Set at the foot off Jebel Buhais, the Buhais Geology Park Interpretive Centre is a unique museum dedicated to the history of the site, geologically, anthropologically, as the site of a stone-age toolmaking base and with regular occupation and visitation ever since.

In dramatic form, based on the sea-urchins fossilized in the rocks, the museum utilizes daylight heavily throughout with lighting functions including general illumination, but also wallwashing and accenting being achieved from solar tube type skylights tucked into folds in the ceiling.

The brutal heat of the site necessitates robust, well thermally managed luminaires when necessary in the exterior, and minimal heat gain from luminaires from within.

Tight architectural detailing ensures that technical and museum lighting is impactful and visually restrained.

Windows are gently angled to prevent reflection of the room inwards and birdstrike outwards.

This highly energy efficient museum changes brightness with the sun, the use of solar lighting balanced throughout to minimize dimming buffering of levels.

The exterior lighting (excluding a nightly son et Lumiere by others) is minimal, subtle and emphasizes the eye’s adjustment to the night, so the site can be explored with scotopic vision.
Showcasing environmentally appropriate solutions to museum lighting, the museum represents a home for a collection drawn from just a few metres hence.

Aggressive environments demand well thought-out solutions.