Uncategorized

Stelaris Product Launch

 150 150 Max Beach
By:
0

NORCO, CA, November 2020 – Announcing the all-new Stelaris family of site lighting products, the latest precast concrete innovation from QCP and its partners SPJ Lighting, Inc. and Linespace-Brand Experience Design. This unique collaboration is the market’s first and only site lighting family of products to combine designer aesthetics with the precision and durability of precast concrete.

  • SELARIS lighting

“It’s a little unusual for three companies to come together like this on a project, but we had a blast making Stelaris with SPJ and Linespace,” stated Rick Crook, CEO of QCP. “In the past, these types of lighting products were made from aluminum or wood with little sense of style. All three teams really combined their know-how to create something totally new for the market.”

Comprised of three types of site lighting products, Stelaris provides a wide array of elegant, and durable solutions for all types of private and public spaces.

Our small uplights are ideal for illuminating landscape features and signage. They offer four different light intensities and an adjustable lens to set just the right mood. Small but powerful, they are capable of throwing enough light to illuminate a 75-foot palm tree but can be used for wayfinding signage as well.

Our pathway lights are perfect for lighting sidewalks and other walkways. Available in 18”-30” heights, they provide bright and reliable unidirectional lighting.

And our lighted bollards provide 360 degrees of powerful illumination. Although built heavy-duty enough to block auto traffic, they offer designer-level visual appeal.

Every piece features state-of-the-art LED lighting elements furnished by SPJ for high-performance illumination with an energy-efficient profile.

“I begged Rick to make a good-looking fixture that integrated LED, and he finally saw the light,” said Paul Lestz, President of SPJ Lighting, Inc. “We designed all the lamp sources to be more versatile than any other company out there. We have huge flexibility with our lumen outputs and color temperature because everything is American made by hand in Southern California. Combined with the expertise of QCP and Linespace, we knew we were going to have a superior product.”

SPJ began producing outdoor lighting solutions in 1998 and has worked with QCP many times throughout the years. “We were really able to bring together architecture and style with state-of-the-art lumen and color packages. So you’ve got customizable light, designer looks and baseball-bat-resistant durability. It’s the real deal.”

“We noticed there wasn’t anybody doing site lighting that was both beautiful and durable,”

Max Beach, Partner at Linespace.

The idea was developed simultaneously by Linespace, a multi-faceted Los Angeles design studio specializing in site signage that also frequently collaborates with QCP.

“We noticed there wasn’t anybody doing site lighting that was both beautiful and durable,” said Max Beach, Partner at Linespace. “Most of it was too boring or industrial looking, and we thought we could do something that would look more high-end in the concrete medium.”

With a studio-wide emphasis on brand experience, Linespace approached the Stelaris project like any high-profile product launch. “The kind of look and craftsmanship that Stelaris embodies is usually not cost-effective for architects and contractors,” Beach said. “By combining our companies’ strengths, the three of us were able to develop forms that work with modern architecture while still being a solid, durable product—and cost-effective too.”

All Stelaris products are available in five different colors and two different textures, a smooth polished finish or an etched finish with a sandstone-like feel. Our building materials are non-corrosive, meaning products can withstand long exposure to the weather and outdoor elements, including irrigation. Although designed and crafted for use in commercial and industrial settings, Stelaris looks great with modern residences, too, and anywhere else cutting-edge lighting technology with the long-lasting characteristics of concrete is called for.

“We can’t wait until Stelaris gets out there,” said Crook. “It’s not only been a fun collaboration with Paul and Max, it’s also something that’s really missing from the world of landscape architecture. High-end looks, LED power, concrete durability and made in the USA. It doesn’t get much better than that.”

To learn more about Stelaris, please click here. 

L.A. to Vegas and Back by Electric Car:

 150 150 Max Beach
By:
0

Originally Published in The New York Times

By Ivan Penn

June 22, 2019

LOS ANGELES — You’ve heard it many times, from automakers, the energy industry and government officials: Electric vehicles are the cars of the future, essential to the fight against climate change.

Yet that grand vision may founder on something most drivers take for granted: the pit stop.

Most electric cars need to be plugged in after they’ve traveled 200 to 250 miles — a much shorter distance than similarly sized gasoline vehicles can run on a full tank — and charging them can take an hour or more.

What’s more, chargers are often missing in the places where people need them — like the parking lots and garages of apartment buildings, where residents have had to go to great lengths to top up their car batteries, even dangling extension cords from their balconies.

Changing consumer habits is difficult in the best of circumstances, but it is much harder when a new technology makes it less convenient to use something as essential as your car…

…

EVgo, for example, has put many of its chargers in high-traffic locations, especially in Los Angeles and San Francisco. But the company is trying to make sure that people in disadvantaged and rural communities are not left out, said Julie Blunden, an executive vice president.

“We just can’t build fast enough,” Ms. Blunden said. “But there are things to consider. What makes sense? What are the ramifications for urban planning?”

EVgo aims to become profitable by persuading consumers to make public chargers a regular part of their lives. That is partly why the company recently reached a deal to put its chargers at a few Chevron gas stations in California.

Brendan Jones, the chief operating officer of Electrify America, pointed out that the infrastructure for charging was cheaper and easier to build than the large tanks required for gasoline and diesel fuel. His company is trying to make them ubiquitous, believing that the demand will increase to justify the investment.

“I’ve put them everywhere,” Mr. Jones said. “I’ve put them at malls. I’ve put them at Walmarts.”

For their part, property owners say having chargers can help attract customers for other businesses. Macerich, a real estate investment firm that owns the Mall of Victor Valley, said it was adding charging stations at 23 shopping centers.

Some elected leaders have endorsed that “build it and they will come” approach, and are even using taxpayer funds to advance it.

read the entire article here

Changes Boost Profile of Ontario Museum of History and Art

 1024 683 Max Beach
By:
0

Original article featured on the Daily Bulletin.

By  | [email protected] | Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

A striking new sign and re-imagined grounds welcome visitors to the Ontario Museum of History and Art, a facility open since 1979 but which in 2017 many locals still haven’t discovered.

“We hear it all the time: ‘I’ve lived here for 30 years, and I didn’t know Ontario had a museum.’ I’m amazed by that,” Debi Dorst-Porada, a councilwoman, said.

Do these people know Ontario has a newspaper, in which word of the museum frequently appears?

Regardless, the museum’s profile is on the rise. An exhibit that includes art by Millard Sheets, perhaps the most prominent artist the Inland Valley has produced, is on view through March 26. It’s the first collaboration with the privately operated Chaffey Community Museum of Art next door.

“We’re excited about attracting an audience we don’t usually attract,” city museum director John Worden said.

And, in a makeover coinciding with the exhibit, City Hall sunk more than $1 million into exterior improvements, making the museum, at 225 S. Lemon Ave., more visible and inviting.

As one of those rarefied folks who knew the museum existed, I’ve been there many times over the years to see its local and traveling exhibits or attend programs. (For one thing, it’s free.) But on my visit earlier this month, as crews in orange work shirts scrambled to put the finishing touches on all the changes, the results were eye-opening.

The lawn along Transit Street, the north side of the museum, was gone, replaced by native plants, a meandering path of decomposed granite, a brightly tiled plaza and a kiosk with information about the museum. All this is behind a long steel sign along Transit at Lemon that spells out “MUSEUM” in single letters, a modern design touch.

“Finally, people will know we have a museum just by virtue of the signage,” said Mark Chase, director of the city’s community and public services agency, who oversees the museum.

Read More…

View Ontario Museum Project Page