Designers and Lighting Design in the Urban Environment

04/24/2012

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Chicago Scene - Day
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Chicago Scene - Night
Natural sunlight bathes everything equally.  At night, lighting designers choose what to light and what to emphasize leaving the rest cloaked in darkness.  Add the option of choosing the color of light and you can really direct the eye.  In the photo on the left, nothing stands out, but in the night photo on the right when the clock tower is colored blue, it becomes a crowning focus.  Designers and architects are constantly imagining how to frame views as they mentally "walk" through buildings.
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Organic LED Fixtures Coming on the Market

04/16/2012

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Blackbody Rain Chandelier
Last October 2011, I wrote about new organic LED (OLED) fixtures that were soon to be introduced.  The potential of this new product -- composed of thin layers of film that glow  -- promise to dim the distinction between light fixture and light bulb.

French Lighting manufacturer, Blackbody, has introduced a line of OLEDs and  one is pictured.  A suspended series of thin disks, each an OLED, seems an ideal match for this new technology.  See this link for their 2012 catalog.
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Plumen Fluorescent Light Bulbs

11/28/2011

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Plumen Fluorescent Light Bulbs
Life used to be simple. There was one kind of light bulb, the "A" style incandescent that was invented by Thomas Edison. Then fluorescent light bulbs provided another choice.  I first saw this on-line earlier this year and was really fascinated with the whimsical look that is intended to be exposed.  Now I see they are available locally at the City Lights - Light Bulb Store. They are 8 times more energy efficient compared to incandescent bulbs -- just be sure to dispose of them properly.
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City Lights Light Bulb Store
Over the years, the numbers and types of light bulbs grew larger and larger.  Now when you buy a light fixture, you have to be sure you know a source for a replacement light bulb as your local grocery store may not carry them.

City Lights - Light Bulb Store is the place I go to find any type of light bulb.   I just walk in and show them the specification for the light bulb and they magically produce it! Its located at Folsom and 12th Streets in the SOMA district of San Francisco.    Street parking is not too bad.  Click here for their website.  LM
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Organic LED Lights may be the wave of the future

10/31/2011

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Acuity OLED lights were awarded the most innovative product of the year at Lightfair International 2011 in Atlanta.  There was a mini Lightfair show at PG&E in San Francisco recently and I got a chance to look a the award winning light fixture and hear a lecture from the developer Peter Ngai.  See a video here.   

OLEDs are different from LED lights just now coming into use.  LEDs are replacing fluorescent lights, which in turn were replacing inefficient incandescent bulbs.  The problem with fluorescent light bulbs are their toxic materials and  landfill issues.  LED lights are made of inorganic materials while OLEDs are made of organic materials.  Organic LED or OLEDs are microscopic thin layers of organic materials that glow when given an electric charge.  The "bulb" is a thin layer of material and "bulb", the housing, and the lens fixture are all now merged into one element.  The product is just coming on the market now and Peter Ngai anticipates increasing efficiencies in OLEDs that will make it competitive with LEDs and other lighting products.  The big plus with OLEDs will be energy efficiency, efficient use of materials, and no disposal of toxic materials.  LM
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