The Des Moines Art Center Blank-Krause galleries were originally designed by Eliel Saarinen in 1948. When the I.M. Pei addition to the art center was added in 1968, it included the renovation of the original Saarinen galleries by Pei himself. 

These galleries have essentially remained untouched since 1968, except for some interior finish changes, including carpeting the galleries. The RDG lighting designers had the honor of working alongside historian Tim Hickman from Substance Architecture and Simonson & Associates on the renovation of these galleries by researching the history of the gallery designs and returning them to their original finishes - while upgrading the lighting to modern equipment and technologies - including rediscovering historic fluorescent coves from Saarinen and upgrading them to LED. 

The overwhelmingly positive response from the public and patrons resulted in RDG being retained to complete a full lighting renovation of all of the Pei galleries - including custom color tracks and heads to match Pei's original palette. The track heads in these galleries will be automated and have the ability to pan, tilt, focus and dim all through remote Bluetooth controllers.