Photo courtesy IREN
City the negotiation takes place in real time , the laws are modified according to the transformations themselves , and the citizens share what is about to happen , consciously producing it . Technically today , lighting design ( and management ) can be an active and participatory part of this emerging scenario . I really believe these are the Latin , and Italic , bases of the Smart City , or rather of the City by all , a city of individuals , distinct and different , but capable of dealing with and having awareness of everything and the whole . Able to go beyond themselves , as the history of Italian design has always taught us – and we hope it will continue to do it in the future –, keeping light as one of its great design themes .
Alessandra Paruzzo
Head of Public Lighting Planning , IREN
01 To do more or better is not a dichotomous expression . You can do more and better . More can be done for those city areas – and there are many – that have not yet been the object of development . We need efficient and energy-sustainable lighting , adaptive lighting with respect to the real needs of the users , but also as a means of reading urban spaces , and not just of the central urban areas . Permanent architectural lighting would also be needed , but also suitable for temporary Light Art events , with the dual function of focusing on a place , but also of giving an opportunity for aggregation , conviviality , and culture . Like the experience of Luci d ’ Artista in Turin , not only in the centre but also in the suburbs . You can do better for those areas of the city that have already been enhanced by lighting interventions such as the improvement of the efficiency of the light sources , the integration with timely lighting control systems , but also the improvement of the existing architectural and scenic lighting systems . A lighting that today must be adjustable , adapting to different possible light and color scenarios during the year . In this , the lighting designer is now supported by DMX technology , even with remote control .
02 Recently , I read a phrase that in my opinion best expresses this concept , namely “ light has the function of a trait d ’ union between man and the environment that surrounds him ” 1 . But how to make these three fundamental elements – man , light , space – interact , is a choice of the lighting designer ; to think light as a mere means of vision to infuse security or to choose to give it an “ emotional ” role , suggesting a meaning to the vision , creating suggestive atmospheres , to which each “ spectator ” approaches with his own sensitivity and sensations . In this sense , light can certainly help responding to new emotional or convivial standards , with the colour , for example , that covers the architecture and the places of a City , giving a certain personal reading , different from what we are used to . A light that can please and arouse positive or negative emotions , and that “ moves ”, in some way , our emotional baggage , refocusing our attention on an aspect of the city that perhaps was taken for granted . I always like to think that the lighting designer can also interact with shadows , which are indispensable for the construction of space , no less than light .
Enrica Corzani
Business development and marketing director NERI S . p . A .
01 There is a growing awareness that in order to improve the urban geography and the quality of life of our cities , it is necessary to develop projects where many actors with different competences are involved . Fortunately , there are many virtuous Town Councils that understand the need to include a lighting designer in the work-team . This is the case of the Town Council of Gozzano ( NO ). The Mayor and the director of the technical office have formed a work group to requalify a part of the old town centre , and new design solutions have been drawn up , founded on values that are difficult to measure : quality wins over quantity . The Town Council ’ s need was to requalify the old town centre , particularly the square , which is the vital centre of the town and a meeting point , with a cultural and historical value . Piazza Matteotti is a stage that shows the towns identity , the sign of its belonging to a community , and it is the focus of Bianca Tresoldi ’ s lighting design project , which has been carried out with the help of our Company . Those who have to choose in the place of those who will use the end product have an important task . The lighting fixtures that illuminate our old town centres have a great functional and aesthetic responsibility . This is even more true in small historical towns like Gozzano , where attention must be paid to the existing structures and their protection . Here the intention was to create something unique and original that would highlight the identity of the place .
02 The technological development in the world of lighting has given life to products that were unimaginable up to only few years ago . The advent of LEDs , miniaturization of the source , high-performance and compact optical systems together with the creativity of product and lighting designers , generate new lighting fixtures for urban spaces or new ways of lighting . At times one starts from a specific requirement , as in the case that Bianca Tresoldi defined with Lanterna 2D , designed for the small old town . The lighting fixtures have two functions , one at day time , when the shape of the lamp and its location in the urban space is predominant , and the other at night , when the shape of the item disappears and light dominates the scene modifying its image . The 2D urban lantern , was born from the need for a fixture in the old town that would emit light according to the criteria and principles that are foreseen by the current laws and regulations on lighting , yet with an iconic and evocative design . Besides products like Lanterna 2D , by listening to the needs of our interlocutors , new technologies have been generated , like the one used by Citelum to implement its public lighting services in the city of L ’ Aquila . It is a LED engine , which is transversal to all our products , with an automatic programming feature that can change colour temperature in the different hours of the night , to adapt to the colour temperature outdoors . The new technology has been named Kruithof white LED engine and has been inspired by the studies carried out by the Dutch professor who first hypothesized a relation between colour temperature and levels of lighting . Our LED engine has been designed exactly according to this principle , so that at sunset , when natural light guarantees a good level of lighting , the light emitted artificially will be at a temperature of 4,000K , while at night it decreases to a temperature of 2,200K to guarantee maximum visual comfort when natural light is absent .
1
Sara Liuzzi , La luce nell ’ arte del nuovo millennio ( Light in the Art of the New Millennium ), Gangemi Editore , 2019
Scenario festivo , ponte Umberto Primo / Festive lighting for the Umberto Primo bridge
URBAN LIGHTING SPECIAL REPORT / LUCE 329 55