Luminous 8 - Composing with LED Lighting

International Lighting Magazine 2011/8 November

Composing with LEDs Yas Island Welcome Pavilion, Abu Dhabi, UAE An oasis of calm

Dynamics in Wismar Francesco Iannone “Official recognition for lighting designer�

2 EDITORIAL

Even after the many projects I have worked on and the inspiring lighting installations I see every day in many places around the world, it is still fascinating to see and to try to understand how design and technology go hand in hand to deliver the experience.

Without good design, technology has no meaning for us. The two inspire and strengthen each other, and together give relevance to the things and concepts we create.

This edition of Luminous showcases design that links strongly with technology: we take a look at our partnership with Kvadrat which gives a new dimension to textiles, and other features include the energy efficient solution for Il Sole 24 ore and the transparency of ThyssenKrupp’s new campus headquarters, to mention just a few.

Understanding technology is one thing, but knowing how to create true value by adding design is key. Designers have always taken up the challenge of using light to create wonder, to tell a story, and to deliver a sign of beauty, as the architect Santiago Calatrava puts it. Designers get under the skin of the user of the space, understanding what light can do with people and how they respond to it. A fantastic example is the Phoenix Children’s Hospital in Arizona, US, using light to calm and entertain the young patients and their parents. The projects demonstrates the profound effect that light can have on people and their wellbeing. The smiles on the faces of the children are priceless.

The Faculty of Architecture and Design at the University of Wismar in Germany experimented in another way with the influence of light on health-related aspects of wellbeing. Philips supported their experimental design seminar ‘Dynamic Lighting innovative and creative dynamic lighting concepts for public spaces’. During the fourmonth intensive workshop, the students created tremendous examples of “feel what light can do” Luminous presents some inspiring examples of exciting lighting. By engaging with you, with architects, designers, engineers and many others, we create beautiful lighting solutions that use efficient technology, touch the right emotions and require less energy.

Enjoy reading, and I invite you to continue the dialogue online at www.philips.com/ lightcommunity while we continue to enhance our lives with light.

Rogier van der Heide Vice President & Chief Design Officer Philips Lighting

colophon published by | Philips Lighting BV – Mathildelaan 1, Eindhoven 5611 BD, The Netherlands – www.lighting.philips.com editor in chief | Vincent Laganier managing editor | Paulina Dudkiewicz steering committee | Melissa Hertel, Fernand Pereira, Matthew Cobham copywriting & editing | Ruth Slavid translations | Lion Bridge graphic design concept | MediaPartners dtp | Relate4u printing | Print Competence Center more info | luminous@philips.com ISSN nr | 1876-2972 12 NC 322263566482 cover | Yas Island Welcome Pavilion, Abu Dhabi, UAE photo | © Martin Pfeiffer

CONTENT 3

COMPOSING WITH LED LIGHTING The main task of a lighting designer is to organise the lighting and comfort within a space. When a new technology pops up, as LED did ten years ago, the profession faces a complete change of rules. Everything that designers knew about life time, photometric distribution, colour temperature and colour rendering, lumen depreciation, power factors and system reliability were suddenly completely different. In order to allow designers to make the most of the new possibilities, recently the IEC, along with a group of lighting organisations including PLDA and IALD, put together a Specification Guide - an essential read.

Designing LED lighting to work in combination with the transmission properties and specific nature of architectural materials requires profound knowledge and experience to achieve the

OPENING STORY SPORTING EMOTIONS

4

Poznań Stadium, Poland

DIALOGUE

best visual results. This is because the composition of the materials influences the way that the lighting effects are achieved.

A transparent material like the ETFE roof of the Yas Island Welcome Pavilion in UAE is not easy to light with LEDs: page 20. In the conference rooms of the ThyssenKrupp Quarter in Germany a special luminous satin-frosted LED ceiling was used: page 30. The acrylic tiles in the lobby of the Phoenix Children’s Hospital work with the LEDs to create a water effect: page 26.

These three projects involved renowned architects and experienced lighting designers. Enjoy reading about how they were designed and please send us your feedback on the Light Community (www.philips.com/lightcommunity).

Vincent Laganier

INTERACTIVE LIGHTING

8

In search of staying power

HIGHLY INSPIRING ENVIRONMENT

14

Francesco Iannone

LIGHT TALK

18

Dynamic lighting or media façade?

DOSSIER

Composing with LED lighting

OASIS OF CALM

20

Yas Island Welcome Pavilion, UAE

DESERT BLOOMS

26

Phoenix Children’s Hospital, US

LIGHTING FOR TRANSPARENCY

30

ThyssenKrupp Quarter, Germany

FEEDBACK DYNAMICS IN WISMAR

36

Students and Professors

LIGHT AND IMAGES

40

3D computer lighting simulations

A TEXTILE BASED LED SOLUTION

44

Breitner Tower, The Netherlands

TOP CLASS PERFORMANCE

48

Perseo Expo District, Italy

SNAPSHOT

4

30

SPOTLIGHT Books

26

52

Six projects from around the globe

54

Š Jacek Bakutis

LIGHT SOURCE 5 City Stadium, Poznań, Poland

Sporting emotions Client POSIR Poznań Architect Wojciech Ryzynski MCS, Poznan, Poland Lighting solutions Marek Łasiński, Philips Poland Mathieu Sergent, Philips Lighting Installer Contrast Ostrow Wlkp.

By Krzysztof Kouyoumdjian

Light sources Philips LUXEON® K2 LED 3W, red, blue, green; MHN-SE 2000W /956

The stadium in Poznań is the first football arena completed in Poland to host football’s Euro 2012 European Championship.

The stadium is notable for its dynamic, coloured lighting of the outer façade, using LED lighting systems.

Luminaires Philips Color Blast, LEDLine2, ArenaVision MVF403 Lighting controls Philips iPlayer 3

© Jacek Bakutis

Websites www.posir.poznan.pl www.mconstructions.pl

When, on 18 April 2007, Michel Platini, the president of UEFA, announced that football’s European Championship would take place in Poland and Ukraine, modernisation work was already under way at the Poznań stadium. The refurbishment project, which has been proceeding in a number of stages since 2002, has been carried out under the aegis of Polish firm Modern Construction Systems, which has completed many high-profile projects and unique structures.

Above: While setting up the LED illumination on the platform that protects against falling snow in front of the façade, the team adjusted the tilt of each luminaire individually.

Left: The steel roof is covered by a membrane that curves down onto the façades.

6 LIGHT SOURCE

The stadium, which is in the south-western part of the city, near Ławica airport, was built in the early 1980s. Local football clubs use it every day, and the Polish national team also trains there, but it also hosts many other events and concerts. In order to satisfy UEFA’s ‘Elite’-class stadium requirements, its obsolete structure, based on an earth embankment with concrete stands, had to be completely rebuilt. Originally, the stadium had been surrounded by an embankment with stands in the shape of the letter U – opening up to the ‘missing’ stand. The intention had been to build a gymnastics hall and a swimming pool, but this idea was never brought to fruition. The design of the new stadium envisaged the demolition of the old stands and the construction of four new stands using reinforced concrete, to hold 45,594 fans. They are of different lengths, from 130 to almost 190 metres, and different heights, from three to five storeys. This means that the shape of the structure is not simple in design and is lent variety by numerous recessed terraces. “The steel roof”, said the architect Wojciech Ryzynski, “made it possible to install the highest-quality lighting, meeting all the requirements for HDTV, around the steel platforms where the pitch lights are installed.”

Since the owner of the structure is the local authority in Poznań, an additional requirement was to use energy-saving solutions in the design, in accordance with the policy of the city, which for years has been consistently focusing on the environment and on sustainable development, for example as host of the COP 14 Climate Change Conference.

Master of the arena The pitch lighting has five different settings – training, match, emergency, TV broadcast and standard HDTV. The lighting installation has seven optical systems and beam categories ranging from B1 (very narrow angle) to B7 (wide angle). “The solution we

proposed enabled a better effect to be achieved, by reducing the number of lighting systems and reducing the level of power used in comparison with other systems. The reduced number of projectors necessary to illuminate the pitch also means a reduction in installation, operating and maintenance costs,” said Marek Łasiński, lighting application services manager for central Europe at Philips Lighting Poland, who coordinated the stadium lighting project in Poznań. To illuminate the pitch, Philips’ ArenaVision MVF404 system was used, comprising 300 luminaires providing illuminance of more than 2500 lux in the direction of the TV cameras.

Façade in colours During the first lighting tests, it became apparent that the luminescence of the material used for the façade of the stadium was so great that, when the originally planned installation method for the LED lighting was used, shadows were created on the surface, impairing the effect of the lighting. “As a result of further tests, an optimal solution was found: the systems were powered from below and set at a distance of 6 to 9 metres from the material,” said Łasiński.

A total of 195 Philips ColorBlast RGB LED projectors, plus a control system and software, were used to illuminate the outer façade of the Poznań stadium, thereby enabling dynamic colour changes.

As a result, the Poznań arena is endowed with the additional ability to build emotion during sporting, entertainment events and concerts taking place in the stadium. “This produces a really good shadow effect” concluded Ryzynski. “I think that I have succeeded with this project. This stadium is atmospheric.”

Š Jacek Bakutis

LIGHT SOURCE 7

Top: Five ColorBlast projectors are installed at 9 metre intervals.

Bottom: The quality of light is close to daylight. By combining the design and the lamp properties, it brings visual comfort both to the players and to the spectators.

Interactive lighting

By Ruth Slavid

How much more exciting it is to be able to inuence the world around us.

This is what interactive lighting allows us to do.

Š Electroland

Š Electroland

10 PERCEPTIONS

Page 8-10: People’s positions and paths are traced by colourful avatars and effects. Ceiling and walls are composed of individual LED patterns and white LED ambient lights.

Target Interactive Breezeway, Rockefeller Center, New York, US, Lighting design: Electroland. Website: electroland.net/projects/targetbreezeway/

PERCEPTIONS 11

“It is amazing to see people trying to work out what is happening.”

We all influence our environments all the time, whether by denting a cushion as we sit on it, making a noise when we slam a door, or affecting the level of lighting by turning a switch on or off, changing the setting of a dimmer or casting a shadow.

But it is usually on the computer screen, and particularly when playing computer games, that we can actively affect a physical situation. And because games are constrained by the screen, they are, however addictive, firmly set in the virtual world. How much more exciting it is to be able to influence the world around us.

This is what interactive lighting allows us to do. It is based on presence detection which, in its simplest form, has been used for decades to switch lighting on in offices in response to movement, and to switch it off when that movement has ceased for a given period of time. Now, as detection can respond not just to any movement but to the details of movement, and with ever better software, designers have taken up the challenge of controlling light in a way that is far less straightforwardly useful, but which offers wonder, entertainment and even, in some instances, beauty.

For lighting designers, it is not just understanding the technology that is important, but also appreciating the way that people respond.

On the top floor Cameron McNall, principal of US designer Electroland, thinks that response times are vital. “If you judge what is happening next to you according to your knowledge of the

world,” he says, “you expect a response time of about ten seconds.” This is crucial for McNall, because he believes that interactive lighting must be instinctive. Even if people are not expecting an installation, they must be able to understand and appreciate it, and to start “playing” with the concepts.

There are other, more subtle, considerations. For example, at the practice’s Target Interactive Breezeway at the Rockefeller Center in New York, most of the activity takes place on the ceiling.

Unsuspecting visitors to the adjacent topfloor observation decks pass through the space and activate avatars that follow them around. “We worked out a lot of different technical problems on this project,” said McNall. “God made us with very good frontal and peripheral vision, but with less vision from above.” In order to make visitors aware that something special is happening, and that it relates to them, as somebody walks in the whole space flashes briefly and there is a sound. This alerts them to the existence of something unusual, and allows them to deduce that it relates to their entry.

The glowing ceilings and walls consist of individual pixels in white and colours. Each visitor is assigned a colour at random, which follows them around the room. Visitors’ responses range from bemusement to curiosity to excitement and exhibitionism.

“It is amazing to see people trying to work out what is happening,” says McNall. “In this as in many of our projects there is a transformation. You enter the space and see people jumping around in odd ways. At this

point you are an observer and spectator.

But then you transform into a participant.

You become a performer for the next people who walk in.”

You can see a similar level of connection in other projects, many of them temporary, such as the installation “Vous êtes ici” (You are here) which video artist Matthieu Tercieux created for the Fête des Lumières (Festival of Lights) in Lyon in 2010. A kind of magic carpet showing places on the globe at a variety of scales, it created connections between them depending on the way that visitors moved. Large numbers of people engaged in a space where otherwise they would have felt, as strangers, that they were too close to each other. Children rolled on the ground, adults ran around, and at one point there was even a spontaneous conga of about a dozen people. For Tercieux it was a way of investigating concepts of place and connection, but at the same time he is interested in the way that people react to technology. He was particularly pleased to see large numbers of children arrive on the second day, following conversations at school during break time.

On a wall This was installed out of doors, as was the “Rabbit Wonderland” created in Shanghai by local practice Super Nature, where a video-game-type screen and a giant rabbit whose colours changed in response to human movement, were accompanied by changing responsive graphics on an overhead canopy and an adjacent building – all set in the centre of a traffic roundabout.

12 PERCEPTIONS

on the ambient light in the room,‘You Fade to Light’ could create a reflection with a lit “mirror” in a darkened room.

The potential elegance of this installation was accentuated by the employment of dancers to ‘throw shapes’ onto the wall.

Cool, simple and understated, the wall nevertheless exerts a great fascination on the viewer. Just like a mirror, it draws you towards it, and the lack of precise definition somehow adds to the attraction, as you struggle to identify features of movement.

During a walk Equally understated is the same practice’s installation which was outside the Wellcome Institute in central London for several months this year. Called “Reflex” it is based on the idea of swarm behaviour (Wellcome supports scientific research) and consists of wires covered in small white lights that respond to the movement of passersby. “Being on the street is much more interesting than being at an exhibition and

showing an installation to a specific crowd,” said Hannes Koch, one of the founders of rAndom International. “People don’t always know what is going on. But people who go past every morning start to interact.”

With other external installations, there is no danger of not being aware of what is happening. Moment Factory, which is based in Montreal in Canada, designed “La Vitrine Culturelle” for its home city, a venue where one can buy tickets for all the cultural events in the city. A bright interactive wall outside is made up of 35,000 light bulbs, effectively forming the pixels of a giant screen. Like Shanghai’s “Rabbit Wonderland” this is based on games technology, with for example, giant rolling snowflakes racing along beside passers-by. Frédéric Bove of Moment Factory says, “It is a fun moment, during a walk, a way to surprise and entertain people and incite them to ask questions about the nature of where they are ultimately to show that passers-by are the actors of the cities, who contribute to

© Moment Factory

Far more contemplative was the same practice’s “Beneath” in which ghostly sea creatures floated silently on a wall, their movements responding to those of the people who are looking at them. Presented at the International Science & Art Exposition in Shanghai, this took place indoors, in a controlled environment, in which the interactive wall did not have to compete with the demands and sensations of the street. The same is true of the practice’s “Dreamweaver”, an interactive wall based on fractal patterns that responds to the movement of people within the space.

London-based rAndom International created an interactive wall using a similar dreamlike approach with “You Fade to Light”, an installation designed for the Milan Furniture Fair of 2009 as a showcase of Philips’ then very new OLED technology. It took advantage of the even nature of the light provided by OLEDs to create a wall that behaved like a mirror. Unlike a conventional mirror, where the reflection is dependent

Page 12-13: Responding to the passerby on the street, it’s a window to culture. LED light bulbs react to movement-tracking devices to create this permanent interactive installation.

PERCEPTIONS 13

creating realistic avatars is not available.

“The technology is just not fast enough,” he says. “There are solutions that are very fast, but they just produce blobs. We use a video system that distinguishes between people.

We would like to create an avatar that stays with you, but to get that level of persistent tracking takes a little bit of time. Our technology provider has prioritised accuracy over time.”

Reactive lighting Koch enjoys playing with new materials, and found the opportunity to work with OLEDs great, because the brief was “so wide open”. But, he says, “technology and materials are really secondary. It’s nice to have access to interesting new materials, but what we are really keen on is being able to express our ideas as clearly as possible.”

It is the danger of interactive lighting tipping over into simply showing off the technology that turns some people against it. For instance, Koert Vermuelen of Belgian

designer ATC Lighting, says, “In a lot of light festivals or museum exhibitions where interactive lighting has been promoted, my belief has been that it doesn’t work. Too often”, he argues, “if there are more than one or two people present, you just get a muddle.” Instead, he prefers what he calls “reactive lighting” which simply responds to the presence of people. As an example he cites his own light sculpture, Ovo, designed with Odeaubois, which was shown at the Lyon Fête des Lumières. Its gorgeous oval structure was wonderfully lit, and it sat in the middle of water. Being “reactive” simply meant that it could switch off when nobody was in it. In terms of technology, it couldn’t be simpler. But the important thing is how lovely it is. And that is probably the lesson for the future with interactive lighting. Mere gasp-making technology will inevitably pall and be superseded. But a truly beautiful design, interactive or not, should have staying power.

© Moment Factory

the creation of special ‘moments’.”

This degree of playfulness is not appropriate where vehicles are involved. Electroland has produced installations that interact both with motorists and with pedestrians and cyclists on a footbridge. While the installations do not encourage the acrobatics of some other designs, they are still lively. “Pulse”, for example, is a 45m long LED display in Los Angeles that is activated by passing cars.

“Drive By” in North Hollywood is a 73m-long electronic display that tracks passing cars, alternating between displaying letters that spell out lines from famous Hollywood movies and abstract alphanumeric forms that move with the cars, creating a bright red “crash” when two cars pass each other.

“It is a myth that these installations cause a problem for drivers,” says McNall. “Video boards and electronic billboards are far more distracting.”

Technology has advanced enormously.

McNall says that even now, the speed that he wants in order to fulfil his dream of

La Vitrine Culturelle, Quartier des Spectacles, Montréal, Canada.

Lighting design: Moment Factory. Website: www.momentfactory.com/en/project/street/La_Vitrine/

14 PLATFORM Francesco Iannone, Lighting Designer, Consuline, Milan, Italy

Highly inspiring

environment

By Luigi Prestinenza

The newly elected president of the PLDA (Professional Lighting Designers’ Association), Francesco Iannone was also president of its predecessor the ELDA between 1999 and 2003. An architect with 30 years’ experience in the field of architectural lighting design, he headed the Consuline agency.

What changes has he seen during the profession’s development and where does he see it heading?

What has changed in the lighting design profession since your presidency of what was then the ELDA (European Lighting Designers’ Association)?

A great deal has changed in ten years. It seems like a long time has passed since we set up the ELDA back in 1994. Those were pioneering times: when we founded the ELDA, there were only nine of us, and in just over 15 years it has expanded to boast a membership of more than 750 and changed its name to the PLDA, the Professional Lighting Designers’ Association.

I remember that when we started out the public didn’t really understand the role of a lighting designer. People couldn’t grasp the added value that this new professional figure could offer, or understand our cultural perspective. Nowadays the public is aware that correct lighting design can significantly improve the quality of life in cities, workplaces and cultural spaces, and can also benefit

leisure time. People also understand that it’s not simply a question of ensuring that every environment is kitted out with high lux numbers, but rather of creating surroundings where the light also exhibits quality and character. It is now a commonly held belief that a lighting designer is not just a technician but also an artist.

Lighting doesn’t just require calculations, but also an imaginative mind. This can even involve applying the most state-of–the-art discoveries in the field of neuroscience in a creative way.

Take the example of Giacomo Rizzolatti, a scientist in the running for a Nobel prize, who discovered that by using mirror neurons we can better identify with what we see, triggering a kind of empathetic process. This perceptive process, which is performed by the brain rather than the eyes, can be activated more effectively by adjusting the light to certain wavelengths. We successfully tested this technique in a large-scale exhibition in Rome, which was held to celebrate the works of the Renaissance painter Lorenzo Lotto.

PLATFORM 15

In charge for the second-time: Francesco Iannone wants to see official recognition in Europe for the profession of lighting designer.

© Herbert Cybulska

16 PLATFORM

Indirect lighting of the huge umbrellas above the grandstand gives a unique impression.

What is the first quality of a lighting designer?

As I told you previously, the main attribute of a lighting designer is creativity.

This includes having a flair for aesthetics and a certain amount of background knowledge. Only then can a lighting designer enter into a dialogue with the architect or town planner and bring out the best in their work.

Imagine, for example, that you had to illuminate one of Gaudi’s buildings. How could you succeed in this without becoming acquainted with his creative world? You would run the risk of producing a timid, or aggressive, or careless vision of his work.

It would also be a big mistake, to give another example, to treat a piece created by a futuristic artist in the same way as a Palladian church.

Then there are the cases where an effective lighting design also has to draw attention away from a building’s imperfections. In Shanghai, for example, while preparing the Formula 1 circuit the architect, Tilke, called on us to help give a new look to the back of the terraces, which comprised a long, 40-metre high construction with a rather unattractive reinforced concrete structure. Together we came up with a plan to install metal grids and to project the radiating light so as to emphasize the grids and conceal the cement in the shadows.

Finally, there are cases where it is the light itself that is to take

centre stage. On Ascona’s lake front in Switzerland, for example, we illuminated an enchanting row of plane trees using a light which changes from evening to evening to produce, and therefore better express, the colours of that day and of that particular season. By using an elaborate software system which controls all the solar light values on site, we were able to give the location back its light. We created a display which is always different but is intimately linked with the characteristics of the landscape, gaining the immediate approval of the mayor, the inhabitants and the designers of street furniture, none of whom wanted to use standard illumination with the usual anonymous light.

How could the third PLDC congress change the rules of the game?

After Berlin in 2007 and London in 2009, our third conference, which is being organized jointly with VIA Verlag, will take place this October in Madrid. When we first launched the congresses, based on an idea by Joachim Ritter, we were worried that numbers wouldn’t exceed 400. In fact, more than a thousand people came to Berlin, and the London conference was an even greater success.

We are therefore hoping to get all the most highly qualified operators in the sector involved once again. We would like to take the opportunity at the third conference to propose that the role of lighting designer be officially recognised within the European

© Herbert Cybulska

PLATFORM 17

Exterior of the main grandstand showing the accent lighting on the building and its reflection on the water.

Formula One race track, Shanghai, China Lighting design: Consuline.

Community. And that governments and public opinion develop a lasting awareness that every important project should see the involvement of this professional figure who, when it comes to the topic of light, is the most qualified to provide a creative response to issues of energy efficiency, performance techniques and environmental comfort.

What is your vision of the future of lighting design?

I see the future in a very positive light. And that’s why our aim is to achieve official recognition in the European Community within the next three years.

Why is there still not a law in Europe to protect the lighting design profession?

Probably because there is still a lack of education on the subject.

Even the manufacturers of lighting equipment themselves are limited on the one hand to recommending designer lights and, on the other, to providing technical assistance to ensure that these lights perform in a certain way. But they don’t always focus on what lies between the light and the lux number, i.e. the quality of the environment; the atmosphere that you create. And only a good lighting designer can achieve this highly inspiring environment.

What could be done to fill the gap between today and tomorrow?

Focussing on marketing and advertising, but also educating civil servants in particular. We need to make them understand that cities shouldn’t be illuminated in a careless, uniform manner, and that quality of light is representative of quality of life, especially as we spend the majority of our time under artificial light these days.

How do you see the lighting design profession in 10 years time?

Websites www.pld-a.org www.consuline.net

Optimistically. And I’m positive enough to hope that young people who want to enter this profession will discover more employment opportunities.

18 LIGHT TALK Light Talk is a column that brings to readers some of the most interesting conversations that are taking place between young designers in the field of lighting. These conversations, published in an entirely unmoderated form, originally took place on our social media platform – Light Community www.philips.com/lightcommunity.

11 16.30

g n i t h g i l c i Dynam façade? or media

17-Jun-20

ls? facade too use media u yo ld g u n o ic lighti How sh the Dynam hitecture? erience of hting in arc p lig ex r ic n? u m io a yo in your op Based on u apply dyn r? What is and why? e ff o ss How can yo u re p yo ex vice could nt can you aganier r, What ad What conte Vincent L ule Wisma sh h c itecture, o H @ e esign, arch _d g workshop in cade, ild 1 post sinc u b , image, fa lighting, 11 dia_facade or, design, e o m td , u n o o 17-Jun-20 ti s, a n mmunic led_solutio raphic, co Tags: led, dynamic, g r, a m is _w hochschule eo, media ighting, vid 18-Jun-2011, 2011 19:32 dynamicin_lresponse to: Vincent Laganier Re: Dynamic lighting or media façade?

I think we can start by differentiating what dynamic lighting and media façade are. I believe dynamic lighting is a whole concept that as the name describes it, is a variable and changing lighting situation...

Darío Nuñez Salazar 1 posts since May 29, 2011

20-Jun-2011 14:43 in response to: Vincent Laganier Re: Dynamic lighting or media façade?

It is important to distinguish between both terms. I’m of the opinion that Dynamic Lighting is a method of applying light whereby a Media Facade is a lighting tool. Dynamic Lighting and Media Facade have different ranks in hierarchy...

Frederik Friederichs 1 post since 7-Jun-2011

22-Jun-2011 16:56 in response to: Vincent Laganier Re: Dynamic lighting or media façade?

Stefan Maassen 1 post since 7-Jun-2011

In my opinion are a media facade and dynamic lighting two completely different things. Dynamic lighting is a specific way of using light in general - a media facade on the other hand is a specific kind of lighting installation on the outward surface of a building structure which is usually using dynamic lighting...

Read the complete posts and take part in the discussion on: www.philips.com/lightcommunity

Composing with

LED Lighting Oasis of Calm

Desert Blooms

Lighting for transparency

page 20

page 26

page 30

YAS ISLAND WELCOME PAVILION, ABU DHABI, UAE

Oasis of calm

By Ruth Slavid

However much we value all the excitement in our lives, sometimes we just need an opportunity to draw breath. This is the thinking behind the lighting design of the welcome pavilion at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi where lighting designer Speirs + Major has come up with a solution that is deliberately restful rather than overstimulating.

Š Martin Pfeiffer

22 COMPOSING WITH LED LIGHTING I The building on Yas Island sits between two major attractions. One is Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, described as the world’s largest theme park and which is intended to resemble a ground-hugging sand dune in signature Ferrari red. The other is a huge shopping centre for which construction has only just begun. “The idea was that this was the calming element between the hustle and bustle of the two others,” said Philip Rose, design associate with the practice. “It is an area of pause, somewhere quiet.”

With all this going on, it is evident that Yas Island is not one of those islands where people go to get away from it all.

Describing itself as “an island unlike any other”, it covers 2,500 ha, of which 1,700 ha are either developed or planned for development. Yas Island is separated from the mainland by a narrow spit of water, and is only 20 minutes drive from Abu Dhabi airport, or around 40 minutes from the centre of the city. A new highway to Dubai will pass through it, making it even better connected. In addition to Ferrari World Abu Dhabi and the shopping centre, it has the Yas Island Circuit which has hosted the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix since 2009. There are hotels, a marina and a golf course, plus plans for further theme parks.

Lighting idea

Client ALDAR Concept master plan Benoy Architects, London Ferrari World Abu Dhabi Benoy Architects Pavilion Architect Benoy Architects (concept) Shankland Cox (executive architect) Lighting design Speirs + Major, London Installer Hitachi Bond Light sources Philips LUXEON® LED 1W, red, blue, green Luminaires Philips Color Reach, Color Burst, Beamer LED Websites www.yasisland.ae www.speirsandmajor.com www.lumasense.com

The welcome pavilion, designed by Benoy which is also the architect of Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, measures 100m in diameter, and accommodates catering outlets on two and three levels. Surrounded by water on two sides, it has outdoor space beside a dramatic water feature – not part of Speirs + Major’s lighting responsibility. The most striking element of the building is its ETFE roof, a curved form with the claws extending beyond the perimeter of the structure. In total it covers 12,000 m².

Speirs + Major developed a solution that cycles colours in a slow, almost imperceptible way. “We wanted a slow cross fade between colours,” Rose

explained. “It is not a disco but a place of respite.” Its idea was that during the day the colours should change over a period of 20 minutes to an hour, and then there should be a celebration of sunset, with colours going from yellow through red and magenta to the dark blue of the night sky.

This dark colour would dominate during most of the evening.

Speirs + Major specified a number of scenes to enable this scenario. It produced the concept design, working closely with Philips, and then the project was taken on by a local design team of Shankland Cox, working with local contractor Hitachi Bond.

But Speirs + Major went back at the end of the project to make final adjustments to settings.

Avoiding inter-reflections “ETFE is not easy to light”, says Rose, “because of the large number of interreflections that can occur when it is viewed from within the building”. In order to make this less confusing, the designers elected to light elements of the structure as well, picking out the ribs in white light.

In terms of the coloured lights, said Rose, “We talked to Philips about the cost. We knew the Color Kinetics range, and we felt it was the most appropriate product for the job. The electrical engineers didn’t want to challenge our ideas, but pushed forward with our specification”. The contractors worked directly with Philips’ Middle East division.

The challenge with the geometry of the roof was to get good coverage of all of it.

Most of the fittings were sited in the roof structure itself, but where the roof sweeps down towards the water, it was necessary to put some of very small fittings on the external ring beam.

For the coloured light, Speirs + Major specified Color Kinetics’ Color Reach and Color Blast, and for the white light it proposed Philips Beamer LED. The designer also came up with the principles for the interior lighting of the building.

© Martin Pfeiffer

COMPOSING WITH LED LIGHTING I 23

Top: The challenge with the geometry of the roof was to get good coverage of all of the structure.

Bottom: Most of the fittings were sited in the roof structure itself, like the Beamer LED at the intersection.

24 COMPOSING WITH LED LIGHTING I

“They give flexibility in colour changing compared to conventional light sources.”

Lighting columns on the ground floor in red create a pathway leading to Ferrari World Abu Dhabi. The underground car park has simple downlighting, with some recessed cove lighting.

Choosing a solution The project required a certain amount of research into the use of LEDs. Rose was convinced from the start of the advantages that they could offer. “They give flexibility in colour changing compared to conventional light sources,” he said. “The fixtures are smaller than for colour changing with metal halides. It is more cost-effective than creating the same effect with conventional light sources. And the long lamp life makes maintenance easier.”

The issue was with the high temperatures in which the LEDs would have to operate.

“We did investigate their suitability for use in the desert,” said Rose. “Thermal management has to be very good, as they don’t like to operate at high temperatures.”

If the lamps become too hot, then their lifespan could be severely compromised. It is necessary in a hot environment to ensure that the effect of daytime heat does not combine with the heat of the lamp when it is switched on to create an unacceptably high temperature. “We wanted to go with a reputable company who could reassure us that the lamps would be stable at these extreme temperatures,” said Rose.

“In the early days of the project we talked to Philips about the temperature, and discussed the ideas. And we looked at issues of humidity as well as of temperature.”

In an ideal world, every designer would see their project all the way through to completion, but Speirs + Major always knew that it would be handing over the detailed design and installation to local organisations. “Working remotely is always difficult,” said Rose. “And only taking the design to a certain point and then handing over, makes you wonder how much will

be lost in translation.” He had the ideal opportunity to find out, since the practice was invited back at the end of the project to programme the lighting scenes and to fine-tune the focussing. “There were one or two details,” he said, “where if we had been there throughout the project, we would have been able to test ideas and to change them a little. But overall the light effect is very good, and we are very happy.”

A poetic element Visitors to the building should be very happy as well. There is a poetic element to the concept. As the too-bright sun of Abu Dhabi starts to fade at the end of the day, what could be nicer than to get away from the consumerism of the shopping mall or the urge towards ever greater excitement at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, to sit down and draw breath, to have something to eat and enjoy the proximity of water, in a pavilion whose lights subtly and gently produce a sensation of an ideal sunset?

Š Martin Pfeiffer

COMPOSING WITH LED LIGHTING I 25

In an ideal world, every designer would see their project all the way through to completion, but Speirs + Major always knew that it would be handing over the detailed design and installation to local organisations.

Š Blake Marvin / HKS Inc.

COMPOSING WITH LED LIGHTING II 27 Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Phoenix, Arizona, US

Desert Blooms

Client Phoenix Children’s Hospital Architects & interior deisgn Jeff Stouffer, Sandra Miller, HKS, Dallas, Texas, USA Lighting design Scott Oldner, Scott Oldner Lighting Design Dallas, Texas, USA Luminaires Philips Color Kinetics, Martin, Neotek, Zumtobel, Edison Price Lighting, Selux, Cole Lighting Lighting controls Philips Color Kinetics, Lutron Websites www.hksinc.com www.solighting.net Left: Grazing lighting on the acrylic tiles with concealed LED luminaires in various shades of blue and aqua.

Custom water gobos project moving patterns.

By Jonathan Weinert and Kate O’Connell It’s no accident that the recently expanded Phoenix Children’s Hospital looks like a flower blooming on the northern edge of the Sonora Desert in Arizona. Architectural firm HKS commissioned Scott Oldner Lighting Design to develop designs based on a theme of desert blooms. The lighting design, which uses a mixture of interior and exterior fluorescent, theatrical, and LED lighting fixtures, creates a fanciful thematic environment that suggests brightly coloured cactus flowers blossoming at night.

“From the start of the design process, beautiful, magical colour was required for the desert blooms concept,” said principal designer Scott Oldner. “Only Philips Color Kinetics had the quality, specialised product offerings, and customer service needed to realise our vision.”

In the event, the lighting designers had to comply with a number of sustainability, budget, and regulatory requirements. Oldner wanted to illuminate exterior architectural elements so that the main building could be seen easily from a distance. Directional LED lighting fixtures, which minimize spill and wasted light, allowed him to outline brilliantly the building’s distinctive architectural fins while still adhering to the local Dark Sky ordinance. Long ribbons of iColor Accent Powercore, high-resolution direct-view

28 COMPOSING WITH LED LIGHTING II

© Blake Marvin / HKS Inc.

“The LED lighting system has an extreme calming effect on patients”

Scott Oldner’s drawing of the lighting in the lobby.

luminaires, descend the front of the building and serve as a canvas for animated displays of colour. White cold cathode fixtures frame the colour-changing LED fixtures on the exterior to intensify their effect.

The long runs of exterior luminaires merge with runs of linear luminaires in the lobby area, connecting the building’s façade visually with its interior. iColor Cove MX Powercore fixtures uplight the lobby and dining corridor at different heights, creating a cheerful, ever-changing experience. These fixtures are also embedded in the ceiling domes, alongside lensed fluorescent fixtures, to illuminate the hallway with bright, vivid colours.

Water feature The initial design called for an indoor wall water fountain in the main corridor, but due to cost constraints the water feature was replaced by an innovative lighting solution that produces water-like effects. Textured wave-patterned acrylic tiles line the corridor from floor to ceiling, and concealed iColor Cove MX Powercore fixtures uplight the tiles with video effects in various shades of blue and

aqua. To add more life to the water wall, Martin smartMAC moving heads with custom water gobos project moving patterns on the floor, ceiling and walls.

The installation uses a single Light System Manager, an Ethernetbased lighting controller from Philips Color Kinetics, to control all LED lighting fixtures and moving heads throughout the building.

An integrated Lutron LCP 128 lighting management system switches off house lights and intensifies the colours in the lobby and corridor as night falls.

Effect on patients Because of the flexibility and the high level of support from Philips, Oldner was able to create a carefully orchestrated experience that closely matched his renderings, satisfying both the project’s aesthetic demands and the building owners. “The LED lighting system has an extreme calming effect on patients as they arrive at our new facility – you can see it on their smiling faces as they enter the atrium,” said Dave Cottle, executive director of planning, design and construction at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

© Blake Marvin / HKS Inc.

COMPOSING WITH LED LIGHTING II 29

Top: The welcoming ambiance gives visitors a positive impression of the children’s hospital.

Bottom: LED direct-view vertical luminaires act as a canvas for animated displays of colour on the façade.

THYSSENKRUPP QUARTER, ESSEN, GERMANY

Lighting for transparency

By Paul Haddlesey

Š Lukas Roth

In the design of a new campus headquarters for global materials and technology group ThyssenKrupp, lighting has played a key role in both the buildings and the grounds. Alexander Rotsch, lighting designer with Licht Kunst Licht AG, explained to Luminous how his design complements the underlying transparency and openness of the campus.

32 COMPOSING WITH LED LIGHTING III

“The graphical layout clearly marks the direction of the circulation zone.”

Client ThyssenKrupp AG Architects JSWD Architekten, Cologne Chaix & Morel et Associés, Paris Project Management ECE Projektmanagement GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg Lighting design Alexander Rotsch Andreas Schulz Licht Kunst Licht AG, Bonn/Berlin Installer Ritter Starkstromtechnik, Dortmund Light sources Philips LUXEON® LED K2 1W, neutral white Luminaires Philips LEDline2, Color Graze, Customised LED ceiling panels Customised pendant luminaires Websites www.jswd-architekten.de www.chaixetmorel.com www.lichtkunstlicht.com

The new ThyssenKrupp Quarter has been designed to an urban campus concept in the heart of one of the largest downtown developments in Germany. The Quarter campus covers an area of 17 hectares with around one-third as built-up area – comprising several buildings - and two-thirds as open green areas.

Sustainability is a key element of the design brief, and the project’s lighting makes extensive use of controls, combined with highefficacy light sources.

The leitmotif of the architectural design is the idea of voids cut out of solid cubes. This is most apparent at the Q1 headquarters building, a 50m high structure with immense panoramic windows that enable natural daylight to fully interact with the lighting concept.

First impressions are important and the lighting in the canopy at the entrance to Q1 has been designed to give the right impression, as Alexander Rotsch explained: “The lighting concept for the entrance supports a sense of dynamics to this prominent part of the building,” he said. “The graphical layout clearly marks the direction of the circulation zone, while the powerful direct light is a palpable reference to the quality of the interior lighting concept.

Brightness in ceilings “In the canopy, high-power LEDline luminaires are recessed in an irregular layout applying directional light to the floor. The reflection from the ground illuminates the bottom view and makes the architecture look weightless and floating. We have used existing seams between the anodized metal panels to house the LED luminaires.”

In the conference room a specially designed luminous LED ceiling has been created, and the designer worked closely with Philips to achieve the right effect. “The original idea was to create a lighting element employing cutting-edge technology whilst concealing the actual light sources,” Rotsch recalled. “The design process involved the development of various samples in order to obtain the appropriate satin-frosting of the cover, the number of LEDs and their spacing.

Š Lukas Roth

COMPOSING WITH LED LIGHTING III 33

LEDline luminaires have been recessed in an irregular layout within the canopy. They are housed in existing seams between the anodized metal panels.

© Lukas Roth

34 COMPOSING WITH LED LIGHTING III

Transparency of the top-floor conference room from outside.

“Apart from a diffuse spatial component it also integrates an optical system that creates direct, powerful light on the conference table.

The light atmosphere within the space can be influenced by dimming the LED components of the ceiling element as well as dimming and switching the peripheral cove light, wallwashers and downlights.”

Metal curtains A similarly strongly focused lighting concept underlines the character of the Casino restaurant. Above the tables, which have been arranged orthogonally to the window front, there is a large bespoke pendant ring chandelier with a direct and an indirect lighting component. This is supplemented by a light cove that traces the outline of the spatial segments.

The tables in the Casino restaurant are grouped in pairs, separated by ceiling-suspended filigree metal curtains and chest-high partition walls. Here, Licht Kunst Licht has integrated Color Graze luminaires with the partition walls, so they can add dynamic light to the reflective curtains if required. “By applying coloured light to the curtains an emotional component is added to the minimalistic

design of the space,” Rotsch explained. The lighting components within the restaurant can be controlled separately to create different effects in line with the various uses of the space.

The visual comfort that has guided the design of the interior lighting is also apparent in the exterior lighting. Glare from light points is avoided by the use of strongly shielded luminaires with a customised light distribution. Pole-mounted luminaires are blended with the trees on the main paths along the water basin, while bollards flank the smaller trails and concealed LED strips outline the water edge.

Reliable partners The lighting at the ThyssenKrupp Quarter is characterised by its innovative use of the latest lighting technologies. “In order to achieve high-quality results you need reliable partners. Philips has the necessary technical expertise concerning luminaire construction as well as lamp technology, so that very good products were developed and implemented for this project,” Rotsch concluded.

© Christian Richters

© Licht Kunst Licht AG

COMPOSING WITH LED LIGHTING III 35

Top: Ceiling plan of the conference room lighting from Licht Kunst Licht.

Bottom: The specially designed luminous LED ceiling provides direct and diffuse powerful light that is appropriate for meetings.

© Frank Alexander Rümmele

36 WORKSHOP

WORKSHOP 37

Dynamics

in Wismar

By Michael F. Rohde On 10 June 2011, students and professors from the Faculty of Architecture and Design at the University of Wismar in Germany organised a joint exhibition with Philips of innovative and creative dynamic lighting concepts for public spaces.

Staircase group project Olga Galkova, Fernanda Montecinos, Darío Nuñez, Volha Pakholkava, Natasa Rajic, Menekse Seyma Kaya, Julie Wangsajaya, Linlin Yang

The Hanseatic city of Wismar is on the North Sea coast of Germany. Here, close to the city, you can find the campus of the University of Wismar, with its Faculty of Architecture and Design (FG), offering courses in architectural lighting design (ALD), communication design and media, architecture, interior architecture and product and jewellery design. There are about 2,000 square metres of laboratory and workshop space available to the approximately 600 students in the Faculty of Architecture and Design. Since the individual specialisms are often an inspiration to each other and overlap in their subject areas, an important part of the teaching involves interdisciplinary working and how to organise it structurally.

The two-year Master of Arts (MA) course in “Architectural Lighting Design” is an international course taught in English.

Students attend lectures and practical sessions about planning the use of daylight and artificial light in architecture. A high priority is given to studying the relationships

between people, light and space.

Going beyond simply teaching the principles of architectural lighting, great importance is attached to including health-related aspects of light. Light, health and how a feeling of well-being can be induced by light are important subjects for the future and so they form a focus in current teaching alongside general lighting design.

In view of the ever-growing importance of the concept of the “media facade”, an international workshop on the theme of “Dynamic Lighting” has been held in Wismar since 2007. Under the leadership of Prof. Michael F. Rohde, the topic of media facades and dynamic lighting is examined and discussed during the summer semester, initially in the form of seminars.

The practical workshop week is planned and prepared at the same time. This is held at the conclusion of the course, just before the end of the summer semester, and takes the form of a practical exercise in the Faculty of Architecture and Design’s own Building 7 built in 2000.

Using light to define space Light is the material from which night-time architecture is built, and the medium that creates the illusion of dynamic space. It is equally able to transform both solid walls and transparent facades, to make them look as if they are moving or almost to make them disappear altogether.

© Frank Alexander Rümmele

38 WORKSHOP

Bridge Group project Frederik Friederichs, Christine Holzke, Stefan Maassen, Juan Felipe Rivera, Piyanut Siramanakun, Isabella Trybula, Daniel Witzler, Lin Zhang

This was the subject on which the Faculty of Architecture and Design at the University of Wismar, for the third time and with generous support from Philips’ Color Kinetics and Pharos, invited students on all courses to attend a practical, experimental design seminar under the leadership of Prof. Michael Rohde (architectural lighting design), with assistance from Prof. Hanka Polkehn (communication and media) and Prof. Bettina Menzel (interior architecture).

Internationalism The light installations were the result of a four-month interdisciplinary workshop on the theme of “dynamic lighting”. 22 students on the ALD, architecture, interior architecture and communication design courses used the latest LED technology to illuminate three architectural features – a facade, a bridge and a staircase – on the University of Wismar campus.

The theme for all three groups was “Internationalism”, which was already reflected within the group, with participants coming from four continents. The main way of expressing internationalism was to be by the use of colour. Starting with the colours of the five Olympic rings, and even including specific colours for particular cultural groups, the innovative LED lights that were used for the workshop were excellent lighting tools. With the help of the technically adept professionals from Philips, some very impressive installations were created in the form of light compositions that you could walk through and so experience close up, designed for the three specially selected locations. This year once again, awareness of what the workshop had achieved was enhanced by the impressive experimental documentation of the installations, produced by students on the communication and media course, who

used film and photographic media to ensure that people could witness the dynamism of the light and space experience even after the short period during which the actual presentation could be viewed.

People enjoyed The Mayor of Wismar, the rector of the university, numerous professors, students and university staff and a pleasing number of local people enjoyed seeing sophisticated light installations of the kind you might expect to find in the major cities of the world – but not, perhaps, on the North Sea coast in Germany!

Websites http://www.fg.hs-wismar.de/de/ aktuelles/aktuelles_ansicht&nid=216 http://community.lighting.philips.com/ blogs/WismarProjects/

© Frank Alexander Rümmele

WORKSHOP 39

Facade Group project Audry Brandsma, Jürgen Eisenhauer, Melanie Heilgeist, Janine Jeserig, Elena Kozlova, Akarsh Mahendra, Vikramaditya Varma

CONCEPT CORNER 41

Light and images

By Peter Kort Images are a powerful medium for designers. They use them for inspiration, in developing concepts and to visualise ideas.

Throughout history, designers and artist have used images in a wide number of ways. The role of light is often a crucial factor in an image. This was already known and clearly demonstrated by the painters of the golden age of Dutch art (1568–1648). The most famous “master of light” of that time was Rembrandt van Rijn who painted the “Nachtwacht” (1639-1642) (The Night Watch).

© Peter Kort

The matrix demonstrates that when light groups are rendered separately, software allows you to combine them in an easy way.

It makes it possible to test multiple scenes in a short time. It also allows you to test how controls can set your scene or how dynamic effects might appear.

42 CONCEPT CORNER

Lighting design, like architecture, is not just about satisfying regulations.

Lighting design can be either normative or creative(1). Normative lighting design is driven by norms and regulations that prescribe levels of illuminance and ratios that must be fulfilled. The purpose of regulations is to define minimum standards, which can be achieved by the verification of numerical indicators. It has, however, become difficult, even impossible, to do lighting design in this way. Lighting design, like architecture, is not about fulfilling regulations. In fact this is entirely the wrong direction from which to approach lighting design. Regulations are just there to provide minimum standards, but they will not automatically result in a solution that fulfils all the conditions.

True lighting design is much more concerned with the question: How can it contribute to the architecture? We have only had electricity since the end of the 19th century, so from that perspective it is perhaps strange that many architects have already embedded 3D simulations of such a new technology in their working methods. They use them not only to create stunning renders but also to validate buildings via 3D models against LEED and BREEAM standards, looking to create zero net energy buildings. Today some architects use the 3D model to an even greater extent, sending it directly to the contractor who creates the complete building from the received 3D model. This reduces errors and failures to a minimum and increases efficiency significantly

during the building process. Today this workflow is better known as BIM (Building Information Modelling). The quality of information that is added to the 3D model is crucial, since one is adding intelligence and not just creating nice pictures.

Time to be dynamic?

It is no surprise that in architecture 3D (visualisation) is often the minimum standard. Some architects will even tell you that the time of stills has passed, and that presentations should be dynamic, to reflect the real world around us. Lighting design must not lag behind. The integration of artificial lighting into architecture is becoming more and more the standard, alongside the growing importance of controls and video effects which demand visualizations of the lighting design. This is especially important if you want to verify quantities that cannot be described in terms of figures and charts.

On the other hand simulation costs time, much of which is spent on modelling geometry, which has nothing directly to do with lighting design. And as a rule the result remains abstract. Is it worth the effort? What is the level of detail in the render and is it appropriate for the phase of the project? Does the client expect to receive exactly what he sees on the picture? It brings experts into a position where they discuss what photorealism

CONCEPT CORNER 43 Different scenes can be tested and controlled rapidly once the 3D model has been built. Materials in the scene can be varied as well as the colour of the light. In this example the model has been rendered once with cool white lighting and once with warm lighting applied to the spots and the floorstanding luminaire. This has a huge influence on the atmosphere of the room and on how materials appear.

(1) DIAL. DIALux 4 – visualization. Consulted on 15-06-2011 (2) Wikipedia. http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_bocht_van_de_Herengracht.

Consulted on 10-06-2011

© Peter Kort

is, whether it really exists and what its purpose is. But those who still question the value of a render should realise that many architectural projects today in China are often sold only via renders. Our world is completely image driven and the demand for it will only grow.

When we talk about visualisation (in lighting design) we have to question the purpose. We have to realise that it is not the detail (2) that always matters, or the photorealism. In Berckheyde’s work it was the light that made the painting. In that sense we can say that the desirable image depends on the goal, message and the purpose as well as the phase of the project. But there is one extra very valuable aspect in there: the experiment. A virtual environment allows the designer to test his ideas in a fast and convincing way for himself and for the customer: after all, lighting design is all about creating exciting environments, with better lighting.

44 BLUE SKY THINKING

Š Leon Verlaek

Philips luminous textile with

Congress centre lounge, Philips Luminous textile panels, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

© BLD AV Media

BLUE SKY THINKING 45

A textile based

LED solution

By Isabelle Arnaud Textile panels with embedded LEDs are the latest innovative solution from Philips Lighting: creating movements of colours and images on fabrics to turn architecture into animated spaces.

Interior architect Olav de Boer explains how he used this new experience of lighting in his designs for the Breitner Tower in Amsterdam.

Floris Provoost, product manager for large luminous surfaces at Philips Lighting B.V. in Eindhoven remembers the beginning of the adventure. “Originally, we had the idea of

merging textile and LED technology to bring light close to people, to bring it to the body.

So we created T-shirts, jackets, bags and furniture, making light a completely different experience,” he says.

“But,” he continues, “in 2009, Philips decided that as a health and well being company we should refocus on a market that had a better fit with the Philips goal, and we had to refocus and find another match between light and textiles. Our market research came up with a new proposition: luminous textile panels to bring spaces alive.”

A new concept for architecture and interior design For the development team there were two major challenges: quality and feel, and simplicity. Each luminous textile panel is built up of multi-colour LED modules with a 60 mm pitch fixed to acoustic foam.

In order to meet the requirements of “quality”, Philips partnered with Kvadrat, the European leader in the market of designtextiles. The luminous textile panels are finished with Kvadrat textiles (seven different textures in up to eight colours) and use Kvadrat Soft Cells acoustic panels with

© Leon Verlaek

© BLD

ia AV Med

46 BLUE SKY THINKING

Entrance hall, Philips Luminous textile panels, Philips Lighting BV, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

patented technology to keep the fabric under constant tension with the aluminium frame. This ensures that the fabric always maintains a perfect surface across the frame, regardless of changes in humidity or temperature.

“Our panels come in standard and customised sizes,” says Provoost, “from a minimum size of 1,200 x 720 mm up to a maximum size of 1,200 x 6,480 mm.

Thanks to the addressable RGB LEDs, we can create any colour. This means that we can provide our clients with any kind of content that they want (animated images, changing colours, static pictures, etc.).

The luminous textile system offers freedom of textile, freedom of size and freedom of content”.

Provoost explains that: “the panels can be mounted on the wall or ceilings with bolts and magnets. It’s as simple as that.” That was also part of the challenge: anybody should be able to install the panel. You plug

in the power and ethernet connector and the system is ready to upload the content.

Philips also delivers software that allows you to change the content whenever you want and so to bring spaces alive.

How to change spaces The solution is more about how to change spaces than about light and textile technology. The panels can be attached to walls and ceilings. Some projects have already been completed including the Breitner Tower restaurant in Amsterdam.

Olav de Boer of Procore was the interior architect. “The main question was to design a restaurant that would become a space that could be used all day for different purposes: for meetings, as a working place, etc. So the space had to become multi-functional.”

Within the large space, de Boer created different smaller areas where people could meet in calm and relatively private spots.

“I wanted to make sure that the restaurant was dynamic and vivid throughout the day, even when the numbers of people were small,” said de Boer, “so we used colour, diversity and movement on the luminous textile panels; that’s how the idea for dynamic moving light screens first came to mind. We wanted people working there or just coming in to feel at ease and privileged to work in the Breitner Tower.”

The content designed by Boer together with Provoost helps to identify the spaces and enforce their identity. “It’s interesting to see the effect of using more contrast”, comments de Boer, “of playing with more or less close up, etc. Sometimes people don’t immediately recognise what they are looking at; but after a while they discover more and it makes them curious. Also we try to add a more artistic level to the images, making it almost a piece of video art.”

© Leon Verlaek

© BLD AV

Media

BLUE SKY THINKING 47

Breitner Tower, Philips Luminous textile panels, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Architect: Olav de Boer, Procore

Š Alessandra Magister

GALLERY 49 Perseo Expo District – Il Sole 24 Ore, Pero, Milan, Italy

Top class

performance

Client Galotti S.p.A. Tenant Il Sole 24 Ore S.p.A. Architects Goring & Straja Architects Lighting design Europrogetti Engineering Light sources TL5 2x24W /840 HFP Luminaires Philips SmartForm TBS460 Lighting controls LuxSense Websites www.galotti.it/perseo www.gasarchitects.com www.europrogetti.biz

Left: The two wings of the building are connected by a multi-level glasspanelled walkway and a grid structure over the top.

By Emanuela dell’Isola The Perseo Expo District in Pero, site of the new headquarters of the newspaper group Il Sole 24 Ore, has a perfect mix of avant-garde architecture. Energy efficiency, optimisation of space and high-quality finishes, as well as a practical lighting system, satisfy the ever-changing requirements of the complex’s users. It is the only building in the Milan area to have been awarded a class ‘A’ energy label.

The Perseo Expo District office complex in Pero, on the outskirts of Milan, is in a highly strategic position, near to the Nuovo Polo Fieristico (the city’s new trade-fair hub). In the next few years it will gain prestige thanks to the renovation works that will be carried out in preparation for Expo 2015.

When the building’s owner, Galotti S.p.A., began construction in 2006, it had two main objectives: firstly, the building’s architecture had to blend seamlessly with the existing structures around it, and secondly, its energy efficiency had to be up to class ‘A’ standards.

The solution put forward by the international architectural firm Goring & Straja Architects was to build two wings connected by a multi-level glass-panelled walkway. This solved the problems arising from the structural constraints imposed by the building plot, and also complied with Galotti S.p.A.’s wish to have a complex that could be adapted for use by a single tenant or multiple tenants.

However, it proved a lot more difficult to pinpoint a solution to optimize all the energy and lighting sources in order to meet the specifications required for a class ‘A’ energy label. “We didn’t know how exactly we could arrive at such a building back in 2006, and it was for this very reason that we conducted, during the works, as many as four value-engineering analyses so that we could constantly monitor the progress of the project, take any corrective

50 GALLERY

© Goring & Straja Architects

“We’ve been able to reduce our energy consumption by approximately 30%”

Transverse section of the building from Goring & Straja Architects.

actions and eventually be granted the certification that the client had originally targeted. Everyone in the team worked resolutely to achieve this goal, and this proved to be a winning approach,” explains Eugenio Montissori, Project Manager at Galotti S.p.A. Philips Lighting played its part in these rigorous efforts to find more efficient solutions by devising, in partnership with Europrogetti Engineering, a technical lighting plan that could be used to light the entire building, which has an area of more than 10,000 m².

At the heart of this plan is an efficient system for automatically controlling artificial light integrated within the SmartForm TBS460 luminaire. It employs a system of optical sensors that is capable of regulating the light emitted according to the amount of natural light present. “We selected these light fixtures due to their guaranteed long working life, equal to around 20,000 hours, and their superior aesthetic effect, since they are embedded in the ceiling and thus have virtually no visual impact,” explains Donato Fermi, works manager and light-fixture design coordinator at Europrogetti Engineering.

Energy savings The Perseo building is fitted with sweeping glass-panelled surfaces that enhance its aesthetic appearance but at the same time present a challenge in terms of energy saving – the building’s thermal requirements (in terms of insulation, roofing, sunshades and canopies) have to be reconciled with the typology and efficiency

of the heating and air-conditioning equipment and the use of renewable energy sources, all the while keeping management costs as low as possible. “By succeeding in bringing together all the various factors relating to energy efficiency, we’ve been able to reduce our consumption by approximately 30%, and our cost per square metre currently stands at around only 8 euros, which is almost a quarter of what you’d pay in conventional buildings,” says Montissori.

Working conditions In addition, the installation of LuxSense daylight sensors into light fixtures has made it possible to keep the level of light in the openplan offices constant during daylight hours, creating a comfortable but energy-efficient working environment.

The building has also made working conditions markedly more agreeable, being able to light work surfaces without glare or straining employees’ eyes. This not only enhances the working performance of these employees, but also reduces costs arising from maintenance or technical adjustments.

Lastly, in addition to the practicality and performance factors, light also plays a key role in the building from an aesthetic perspective: in a shell that is highly transparent, extremely open and with high visibility – by both day and night – the way the building is lit emphasises its linear geometry and its transparency.

Š Alessandra Magister

GALLERY 51

Offices and meeting rooms have an efficient system for automatically controlling artiďŹ cial light, integrated within the SmartForm luminaires.

52 SNAPSHOT

Snog is a range of shops selling frozen yogurt. Cinimod Studios has used lightfilled ceilings in imaginative ways in each of the six stores. The idea is based around a perpetual British summer.

The store is completely lit with LEDs. Behind the ceiling are more than 400 strips of RGBW LEDs, which can be individually controlled using real-time audio and video feeds to create constantly changing effects.

© Cinimod Studio

Client Snog Pure Frozen Yogurt Lighting Design Dominic Harris – Cinimod Studio Branding and graphics ICO Design

Faculty of Fine Arts, Izmir, Turkey

AB Group, Orzinouvi, Italy

As part of the project carried out in conjunction with chief contractor, Özyavru Elektrik, Philips developed a unique and extraordinary lighting solution. In addition to ensuring overall harmony with the building design, the main goals of the project were to provide adequate illumination, particularly in the hallways, training rooms, workshops and instructor rooms, and to illuminate the façade to bring out its natural texture.

From a lighting perspective AB Group presented three challenges for the design. Philips’ innovative LED lighting technology was more than able to meet all three conditions by using DayZone and LuxSpace. A single system can manage all the lighting, something that proved to be the deciding factor in choosing Philips.

Client Izmir University of Economics Chief contractor Özyavru Elektrik

Client AB Group Lighting designer Marco Baronchelli - AB Group

© Sinan Keskin

Snog frozen yogurt store, Chelsea, United Kingdom

SNAPSHOT 53

There are many examples of how light can enhance people’s lives. Here we have selected six projects from across the globe, ranging from the sets for a rock concert to a hospital. To read more about these and other projects, please go to our website www.philips.com/lightingprojects

Concert Hall, Bad Salzuflen, Germany In 2005, the entire concert hall area of Bad Salzuflen was given protected status as an outstanding example of 1960s spa architecture. However, by any architectural standards it failed to comply with many contemporary norms and guidelines, and was in urgent need of renovation, particularly the lighting system. More than 2,200 LED lamps were installed and in addition to an annual saving of 25,000 Euros it also reduces the amount of time required for replacing faulty bulbs in the extremely high concert hall ceiling.

Client Concert Hall Architect Friedrich Schmersahl - SBP Architects Electrical planning Heinz Mies - Mies & Reichelt GmbH

Mercedes-Benz Fascination Centre, Brussels, Belgium

Vegas Mall, Ginza, Moscow, Russia

Since 2010 the main building of MercedesBenz in Brussels has housed a brand-new Fascination Centre. With its anthracitecoloured floors and walls, the space has an ultra-modern but at the same time a dark and ‘empty’ feel. Consultancy and design studio Publiganda and Philips developed a 120 metre long, four metre high LED wall with approximately 200,000 RGB LEDs – something completely unique.

The Vegas Mall is one of the largest retail sites in the world and includes an amusement park, an 18-metre observation wheel, a tower drop ride and an ice rink.

But the real centerpiece of the development is the recreation of Tokyo’s famous Ginza shopping street; a unique lighting challenge that demanded the most breathtaking of solutions. Philips LED lighting solutions were the perfect choice to create the mall’s extraordinary lighting experience.

Client Mercedes-Benz Belgium Luxembourg

Client Crocus Group

54 SPOTLIGHT

The Architecture of Light, Recent Approaches to Designing with Natural Light Author: Mary Ann Steane Publisher: Routledge ISBN-13 paperback: 978-0415-39479-6 ISBN-13 hardcover: 978-0415-39478-9 246 pages Reviewing the use of natural light by architects in the era of electricity, this book aims to show that natural light not only remains a potential source of order in architecture, but that natural lighting strategies impose a usefully creative discipline on design.

Considering an approach to environmental context that sees light as a critical aspect of place, this book explores current attitudes to natural light by offering a series of in-depth studies of recent projects and the particular lighting issues they have addressed. It gives a more nuanced appraisal of these lighting strategies by setting them within their broader topographic, climatic and cultural contexts.

Light Volumes: Art and Landscape of Monika Gora Architectural Lighting, Designing with Light and Space Author: Hervé Descottes, Cecilia E. Ramos Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press ISBN-13: 978-1568989389 144 pages, 177 colour illustrations, paperback Language: English Architectural Lighting, the latest addition to the Architecture Briefs series, provides both a critical approach to and a conceptual framework for understanding the application of lighting in the built environment.

The key considerations of lighting design are illuminated through accessible texts and instructional diagrams. Six built projects provide readers with concrete examples of the ways in which these principles are applied. Short essays by architect Steven Holl, artist Sylvain Dubuisson, and landscape architect James Corner explore the role of lighting in defining spatial compositions.

Author : Lisa Diedrich Publisher :Birkhauser ISBN-13 : 978-3034607575 208 pages, available from December 2011 Language: English Landscape architecture can be a discipline of planning that creates everyday worlds just as architecture does or it can assert its position as an art form and produce extraordinary works that take on communicative tasks. Gora’s work reveals a playful approach to the environment and proves that the built landscape need not be a deadly serious matter but rather is there for the senses: for astonishment, brooding, an aha or a laugh, somewhere between intellect and sensibility, beyond the materialism of garden and landscape architecture and far from the conceptualism of museum art. This is demonstrated, for example, by her amorphous light objects called “Jimmies”, which provide white or coloured light for playgrounds, housing colonies, while also inviting people to sit or climb on them.

Hadid, complete works Author: Philip Jodidio Publisher: Taschen ISBN-13: 978-3-8365-0294-8 600 pages, hardcover Language: Multilingual Edition: English, French, German Zaha Hadid is a wildly controversial architect, who for many years built almost nothing, despite her designs winning prizes and critical acclaim.

Hadid has designed radical architecture for over 30 years.

Covering her complete works to date, and all of her recent work from Dubai to Guangzhou, this XL tome demonstrates the progression of Hadid’s career—including not only buildings but also furniture and interior designs—with in-depth texts, spectacular photos, and her own drawings. Also included is a special section with translucent vellum paper allowing multiple layers of designs to be viewed at once or separately.

SPOTLIGHT 55

Discover the Philips Lighting hub iPad app The app contains inspirational projects and also offers you the complete professional lighting portfolio in one go.

The Lighting hub is a great source for inspiration and information. www.iTunes.com

The quarterly email newsletter www.philips.com/luminous

The latest in lighting technology www.philips.com/lightspec

Copyright Š 2011 Koninklijke Philips Electronics B.V. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without the prior written consent of the copyright owner. The information presented in this document does not form part of any quotation or contract, is believed to be accurate and reliable and may be changed without notice. No liability will be accepted by the publisher for any consequences of its use. Publication thereof does not convey nor imply any license under patent - or other industrial or intellectual property rights.

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