Looking ahead to the future of lighting design.
Editors Note: I originally wrote this article in the Lam Partners’ blog way back in 2009, but even four years later, I still feel the content is dead-on. I’m re-posting on my own blog for posterity. Architectural lighting is poised … Continue reading “less or else” is becoming a bore
If I could start with a blank page and design my own residential lighting system from scratch, I would combine a Redwood Systems-style power-over-Ethernet centralized rack system to feed DC power and IP control all the way out to each … Continue reading residential lighting dream system
Following is an insightful quote from a FastCompany article titled “Why Good Design Is Finally a Bottom Line Investment“: COMMODITIZATION PUSHES DESIGNERS TO THE FORE Innovation usually cycles between periods of raw, technical inventiveness and the finer task of packaging it … Continue reading technical vs. design innovation
A very inspiring TED Talk from Leah Buechley, head of the High-Low Tech research group at MIT’s Media Lab: “How to “Sketch” with Electronics” Buechley uses copper- or silver-based conductive ink to draw circuits on paper. She also demonstrates how … Continue reading sketching with LEDs
MIT Architecture from Paper Fortress on Vimeo. MIT’s School of Architecture recently posted an excellent video with an overview of their current academic research programs. The video gives a terrific glimpse to the key issues students and professors are currently … Continue reading mit school of architecture video
Despite the myriad new technologies available to the lighting industry, the industry seems frozen in the past, paralyzed by suddenly having too much creative freedom. The problem is that the industry is actually suffering from a lack of smart industry standards that would ultimately enable more innovation in architectural lighting applications. Without modern and extensible standards, the lighting industry is effectively reduced to bunch of walled-garden, proprietary-technology fiefdoms. To allow creative designers and solution providers to “mix and match” the best capabilities and innovations from throughout the industry, the industry must develop the connective tissue of intelligent and open standards; … Continue reading the paradox of industry standards and creative freedom
For several years now, it has been apparent to industry insiders that, essentially, all light sources in the near future will transition to LED or OLED. So the question needs to be asked: When energy efficiency becomes irrelevant (because every light source has a very high level of efficacy as a standard feature), how will designers continue to conserve energy? The answer, I think, will be a shifting of focus for lighting designers from selecting light sources to scripting lighting control systems; designers will need to engage the art of dynamic controls. Accompanying this shift will be the transition of … Continue reading the art of dynamic lighting
There is a long-standing, latent demand for the incorporation of luminous surfaces into architectural spaces. Servicing this demand has been difficult, because fundamentally the only available light sources have been incandescent point-sources and fluorescent linear-sources. It is extremely difficult to … Continue reading construction site roll-formed fixtures
The Holst Centre is an independent research organization located at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven that tries to bridge the gap between academia and industry. The center has a variety of big name industrial partners and strong connections to … Continue reading The Holst Centre
So many times I’ve found myself in a meeting with an impossibly demanding architect who is essentially asking for a wireless light fixture. Usually I break the stalemate by saying “I’ll just spec a wireless floating light bulb!” I guess I’m … Continue reading levitating wireless LED
Leviathan is a Chicago-based production studio specializing in creating large-scale visual experiences across multiple media. I’m particular enamored with their projections on 3D surfaces; they have three killer projects that explore the possibility of this artform. They state on their site: … Continue reading leviathan
Part of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, John Rogers is leading a research group focused on flexible electronics: “We seek to understand and exploit interesting characteristics of ‘soft’ materials, such as polymers, liquid crystals, and biological tissues as well … Continue reading rogers research group
Ninja Blocks are a fun little Kickstarter project focused on the “Internet of Things” trend. Ninja Blocks may not seem directly related to the lighting industry, but I propose that this system actually serves as an excellent model for the … Continue reading ninja blocks: the future of lighting control?
Audi’s LED headlights available on the 2012 A6 are quite stunning, especially when viewed in real life. I find the intricate detail and styling of the fixture to be very architectural in and of itself. Continue reading 2012 audi A6 LED headlights
I ran across this almost-crazy design project and research model from Zurich’s CAAD Institute at the Department of Architecture, ETH Zurich: Phototropia is part of an ongoing series on the application of smart materials in an architectural context and was … Continue reading phototropia
From Milan 2012, Dezeen presented an intriguing interview with Paola Antonelli, MoMA curator for design. “…any time you see a new technology, there is a moment of drunkenness…you see many delightful monsters; but then there is progressively a stratification of quality; and … Continue reading Paola Antonelli from Milan
Spanish supplier Vibia had its usual assortment of very stylish contemporary decorative products. Yet one thing really stood out: The increasing number of products that are intended as user-customized clusters of fixtures. Vibia has embraced the mass customized, almost biomimetic … Continue reading l+b: Vibia
Apple likes shiny toys. They’ve figured out that hundreds of millions of people also like shiny toys. In the process, Apple single-handedly unleashed glossy screens back onto a world that had effectively rid ourselves of such glare bombs about a decade ago, via high performance anti-glare coatings on LCD screens. Such wonderful coatings freed lighting design for offices to once again include beautiful luminous elements and natural daylight, restoring a wonderful feeling of brightness that had been systemically eliminated to prevent veiling glare on older style CRTs. So now everyone “happily” lives with seeing their own reflection brighter then the … Continue reading thanks MIT, for fixing Apple’s glaring problem
Hewlett Packard is venturing into large scale, ultra-hi-def video walls cable of 3D projection in a project called the HP Photon Engine. The accompanying video states that over the next year, HP will be taking this out on a “custom … Continue reading hp photon engine
Seeing the innovative fixture from Fonckel with a “controllable light beam” is satisfying to me on a different level: Fonckel is demonstrating that LEDs have hit a low enough price point to enable more creative uses of light that have long been … Continue reading solid state beam shaping
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