Light+Building 2018

Broadband Internet connection through light waves, urban lighting designs allowing Nature to recharge its batteries and Internet of Lighting technology nested in brutalist secret gardens… Archipanic selected some of the best innovative designs on show.

Pritzker Prize laureate Alejandro Aravena and his team at his architecture studio ELEMENTALpresents the O lighting collection for Italian brand Artemide.“The more the planet becomes urban, the more we appreciate the value of natural spaces” explains Aravena. “But one of the strongest intrusions in the natural order is the disappearance of darkness in our cities”. Indeed, plants and animals need darkness to distress and recharge their batteries but in our attempt to make parks safer, poles and cables lit all night long end to spoil Nature’s rhythm crucial for their survival.

“Our strategy is twofold: on one hand is to design a light for public spaces that when is not in use can be as imperceptible as possible; light without a lamp. On the other hand is to take advantage of different types of sensors so that light appears just when needed, light only on demand.”

Philips Lighting is now offering Light Fidelity (LiFi), a technology in which high quality LED lighting provides a broadband Internet connection through light waves. LiFi is a two-way, high-speed wireless technology similar to WiFi which uses light waves with a speed of 30 Mb per second instead of radio waves to transmit data.

“While radio frequencies are becoming congested, the visible light spectrum is an untapped resource with a large bandwidth suitable for the stable simultaneous connection of a vast array of Internet of Things devices.” Explains Philips Lighting Chief Innovation Officer Olivia Qiu. “Being a lighting company, we ensure that our customers benefit from the finest quality energy efficient light along with state-of-the-art connectivity.”

Vincent Van Duysen’s brutalist pavilion inspired by a Roman villa for FLOS showcases the Italian company’s smart architectural lighting solutions for indoor and outdoor. The FLOS Smart Control? mobile app allows to control, point and dimmer all the brands lighting solutions which can be mounted on a rail track.

“At the core of the monolithic architecture of the pavilion we also created a secret garden contrasting with the architectural language,” explains Vincent Van Duysen. Among the new designs also Diversion, the modular collection for diffuse lighting solutions by Piero Lissoni and the Zero Trackminiaturized and dimmable light elements.

Rich Brilliant Willing in collaboration with OLEDworks presents a conceptual display showcasing its latest experimentation with thin flexible OLEDs, solid state lighting fabricated by OLEDworks. With the absence of any structural constraints, the studio designed a malleable fabric housing with custom, 3D-knit fabric by Stoll, the world’s leading knitting machine manufacturer. The result is a seamless fabric sleeve which maximizes the inherent flexibility of OLEDs, opening the possibilities for revolutionary integration of two emerging technologies: Organic Light Emitting Diodes and 3D Knitting.

Is never too cold to enjoy cool video-mapping shows. The 2018 Luminale Biennial of Art and Design takes over Frankfurt with over 100 luminous installations across the city. Until March 23 make sure to get mesmerized by video shows at the Offenbach’s main railway station, the Alte Oper, the R?merberg, the B71 in Offenbach and the historic Grossmarkthalle at the European Central Bank.