Lighting in Design November-December 2015

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Spectra, London Image: focusedmoments1.net

Graz is very low resolution, but clads the entire build- ing. Similarly, the company integrated low resolution pixels across Iluma , an entertainment and retail complex in Singapore. What this approach does is turns buildings into iconic displays both during the day and at night, and permits people to orientate themselves in a city through instantaneous recognition. That’s good advertising for the companies or services re- siding within those buildings and harks back to the reasons companies commission cutting-edge architects in the first place. It also means that these buildings become good citi- zens within the communities where they’re based. These sorts of considerations are important, especially where lighting is used for commemorative installations. Two recent memorials were the Tribute in Light , an art installation of 88 searchlights next to the site of the World Trade Center, and Spectra , which lit up the London sky to commemorate the 100 th anniversary since the start of the First World War. Each of them used powerful searchlights to create deeply emotive light sculptures; Tribute in Light recreating the out- lines of the two World Trade Center towers destroyed on 11 September 2001, and Spectra recreating the searchlights hunting for planes flying overhead. Residents across London participated in the memorial by turning out their house-lights or putting black-out material across their windows. In 1914, on the eve of the First World War, UK Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, said, "The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime." The end of the war brought stability and peace to Europe, but new technology changed our night sky as well. We lost darkness and the ability to see the stars at the exact moment that our technology permitted us the idea that we might just be able to go visit them. It’s good to know that, even as we play with lighting and design creative building façades, we are also reducing the energy cost and light pollution of our cities so that darkness becomes something to celebrate.

Light is brilliant Solid State Lighting Solutions

For more information please contact:

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors Petrus Booyens

Phone +27 11 207 5609 Mobile +27 79 525 1779 E-mail petrus.booyens@osram.com

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