Light & Building 2018
The affirmation of LEDs finds vigour in the growth of digital technology.
T
he German trade fair closed with positive
results, as could be expected since it reflects
a global trend represented by the growing
interest in the increasingly technological lighting
world. In fact, the increased number of visitors
coincided with increased internationalization,
since the fair mostly attracted representatives
from the extra-European countries, among
which Kazakhstan, Angola and Namibia.
In the architectural lighting field, the areas
focusing on the research and development of
auxiliary lighting technologies have grown; this
has enabled an expansion of the typological
segments of some consolidated brands, and
has favoured the positioning of some emerging
productive realities.
The pervasive network
Technological innovation has become their
strength, using connected digital development
In alto, da sinistra
a destra / On top, from
left to right:
Incasso a soffitto Unico,
XAL: scena accento
distribuita a pavimento;
scena accento puntuale a
pavimento; scena diffusa
/ Unico, ceiling recessed
lighting by XAL: diffused
accent lighting; accent
lighting; diffused lighting
A destra / Right:
LCD beam framer, per
proiettori d'accento
Targetti / LCD beam
framer, for Targetti accent
projectors
20
LUCE 324 / SPECIALE LIGHT + BUILDING 2018
to control, manage and plan the use of lighting
in architecture and the landscape. In fact, this
edition of the trade fair is coherent with the
previous edition, held two years ago. The focus
is more and more on technologies that are
integrated in the lighting units, whether they
are directly connected to the quality of light or
to the set of auxiliary functions that integrate
strategically with the new standards of usage
of indoor and outdoor spaces in daily life. Also
the Internet of Things is a central point for
every manufacturer with regard to light that
is considered a form of service that integrates
with the pragmatism of the purely functional
scope. The concept of a connected network
has become a common denominator, and the
possibility of personally managing the effects
of light in space or shari ng different declined
modes through the internet represents, in
this edition in Frankfurt, a starting point
that seems pervasive. The intelligent house
characterized by domotics is no longer a
novelty as some years ago. In fact, once it has
been ascertained that every control system can
be directed, piloted remotely, and programmed
as an independent and intelligent instrument,
research on artificial lighting inexorably focuses
on a non-negligible aspect: the quality of
light in a wider declinable sense. In fact, the
revolutionary trend is the search of lighting
to enrich the ambient with new perceptive
meanings, both in the case of architecture
and landscapes, and meanwhile satisfying the
growing physiological needs of human beings.
New product concepts
The new awareness of the potentiality of
light is leading the market, and mainly
the users, to follow new design paths with
forms of interpretation of the contexts that
up to only few years ago could not even be
hypothesized. For example, if we observe a
product like Pivot by XAL we realize that, on
first impact, the formal appearance is not
necessarily innovative. It consists of tubular
elements that can be arranged freely in space,
adjacent to a wall or using a suspension
mode, along special guides. However, the true
innovation lies in the pulsating heart of the
system, with different levels of freedom of each
tube depending on the following variables:
dynamic white, dimmerability, but mainly
segmentation and linear flow of the pulsed
light. In other words, what once was a simple
luminous tube, today is an instrument of
graphic light communication that can generate
numerous compositions, and therefore its
name “mobile graphic tube”. The principle
underlying lighting design and control can
only evolve in the future, but in this phase it
already has a rich assortment of combinations
and potentiality, which in most applicative
situations are only exploited partially.
The concept of the product Unico of the same
company is no less surprising, as this ceiling
mounted recessed luminaire can generate a
number of effects: diffused downlight, narrow
beam downlight, wallwasher and diffused light
distribution. All these effects can be controlled
by a click, or better a “touch”, as the lighting