Linear Accelerators, Athens Medical Center

For both Linear Accelerator projects, the aim is to provide patients with a relaxing environment that will take their minds away for a short time while in treatment at the hospital.

Hospital personnel is given total control to choose between predetermined static or dynamic scenes (depending upon the patient’s condition), which can be recalled via wall switches or smart device at the radiotherapy operators control room. 

Lighting Designer and commissioner Dr. George Fatseas says, “Escaping reality by concentrating on the short light show provided by the installation was the aim, and it has been agreed by all involved that we have achieved this aim.”

Linear Accelerators 1 and 2 have differing approaches to the lighting; number 1 uses light as a “color leak” – with a color-changing RGBW scheme. Linear Accelerator 2 uses light as a” 3D object” – with a tunable white TW scheme.” This was different since Linear Accelerators are two adjacent rooms mirroring each other, with very similar ELEKTA’s radiotherapy equipment. Thus, with varying lighting treatment and creating different lit environments, we aimed to establish two different spatial identities. These projects were designed and made one year apart (2019 and 2020). First was the lightas a color leak, and then it was light as a 3D object. Also, we as designers evolved during this time and were willing to try different things.” Dr. Fatseas adds.

During patients’ ten-minute treatment sessions in the Linear Accelerator I, radiotherapy personnel can choose from various static scenes (white or colored light) or dynamic sequences with smooth light transitions in intensity and color, depending on patient’s condition. The ceiling, walls, and floor of the space are all white, enabling the light to play a dominant role in transforming the ambiance. The light is ‘leaking’ through the linear wall and ceiling slots and fills the space with its presence creating a colored pool for the mind to blend and ‘swim’ within.

A custom luminaire was designed to illuminate the Linear Accelerator 2 treatment room with tunable white color. Static and dynamic scenes make it possible for light to ‘walk’ 

along the length of the custom-made luminaire. Personnel select predefined static or dynamic scenes, setting warm or cooler light and intensity. Moving light is there to attract the eye’s pupil motion; the brain’s attention is redirected totracking shaded and lit patterns on the surrounding surfaces.  The light appears as a moving 3D object within the custom light source, with its properties varying continuously as the viewing angle changes. 

During patients’ positioning for treatment, hospital personnel can choose between different scenes that can facilitate such things as the aiming of laser crosshairs or a doctor’s presence in the radiotherapy chamber, all easily done by a hand-held Elekta switch linked to a Casambi control device in the control room. All control gear and LED Power Supplies are outside the treatment room, surrounded by one meter thick concrete walls and a twenty-five cm thick metal and lead layered entrance door.

Dr. Fatseas adds, “The radiotherapy personnel operates their tablets as users, and as most of them are physicists, they enjoy the ease with which they can adjust the relation of space and light. The majority of the patients describe their experience inside the treatment rooms as pleasant and stimulating.”