Press Releases

Students from the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are helping the Troy Housing Authority and Omni Housing Development in a revitalization project at the John F. Kennedy Towers in downtown Troy.

According to Mario J. Musolino, executive director of Troy Housing Authority, the project is designed to increase the size of the apartments, bring in new services, and improve the building’s features and furnishings. “We also wanted to make the entire building feel like home to the residents who will occupy the 135 newly renovated apartments,” says Musolino. To help accomplish this, the Authority enlisted students from the Lighting Research Center, who have created unique lighting displays for the lobby areas on each remodeled floor of the apartment building. These displays will be unveiled in a special ceremony at Kennedy Towers.

For the past several weeks, LRC students under the direction of Professor Russell Leslie, the LRC’s associate director, worked on the displays as part of a lighting studio class. Professor Leslie, an architect, periodically involves his students in selected community projects. Last year, LRC students worked with the Bennington, Vt., community to light the historic Bennington Battle Monument.

This year, students met with tenants and staff of Kennedy Towers to design displays for the first phase of the revitalization project. Richard Maloney, an artist who is a resident of Kennedy Towers, has also been commissioned to create a painting for the gallery. These displays will be unveiled in a ceremony on Monday, May 10, 2004 at 11:00 AM. There will be a brief presentation outside the building followed by a tour of the installations on floors 13 through 19. A brief description of each piece is attached.