koerner design wins US DOE sustainable luminaire design competition
I am thrilled to announce that Koerner Design has won a prestigious design competition hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy hosted a Manufacturing Innovator Challenge focused on the Sustainable … Continue reading koerner design wins US DOE sustainable luminaire design competition
jon favreau interview on digital transformation
Check out this very interesting interview with writer/producer/director Jon Favreau discussing multiple topics in the ongoing digital revolution in media (both creative production and distribution). There are several analogies to how architects, lighting designers, developers, etc. might embrace the digital … Continue reading jon favreau interview on digital transformation
tensorflow
TensorFlow is an open source platform for machine learning. “AI” is a hot topic, often presented in scary Hal-like doomsday discussions. But basic machine learning is simply automated optimization, and there are endless opportunities for how we should be continually … Continue reading tensorflow
david rose – ambient communications
Nice interview with David Rose, an MIT researcher and designer who has great ideas on ambient communications. I’m surprised I haven’t met David – a lot of our concepts on integrating digital content into the built environment are very similar … Continue reading david rose – ambient communications
48 vdc power components
I’ve been writing now for many years about the importance of adopting a DC infrastructure as a necessary foundation to drive further innovations in architectural lighting and media systems. DC power infrastructure efficiently ties together solar and battery storage in … Continue reading 48 vdc power components
node red
Node-RED is an interesting programming tool that was recently open-sourced from an IBM project. It aims to make complex “Internet of Things” solutions accessible to non-coders via a simple visual, flow-based interface. Node-RED is a programming tool for wiring together … Continue reading node red
usgbc LEED program gives big boost to dc power in commercial buildings
This week the USGBC just added a major point opportunity for commercial buildings that integrate substantial native-DC power infrastructure. As I discussed just recently (and even included 5 years ago in my predictions for the future of lighting), it increasingly … Continue reading usgbc LEED program gives big boost to dc power in commercial buildings
greenhouse lighting in the Netherlands
Check out this stunning nighttime aerial photography of the industrial greenhouses here in the Netherlands by Munich-based photographer Tom Hegen. A bit better than the images I shot from a plane 4 years ago! I certainly appreciate the need for … Continue reading greenhouse lighting in the Netherlands
smarteagle sensor solutions
SmartEagle is a Dutch-based spinoff of IoT-development company Evalan that uses camera-based sensor systems and AI to accurately detect and analyze desk usage in office environments. They never blatantly say they use cameras, but it is pretty obvious by the … Continue reading smarteagle sensor solutions
smart signage concept for retail shelving
Here’s a rather unusual strategy: Today I’m going to giveaway a startup pitch! Back in 2016, I sketched up a quick pitch deck for what I saw as the future of digital signage for big-box and grocery store applications. At … Continue reading smart signage concept for retail shelving
nowatt lighting
Nowatt Lighting is a French startup focusing on off-grid, solar-powered light fixtures. Nowatt has built intelligence into their products that seems to go beyond most “dumb” solar-powered lights, with multi-channel LED engines and app-based control including parametric-based scenarios that can … Continue reading nowatt lighting
lucept is 10 years old!
Wow! I missed a big anniversary. Oops! Back in July, Lucept turned 10 years old! A fun little hobby blog looking at the incredibly specific and nerdy topic of “future trends in architectural lighting” has nevertheless accumulated 903 posts, 128,356 … Continue reading lucept is 10 years old!
caspar
Caspar is a startup focusing on learning/artificial intelligence systems for residential smarthome applications, especially for multi-unit residential developments. I definitely believe that lighting and other building systems need to become more automated, and the concept of a learning/auto-adjusting system fits … Continue reading caspar
the efficiency advantage of DC electrical infrastructure
We are at the inflection point of a new revolution: DC-power infrastructure is set to replace AC-infrastructure in many, if not most, commercial buildings. The case is simple: Almost every device in a modern building uses direct-current (DC), including LED … Continue reading the efficiency advantage of DC electrical infrastructure
lightglass
Lightglass, a Philadelphia company started in 2012, produces interior faux-glazing systems with a integrated LED back-lighting to create pleasant sensations of brightness at an architectural scale. Even though the optical effect is opaque white, it tricks the brain into thinking … Continue reading lightglass
LED track lighting is rapidly adopting 48VDC as a new standard
Over the past few years, there has been a clear trend for track lighting and other innovative “system” style architectural lighting products to adopt 48VDC instead the usual mains voltage 120VAC or 220-240VAC. 48VDC delivers a host of benefits, most … Continue reading LED track lighting is rapidly adopting 48VDC as a new standard
wave illumination
Wave Illumination is a startup spun out of Ocean Optics that is launching a handheld wireless photo-spectrometer paired with a smartphone app. Costs $2000. If lighting companies want to push narrowly-defined quality of light metrics into the market to charge … Continue reading wave illumination
teamlab – megaliths in the bath house
Yet another stunning project from TeamLab, this time a cluster of “megaliths” placed in an abandoned bathhouse. If you look closely in the video, you can clearly see the fine pixelation of the direct-view LED panels. I’m guessing 2mm or … Continue reading teamlab – megaliths in the bath house
visible spectrum image
I found this nicely composed chart for the visible spectrum, with an emphasis on the varying effects of blue light. I can’t find the original source but within the image it is credited to “High Performance Optics”. Continue reading visible spectrum image
ambient communications: research by Yasaman Mavvaj of TU Delft
Editor’s preface, Brad Koerner: This spring and summer I had the privilege of mentoring Yasaman Mavvaj, a graduate thesis student at TU Delft’s Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. For the past several years, I’ve guest lectured at Professor Sylvia Pont’s … Continue reading ambient communications: research by Yasaman Mavvaj of TU Delft
Lucept 