LED Flex SK Profile
The SK Profile is a revolutionary, flexible solution to problems regarding standard aluminium profiles with limited use. This profile provides protection and diffusion for the LED Flex, and its clever three-part design allows the flex and profile to be fitted in smaller sections before installing the continuous diffused cover.
SGM hire Frank Hoehn as Global Sales Manager
(Denmark) – Frank Hoehn joins SGM as VP of Global Sales, having previously worked as Director of Business Development and EMEA Hospitality for Martin / Harman International.
SGM has appointed industry-renowned Frank Hoehn as new VP of Global Sales. Frank brings with him many years of experience to the SGM team, having previously held positions in Australia, Denmark, Germany and Sweden.
“SGM is structured in a very professional way, with all the right elements to continue to develop further to be a really important player, and I am excited to be able to use my experience to help SGM grow,” stated Frank, who most recently worked as Director of Business Development, and EMEA Hospitality for Martin / Harman International.
While Frank is a new hire, beginning his new role on 1 December, he is not new to SGM development, having followed the company’s growth from the sidelines for years.
“I have been very impressed with how Peter Johansen successfully developed the company; his ability to work on bold ideas, and make them into actual, tangible products,” he said. “I remember when SGM introduced the waterproof G-Spot moving head and the whole industry was doubtful if it could work. Nevertheless, Peter and the SGM team made it happen, and it is now part of a very successful product family,” exclaimed Frank, who loves the idea of supporting lighting designers and producers in carrying out their creative visions.
“It might be a cliché, but I feel like, in this industry, there is a deeper purpose than just selling a product,” he said. “We work with feelings and emotions, whether underlining a structure or landscape or enhancing the audience experience at an art performance, concert, or other live performance, we specialise in improving space through light.”
IALD and LIRC release updated guidelines for specification integrity
(USA) – The Guidelines For Specification Integrity offer tips and references to ensure that what is designed is what is built.
The IALD and LIRC have released the 2017 Pilot Edition of the Guidelines for Specification Integrity. These guidelines are designed to help address a perennial challenge in the process of creating the built environment: how to ensure that what is designed is what is built.
While there is no substitute for the grit and determination of a designer who is defending a design, these materials comprise a set of tools for use by designers of all experience levels. The checklists, tips, and references in the pilot edition include a variety of methods and techniques to protect specifications. In addition, the materials include a section outlining the major phases of a construction project, threats to specifications that are likely to be found at each phase, and recommended steps to address these threats.
“Specification Integrity” refers to the importance of maintaining the lighting designer’s original specification throughout the process of establishing a final project budget, retaining contractors and suppliers, and completing construction. A strong specification helps ensure that the finished project realises the original intent of the design. Whether designers need to review the basics or are seeking more depth in the topic, we recommend using the references linked throughout the guidelines as need dictates.
To make the document as easy to use as possible, the guidelines are offered as an online, downloadable publication with internal links and references. Moreover, the IALD and the LIRC intend the materials to evolve and improve over time.
The pilot edition is a starting point for “crowdsourcing” improvements to the document, and the IALD are open to any additional checklists, examples, stories or suggestions from lighting design practices.
The document is available to read here.
Issue 100
arc Nov/Dec 2017 – Issue 100
100 not out!
We’ve made it to an unbeaten century and, as you will have (hopefully) noticed, we’ve made a significant change…
Yes, we wave goodbye to a dear old friend, mondo*arc, and say a big ‘Hello!’ to our new best buddy arc, the international publication for lighting in architecture. Apart from a name change and a redesign, everything else remains the same. Following feedback from you, our readers, we have kept the inspirational project articles and top designer profiles along with the latest lighting technology insights.
It’s been a long journey and, initially a steep learning curve. I’m the first to admit that when we started we didn’t know our Artemides from our Erco’s and Speirs + Major was the only lighting design practice we were really familiar with due to their work in the entertainment sector from where we came (mondo*arc began life as a supplement to mondo*dr magazine, our publication for technology in entertainment). It was through the encouragement of key players in the profession such as Jonathan Speirs that we persevered and have now reached our 100th issue with two awards programmes and an exhibition under our belts.
The reason for the name change is a strategic one. With our sister title, darc, for decorative lighting in architecture, and our events division featuring the darc room exhibition, darc thoughts conference, darc awards / architectural, darc awards / decorative and the darc night party, the arc brand is a natural fit into the (d)arc portfolio.
Architectural and decorative lighting for specification is our focus and this was emphasised in our recent darc room exhibition that was part of London Design Festival. Featuring some great architectural and decorative lighting brands, as well as light installations and a fantastic darc thoughts design conference, darc room really wowed the crowd and even featured in Wired’s ‘Top 10 Must See Events’ at London Design Festival. Thank you to everyone that participated and visited. We’d love to do it again some time. Watch this space!
For now, enjoy the new look arc magazine and please give us your feedback. We hope you like it. With your support we would love to hit a double century.
Paul James
Editor
arc
TAVA2018 organisers search for contributors
(Estonia) – Organisers are looking for speakers, workshop heads and installation artists for the Estonian festival, taking place in October 2018.
Preparations are underway for TAVA2018 as event organisers have begun the search for speakers, workshop heads and installation artists.
One of the main events for the Estonian festival, hosted in the city of Tartu, the TAVA2018 lighting design conference, will run under the header ‘Resilient Design in a Changing World’. Held on October 25th, the conference will offer the opportunity for designers and artists to make direct contact and exchange knowledge, experience and creative inspiration.
Curated by lighting designers Johan Moritz and Tina Wikström, organisers are seeking five designers, artists or researchers who are studying or working with light, perception and public space to add to the conference programme.
TAVA2018’s Lightpath city-scape will be curated by Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet. Working under a concept of ‘Radical Light’, Guljajeva and Canet are looking for artists’ drafts that radically re-conceptualise the city-space, with the aim to draw attention to social, space and politics-related topics.
The festival hopes to encourage artists to create new, site-specific installations that will raise awareness of social issues, while at the same time giving visitors an opportunity to experience light and space from a different perspective.
Finally, for its architectural lighting design workshops, TAVA2018 organisers are looking for professional designers who are members of the IALD. Curated by Sabine De Schutter, the goal of the workshops, running from October 20-24th, is to provide training on the main topics in lighting design, and to give students and professional lighting designers a hands-on experience from sketching the vision to eventually building an installation.
Three selected workshop heads will have the opportunity to call forth inspiring changes in the Tartu cityscape. After dark, all workshop sites will become landmarks to visitors, demonstrating the possibilities of architectural lighting design, and the different ways in which light can change the night-time identity of a city.
The deadline for open calls is January 15th. For more information on how to get involved, visit www.tartuvalgus.ee.
Cooledge launches Boston Office
(USA) –The opening of new commercial offices in Boston sees Cooledge increase its presence on the American east coast.
Cooledge Lighting has launched new commercial offices in Waltham, Massachusetts, putting the company closer to the world’s largest concentration of architectural and design firms and related decision makers, and providing access to key talent and resources within the locally established solid-state lighting cluster.
The new space will house sales, product management and marketing functions, while R&D, engineering and manufacturing operations will remain at the company’s headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The newly-established East Coast presence is the latest in a series of corporate advances intended to complete the company’s transition from fast-growth startup to leader of an industry-merging category – luminous surfaces – which makes illumination integral to architecture. These integrated surfaces are increasingly being specified for projects all over the world, and closer proximity to the large design centres of the eastern U.S. and Europe will help Cooledge accelerate the pace of adoption.
“As a long-time hub for solid-state lighting and related startups, Boston is an ideal location to take our next major strides towards reinventing the industry,” said CEO William J. Sims. “We believe that luminous surfaces will transform the design-build process as we know it, and we have the vision and agility to make it happen.”
Cooledge initiated operations in its Waltham office in October and currently employs fifteen staff with plans to expand. The office will also feature a showroom to demonstrate applications of its award-winning luminous surface offerings.
Soso create interactive coloured light installation
(USA) – Sosolimited’s Colorspace interactive sculpture responds to text messages with animations of coloured light.
Sosolimited has unveiled Colorspace, an interactive sculpture that transforms text messages into breath-taking animations of coloured light. The installation, which resides in the upper lobby at 200 Clarendon Street (formerly the Hancock Tower) in Boston, Massachusetts, was commissioned by Boston Properties, which owns and manages the building.
“We set out to create an artwork that could evolve through an ongoing conversation with the community around it. On a personal level, we wanted to create a playful and surprising moment for tenants as they entered and exited the building each day,” explained Sosolimited Co-founder John Rothenberg.
“You can literally send it any message, and it will translate your text into a unique colour palette of shimmering light. ‘Beach’ lights up the space with blues and yellows. ‘Watermelon’ gives you shades of pink and green,” added Eric Gunther, Co-founder of Sosolimited. “And ‘disco’ lights up the lobby with hot pinks and purples.”
As tenants and visitors enter the mezzanine, they pass a long wall with a wave-like row of suspended light pendants. Anybody with a mobile device can send a text message to the phone number printed on the wall. The sculpture replies with a text message and seconds later, a sparkling wash of coloured light sweeps across the length of the mezzanine, illuminating the space with new colours.
The polished marble and chrome surfaces of the modernist lobby shimmer with reflections, immersing viewers in coloured light. When no one is interacting with the sculpture, it cycles through a series of curated colour palettes, continuously changing the mood of the space.
“The mezzanine at 200 Clarendon is a transitional space that sets the tone of people’s experience as they enter and exit the building,” explained Sosolimited Designer Wes Thomas. “Throughout the design process we worked to create an experience that balanced change and excitement with calm and contemplation.”
The intention of the artwork is to create a dynamic and relevant lobby that gives tenants in the building a sense of ownership and voice in the design of their shared space.
“We’re strong supporters of the Boston arts community,” said Laura Sesody, Marketing Director at Boston Properties. “We set out to commission an artwork that could evolve and respond to the people that see it every day. We’ve been thrilled with the response to Colorspace from our tenants. They can’t stop using it.”
The installation features 70 glowing pendants, suspended along the lobby wall in a wave-like fashion, creating an immersive surface of coloured light. Made from a specially formulated acrylic manufactured by Okalux, the glass-like pendants have microscopic particles inside that catch the light when illuminated.
Each pendant can independently change colour and is controlled by custom software that performs a web-based image search for each text message, analysing the pixels of the top image and builds a visually interesting colour palette. This colour palette is translated into network messages that are sent to the custom circuit boards driving the LED lights. The LED boards were designed for Sosolimited by Mike Harrison, an engineer based in Essex, UK.
“This is the third in a series of artworks we’ve created that transforms words into big displays of colour. It provides a simple, personalised way of interacting with technology, and with a low barrier for participation. Anybody can create unique and surprising visualisations by just thinking of a word,” said Sosolimited Partner Wade Aaron.
Lighting Designer launches A Beautiful Light research project
(Europe) – BPA’s Martina Frattura is leading a new study looking at the psychological relationship between beauty and light.
Architectural lighting designer Martina Frattura has launched a new research project aimed at the relationship between light and beauty.
Frattura’s study, entitled A Beautiful Light is a ‘human-centred project’ that will aims to use artificial lighting ‘in its highest potential… that will go beyond the walls of studios, offices or universities, to get closer to the people’.
The study comes about after Frattura, an assistant lighting designer at BPA, noticed a dissonance between science and design, particularly regarding the effects of light exposure on the psychological health of any user of any space.
She started to look further into psychology and neurophysiology in order to gain more of an understanding on the deeper power of light – the most powerful tool to affect daily life, outside of personal events.
And as part of her research, Frattura is asking for participants to submit their ‘emblem of beauty’. “The reason behind this is to look for a trend in the physiological response of people to beauty,” said Frattura.
“For example, a person in front of a picture of their favourite town, or a woman staring at the most beautiful item she owns. Would they react the same way? Would their brain have the same electrical activity, or their body express the same level of arousal? To be able to identify a common ground on the subjective feeling of pleasantness that could later be used for deeper restoration.”
The second stage of the research will examine the definition of characteristics, such as direction, intensity, frequency, CCT, that a light stimulus, in a certain indoor environment, should have to be able to trigger a similar physiological response. For this, participants will look at three images and run a brief fast recall test while wearing a non-invasive, lightweight EEG and GSR device.
A Beautiful Light will span across Europe, and has already been confirmed in Bulgaria, Portugal, Iceland and Turkey, and Frattura is looking for more locations and participants. For more information, email martina.frattura@gmail.com.
Heper Milestone
The Milestone module introduces an indirect lighting concept for LED light source. It has better glare control and thermal management, more homogeneous lighting distribution, easier maintenance and perfect cut-off with no uplight. Specially designed multifaceted reflectors send the light to wider places where standard lenses fail. An IP66 graded light itself, Milestone module is much like a lamp. By adding more modules to a fixture, you can get different lumen outputs as well as different light distribution.
Citizen CITILED
The application of dramatic light installations to make an illuminated object look more beautiful has been growing, and the demand for ‘quality of light’ has become increasingly more diversified. In response to these needs for lighting, Citizen Electronics has developed the high chromatic LEDs and the CITILED Vivid series.
Precision Lighting Atto
New to the display lighting market, Atto is a tiny lockable spotlight that delivers clean light distribution from modular designs so inconspicuous they’re barely noticeable. Delivering 105lm with just 1W, Atto is available with a wide range of optics, finishes and mounting options, allowing architects and designers to select by aesthetic, beam distribution and colour temperature, to suit any type of display.
Linea Light Group Invisible Light
Invisible light is a multi-optical spotlight to be installed in false ceilings and available in three direct light versions: rectangular with three and six spots, square with nine spots. It has a matt white painted aluminum frame and is suitable for accent lighting. Special cut-off cells grant visual comfort for users as well as the magnetic fastening, recessed and screened LED source.