I’ve published several articles and blog posts that posit my theories as to the direction that the architectural lighting industry is headed. Let me try to succinctly weave together the threads of my vision and provide examples of each point:
- Architectural lighting is poised for a dramatic transition into innovative new applications and approaches to sustainability. The intersection of digital media design and green building systems poses an area of development rich with innovative opportunities for designers and manufacturers alike. The next generation of buildings will be living, breathing organisms, respirating and conserving energy and light through naturally derived exchanges, full of dynamic variability, and rich with digital content.
- The lighting industry will progress towards a future dominated by highly refined, standardized LED modules containing increasingly innovative optic and control technologies.
- Standardized LED modules will, ironically, drive the development of mass-customized fixtures produced with modern digital fabrication techniques and natural materials.
- These highly customized fixtures will be ever-more tightly integrated into advanced, parametrically developed architectural construction systems, especially luminous surfaces.
- Advances in open standards for both wired and wireless IP-based connectivity will move the lighting design, specification, installation and commissioning process to the “cloud”.
- Driving this tight integration of lighting systems and architectural systems, lighting design and specification systems will be increasingly integrated natively into BIM (Building Information Management) systems.
- Pervasive intelligence of smart components connected seamlessly to the Cloud will allow innovative new forms of dynamic lighting control and methods to experiment with such controls.
- With this advance to integrated design and direct digital fabrication, traditional industry middle-men will be hard-pressed to justify their value to the market without significant service innovations of their own.
I will continue to evolve this page as time permits…
