Smithsonian NMAAHC — National Museum on the National Mall

Lighting the Construction of a National Landmark

The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture rose on the last available site on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. — a 322,600 square foot building wrapped in 3,600 bronze-colored aluminum panels designed by lead architect David Adjaye. The construction effort spanned multiple years across one of the most logistically complex federal job sites in the country.

The project carried two extraordinary mandates: a LEED Gold certification target requiring exceptional energy performance, and full Buy American supply chain compliance as a federally funded Smithsonian capital project. Temporary construction lighting — often an afterthought on commercial builds — had to deliver on both fronts.

Low-Voltage LED Construction Lighting at National-Monument Scale

Clear-Vu Lighting deployed its FLEX SLS 27.5VDC LED bus-line system across the full 322,600 square foot construction footprint — from below-grade History Galleries to the cantilevered Corona crown. The plug-and-play, low-voltage architecture allowed the general contractor to extend lighting as floors topped out and trades moved through the structure.

Every fixture was manufactured in our Long Island, NY facility — a critical requirement for the Smithsonian’s Buy American compliance documentation. The deployment’s 50,000-hour LED life eliminated re-lamping across the multi-year build, and the 85%+ energy reduction versus conventional stringer lighting contributed directly to the project’s LEED energy credits.

• FLEX SLS low-voltage LED bus-line deployed across all 322,600 square feet of construction area
• 85%+ energy savings versus conventional 120V incandescent construction stringers
• Contributed to the project’s LEED Gold certification target through energy and innovation credits
• Full Buy American compliance — all fixtures manufactured in Long Island, NY
• Plug-and-play 24V architecture meant zero electrician callouts for moves, adds, or changes
• 50,000-hour rated LED life — zero re-lamping across the entire multi-year build

A National Mall Landmark Built More Sustainably

The deployment delivered measurable energy and cost reductions across one of the most prominent federal construction projects of the decade. The 85%+ energy savings during construction reduced the project’s embodied carbon footprint and contributed to its eventual LEED Gold certification — an exceptional outcome for a building of NMAAHC’s scale and complexity.

The project also became a reference standard for federally funded cultural construction: Clear-Vu’s Buy American documentation and Long Island manufacturing made compliance straightforward for the Smithsonian’s capital planning office and informed similar deployments on subsequent federal museum projects.