that the mix of USAI products and fixtures from other manufacturers “resulted in a cohesive design feature that supported both the design goals and goals of the client.”