“A marriage made in heaven” is
how fibre optics specialist Starscape
describes the combination of modern
LED lighting and optical fibres. “LEDs
offer economy and long service life,
while fibre optics allow you to reduce
the number of potential failure points
in an installation and to distribute light
from easily accessible nodes around
the site,” says Starscape's sales director
Peter Fagan.
“Traditionally, the great problem with
embedding lights of any kind in a
structure is what you do when they
fail,” explains Fagan. “Replacing a single
failed light fitting may be difficult from
a technical perspective and as the
years go by there's also the issue of
being able to actually find a matching
replacement.”
However, since fibre optics allow you
to separate the light generation from
the light output you can bypass this
potential problem, he reasons. As
long as the LED-based light source
is accessible, maintenance is no
challenge, and in the worst case
Starscape
scenario a failed light source can be
replaced in a matter of seconds.
“One of the unique features of fibre
optic lighting is that you can promise
your client that by the time a light
source is eventually needs replacing,
the new unit will almost certainly be
more powerful, more economical, more
versatile and probably cheaper than the
original model,”says Fagan. “So, instead
of having built-in obsolescence, you
have an open-ended upgrade path.”
Starscape's compact LED-based
light sources can illuminate up to
around 450 x 0.75mm fibres (larger
models have capacities in excess of
1000 fibres), and these can be used
individually to create hundreds of “star”
points in paving, decking or walls or
they can be grouped in bundles to form
larger points of light in formal steel
paver/deck fittings. Or, use the fibres to
illuminate glass tiles set into the ground
or wall.
The electrical part of the project may be
as simple as plugging the light source
into the nearest socket, but Starscape
expects solar-powered light sources
to become more common in the near
future.
The more sophisticated light sources
have DMX functionality allowing for
full integration with home automation
systems, and lighting effects range from
subtle to very dynamic.
“The premium quality fibre which we
use allows us to project light to 15
metres quite comfortably, or as far as
20 metres at a pinch,” explains Fagan.
“Over longer distances the issue is not –
as you might expect – light attenuation,
but rather colour shift, as white light
starts to take on greenish hues. This
happens because attenuation affects
different frequencies at different rates.”
Northumberland-based Starscape
has customers in around 30 countries
worldwide.
www.starscape.co.uk
[email protected]
tel 01289 332900.
Simple shapes and primitive geometries
characterize the range “Tailored” by Matteo
Thun, from the creative collaboration between
Simes and the prestigious italian architect and
designer. A perfect balance between sustainable
and diverse material expressions: the range was
developed using a combination of wood teak
that conveys a warm effect and the minimalist
lines of aluminium, new finishes specifically
dedicated to improve the quality of the lighting
performance. Natural elegance and lighting
poetry that dress with charm the environments
with an unmistakable style.
Thun Video interview
32 Landscape & Urban Design