Using Daylight

It is generally better to make the most of natural light before adding artificial lighting.

An inspiring project used plastic bottles filled with water (and a little bleach to stop algae growth) to spread light into the homes of people who cannot afford electricity in the Philippines. Link

The high-tech equivalent is solar tubes, particularly ones which offer integrated LED lighting and daylight dimming.

Link

The benefit of these products is that spaces deep in the interior of a building can receive natural light during the day, saving electricity. Many of these products include daylight dimming so that you can effectively 'switch off' the daylight if you needed the room to be dark, and also light sensors and built in LED lighting, so that as the daylight fades, the LED lighting switches on and becomes brighter as the daylight diminishes.

The disadvantage is that you have to accommodate for the bulky tubes, which in an attic space is manageable, but running them to lower floors of a building required the tubes to be hidden within cupboards or similar.

Starry Fibre Optic Ceilings

I have seen a few examples of fibre optics being embedded into walls or floors or ceilings, and I think that often it looks very tacky, but can also be done very tastefully.

Generally they will not produce enough 'useable' light to be anything other than decorative, but some of the advantage of fibre optics in these applications (as opposed to using LEDs) are as follows:

• There is only one light source - this means that each individiual point of light does not need to be accessible and so can be fixed permanently (this is useful particularly in flooring as it can be sealed in and create a smooth surface)
• The end of the fibre is not electrically charged - it is merely a transmitter of the remote light source. This means that as long as the light source is kept dry, the actual surface to be lit can be wet.
• By adapting the light source you can add colour, twinkling effects, or dimming without having to touch the individual points of light.

Source: Starscape

Garden Tree House - Hironaka Ogawa

I have always been interested by Japanese architecture, both traditional and contemporary, and here is another great example.

The two trees had to be cut down to build the extension, and so the architect decided to have them dried and preserved so that they could be re-installed in their existing positions.

The white walls with the timber floor and tree columns provide a clean but warm interior. 

Prahan Hotel

This hotel in Melbourne, Australia, uses concrete pipes to create booths on the front facade of the hotel, and creates a stack of circular views into the interior.

The pipes create individual scenes of each of the booths.

What Happens When

What Happens When is a restaurant installation by the design group The Metrics. The room is painted from floor to ceiling in a dark grey and white furniture is used which stands out boldy against the dark grey backdrop.

The ceiling hosts a grid of hooks which can be used to suspend various objects, giving the space convenient flexibility.

This simple procedure means that the feel of the space can be changed dramatically with minimum disruption.

Design LED

This week I visited Lux Live and saw a product called Design LED which is a lighting technology comprised of LEDs set within a thin, transparent, flexible substrate.

You can watch a demonstration video here: Video
The product does not need a heatsink and the LEDs can be spread further apart or grouped closer together for lower or higher light outputs.
The possible applications for this product are endless.

Oslo Opera House

Last year I visited Oslo and saw the Opera House there. 

The building has a glass facade with the internal structure clad in oak. The outermost spaces within this structure have narrow openings in flowing shapes, allowing visitors views out into the foyer and beyond to the surrounding harbour.

The lighting to these areas is provided by small square lights recessed into the outer wall close to the floor as well as concealed cove lighting to the top of the inner wall.

The sloping plaza around the building allows visitors to see into the building from many different angles, allowing them to appreciate the unusual geometry.

The building is particularly striking at night, when the lighting to the interior creates wedges of light in the sharply sloping surroundings.