L I G H T I N Gprofessional design

Magazine forprofessional lighting design

No.

61

Jun

/Jul

200

8

Official partner of the Professional Lighting Designers’ Association, PLDA

h 51997 chinese | english int | english uk | eenngglliisshh uuss | german | turkish

main topicLighting culture in the Middle East

lighting designUniversity in Yale/USA

Hotel Resort in Muscat/Oman

Islamic Forum in Penzberg/D

interview Two Europeans working in the Middle East

market + technologyPhasing out incandescents

Fair revue 2008

lighting philosophyLight – and the quest for the truth

light artTatsuo Miyajima

reprint for luxim corporation

TitelLuxim 09.10.2008 12:16 Uhr Seite 3

Fair enough The sunny and cloudy side of the fair scenario … observations, analyses, and trends

from the four light shows that took place this spring.

Text: Joachim Ritter, FPLDA

This summer, the international lighting industry looks back on four lighting exhibitions within ten weeks. They took place in Frankfurt,

Las Vegas, Dubai and Guangzhou – a clear indication of where the centres of innovation and investment power lie. But only one of

those fairs can be really satisfied with the way the show went and with the concluding evaluation of the event…

Nobody seriously expected thateach of the four fairs would come upwith their own array of innovationsor would attract equal masses of visi-tors. The glowing reports issued bythe fair authorities subsequent totheir respective events naturally con-tain some unquestionable facts, buteven if the Guangzhou fair is gro-wing and developing, and the confe-rence programme is holding its own,it is not as if a wave of regret wentthrough the lighting communityfrom people who had missed it. LEDproducts figured big-time – whatelse would one expect – and the in-ternational contribution to the semi-nar programme featured some of the

grand old men of the lighting worldpresenting their experience to a young dynamic Chinese market.

The poor turn out of visitors forLight Middle East in Dubai was in-deed unappetizing food for thoughtfor the organisers. An analysis of thereasons for the low numbers needsto be made fast if this fair is to sur-vive.

The Messe Frankfurt subsidiaryhas to admit that there are very fewlighting design practices in theMiddle East, insufficient in fact toserve the discerning local clients.The majority of leading lighting designers come from Europe, theUSA or Asia and Australia, the same

as architects. For designers of thiscalibre, Light+Building in Frankfurt isobligatory. Nobody expects Dubai tocome up with relevant innovations afew weeks later. Another aspect isthat the lighting design world is cur-rently extremely focussed on LEDs.In the Middle East, however, LEDsdo not work (well) under the givenextreme climatic conditions, which iswhy suppliers of LED facade ele-ments – currently the driving forcein the lighting industry – were notamong the exhibitors. As a conse-quence, Light Middle East needs acompletely new concept, or shouldat least confine itself to alternatingwith Light+Building.

Takesplace

ExhibitorsExhibition

spaceVisitors

2008Visitors

2007-2008Number

of papersConferenceattendees

Supportingprogramme

Light + Building/D 2008 bi-annually 2173 241631 sqm 167084 167084 18900

(multiple attendance)

Luminale with 220installations and 180

Events

Lightfair International/USA annually 510 14583 sqm21730 (2007)19864 (2008)

41594 701916 (2007)2423 (2008)

(multiple attendance)

- IALD awards- GE Awards

Light Middle East/UAE annually 950 13972 sqm insignifi cant 30000 10approx. 200

(multiple attendance)---

Guangzhou annually 1539 106000 sqm 48105 44738 --- --- ---

PLD-C London bi-annually 25 300 sqm 1000 1000 651000

(individual conventionattendees)

Richard KellyExhibition, Gala

evening

Overview and com-

parison of the inter-

national fairs and con-

ferences focussing on

light and lighting

design. Information is

based on data provided

by the respective

organising bodies.

The conference programme,PLDA Light Focus Middle East,which was once again compiled and organised by the ProfessionalLighting Designers' Association,PLDA, offered high-quality papers to a high-quality and satisfied audi-ence.

Lightfair in the USA has been living with a similar situation foryears, especially when the fair is staged in Las Vegas. The fair itself isrelatively well attended, althoughthe bulk of visitors are industry repsand lighting people with more of anengineering focus, and not really theupper end of the lighting designmarket. Lightfair is thus slowly but

PLD 3_2008_ENG_48_61 31.07.2008 12:59 Uhr Seite 56

The video, light and sound Luminale project entitled

“Opera Light Moods“created by light and media artists

Tobias Link and Oliver Jene was realised using LED tech-

nology from Insta. Different light moods were generated

over one wall of a room via Opera luminaires suspended

in the space. Visitors were able to select preprogrammed

songs or arias using a touch screen.

Opera, designed by Tobias Link, can also be applied in pri-

vate homes. www.tobiaslink.de. www.insta.de

5757MARKET + TECHNOLOGY

sional, Erco or Zumtobel Lighteriorswere missing completely on theshow floor in Las Vegas, or thatother large manufacturers were pre-sent on small representative boothsonly, preferring to cut their Lightfairattendance to once every two yearsin New York City. Indeed, there aremore than a few US manufacturersdebating whether to exhibit atLight+Building in future. It does notlook like Lightfair will be changingtheir annual status until at least2018, though. That is when the 30-year contracts between the partnersAMC, IALD, IES and the LD+A runout. One can only hope that Lightfai-r's image does not suffer too much inthe meantime and that the partnersinvolved do not lose more than theygain annually.

One has to say: the technical con-tents of the products on display atLightfair were definitely worth takinga closer look at. Innovations in theLED sector from so-called start-upcompanies gave interesting insightinto what the future might hold. LEDarrays are gaining in significance andthere is progress to on the LED spot-light front.

LED technology is bringing a lot ofchanges and new possibilities to themarket per se. One can observe akind of harmony creeping into thelighting world in the LED sector,which allows companies easier ac-cess to markets that were formerlydifficult to work on. The US marketis beginning to register new compe-titors from Europe and Asia: Belgianmanufacturer Schréder, suppliers ofstreet luminaires, are planning to be-come pro-active on the US marketwith their LED products, for exam-ple. It is now up to US manufactu-

surely becoming a trade show. Notsurprising when the fair organisersgo out of their way to discouragelighting designers from coming tothe fairground. In a letter addressedto the Professional Lighting De-signers' Association, the organisersthreatened to take drastic steps ifPLDA were to organise official meetings of any kind on or aroundthe fairground. It seems strange todeliberately un-invite a leading inter-national association with over 600members worldwide from a so-cal-led international fair, and not in theinterest of the fair organisers – although maybe in the interest oftheir partners. The above-mentio-ned letter was a waste of timeanyway, because the meetings PLDAhad implied they were holding amo-unted to small groups getting to-gether on the occasion of Lightfairand not any kind of large-scale official gathering such as the Celebration of Light that took placeduring Light+Building in Frankfurtand attracted over 800 internationalguests.

The Lightfair organisers will not beparticularly happy about the conti-nuing discussions about their showin the media, either. In her editorialin Architectural Lighting, editor-in-chief Elizabeth Donhoff talks ofLightfair's dwindling significance andobserves that lighting designers findmore appeal in the more design-oriented Light+Building. Donhoffdescribes Frankfurt as (substantially)bigger, nicer and more effective.

These are very frankly spokenwords, but they express what manyin the US lighting industry feel. It isnot a coincidence that leading ma-nufacturers such as Martin Profes-

Fair review

PLD 3_2008_ENG_48_61 31.07.2008 13:00 Uhr Seite 57

rers to find their niche somewherebetween high-quality design and re-liable technology from Europe andthe cost pressure from Asia. Innova-tion is one approach, that's for sure.

For years now the creative sectionof the lighting community visitingLightfair has been meeting almostexclusively at conferences, seekingdiscussion with colleagues and aiming to further their knowledge.And yet even at this hitherto quality-wise undisputed event, which claimsto be the largest series of seminarson lighting en bloc anywhere, therehave been rumblings that the shineis beginning to wear off. The semi-nars did not appear to be so well attended this year, although thenumbers purport a different story. Acouple of years back some sessionswere completely sold out.

All in all, Lightfair has forfeited al-most all of the qualities built up overthe last ten years. Lightfair Interna-tional is now simply the largest – albeit only – annual lighting exhibi-tion in the USA, and as you can seein our table, with the most compre-hensive seminar programme onlighting in the USA. From a qualita-tive point of view Lightfair comes offpretty poorly in a comparison withFrankfurt. Quantitatively, it does notcompare well Guangzhou either.And when compared with the PLDConvention in 2007 and the comingPLDC event in Berlin in 2009, whichwill have a 70-paper line-up dedica-ted solely to Lighting Design and an

58

expected 1500 attendees, Lightfair isgoing to find it hard to maintain aleading position on the conferencescene. To be honest, it is difficult tocompare, because while the PLDConvention in London counted theoverall number of attendees, fairconferences tend to count the num-bers of attendees at each sessionand add them up, so persons atten-ding more than one session are ac-tually counted more than once.

But what is far more exciting thanindividual market and fair strategiesis watching how the lighting industryis developing overall. The main to-pics of debate and interest remainLED technology and energy saving

(not linked). However, the in-formation put out about LEDsis not sustainable at all. Whatwas presented at Light+Buil-ding as novel and innovativehad already been overtakenbefore this issue of PLD hit themarket. Many designers thusfind it difficult to maintain aclear overview. Dynamic deve-lopments on the technologicalfront and on the market arestaggered and mixed. Who

supplies what to whom? Philips recently brought out a

catalogue with over 60 pages of newproducts, each page with an averageof three new products. Osram pub-lished two brochures simulta-neously: a 16-page leaflet dedicatedto compact fluorescent lamps andanother one exclusively on LED

developments. We are currently in aphase of chaotic growth without anyrecognizable system or comprehen-sible structure, which is difficult tocommunicate widely to professio-nals, let alone in one issue of thePLD. As LEDs stride their way ontothe market we see a design trenddeveloping towards luminous sur-face lighting. While the significanceof light in architectural spaces is gai-ning ground, the influence well esta-blished lighting manufacturers hadon the market is being seriously un-dermined. New tactics are required:lighting suppliers such as Osramhave recognized that building upand maintaining direct contact tolighting designers is often more im-portant than the contact to theirOEMs.

The smaller the LED, the higherthe wave of interest it gives rise to.According to statements made bythe lighting industry, the battle weare fighting against global warminghas little or nothing to do with modern energy-saving light sources.Then again, we shouldn't always be-lieve what we are told. Record ra-tings of 135 lumens per watt havebeen quoted by specialists in Osram's R&D laboratories for a whiteLED with a colour temperature of5000K. At the end of August Nichiais planning to launch a white LED onthe market that promises to deliver120 lumens per watt.

It is therefore more or less impos-sible to keep pace with all product

Osram recently announced that they

are getting 135 lumen per watt out of

a new white LED in their laboratories.

An attempt to present an overview of

LED products and applications...

PLD 3_2008_ENG_48_61 31.07.2008 13:00 Uhr Seite 58

MARKET + TECHNOLOGY Fair review 59

LIFITM: the light source itself measures

just 1.5 centimetres, but it offers the

light output of a 400 watt HID lamp!

Regent’s PAL system allows simple

colour temperature control.

news and present a serious detailedreport on what are truly the 'latest'products. In the forthcomig issues ofPLD we will therefore be focussingon different aspects of LED techno-logy individually, providing seriousreports on the various LED productsavailable

That having been said, atLight+Building it was not the LEDthat attracted our attention most.The Luxim Corporation from theUSA came up with a product that isjust as tiny as the now almost histori-cal low-power LED, but as efficientas a 400 watt metal halide lamp.LIFI™ is a category of solid-statelighting, but it is not an LED. Thefundamental difference is that LEDsuse the solid-state device itself forlight generation whereas LIFI™ lightsources use a solid-state device togenerate RF (radio frequency)energy to power a plasma lightsource. LIFI™ is able to combine thereliability of solid-state technologywith the high brightness and fullspectrum of HID (high-intensity dis-charge) sources. Unlike a traditionalHID light source, LIFI™ bulb doesnot need metal electrodes to drivepower into the source and thereforehas a more robust quartz vessel.LIFI™ is also able to produce a conti-nuous spectrum due to its ability touse more efficient light-generatingmaterials. The so-called LIFI-StA-40-01 is about the size of a Tic Tac mintand delivers 22,000 lumens with 120lumens per watt source efficiencyand a rated life of 30,000 hours. At 95 the colour rendering index isexceptionally high. The light output

from a LIFI™ source is also directio-nal, easily dimmable, turns on andre-strikes rapidly (15 seconds), andcan operate in any orientation.

Luxim quotes road lighting andtechnical applications as the mainuses for their innovative light source,but the entertainment industry is likely to show interest as soon as thenews reaches that sector. At Light-fair this solid-state high-intensitylight source won the LFI InnovationAward in the Specialty Lamp cate-gory. If the LIFI performs as Luximpromises, this could well be the pro-duct of the year.

When it comes to LEDs, it is labo-rious to say the least to go into detailon the never-ending developmentscurrently in process and to sum upthe practically monthly success sto-ries about higher efficiency ratingsper watt, which always need to beexamined in detail and examined inrelation to luminous colour, colourrendering, environmental impactand service life. Without well foun-

ded information about how the indi-vidual products perform in practiceand tried and tested values attainedby manufacturers, it is hard to beable to make educated statementsabout the overall performance ofLEDs. There are tendencies, how-ever, that are worth taking note of.The main issues when talking aboutLEDs are≥ colour temperature and control≥ colour rendering index≥ heat dissipation≥ beam control≥ LED arrays≥ LED modules as light sources.

There were some remarkable de-velopments in the field of luminouscolour, for instance: Regent's PAL -Perception Adaptive Light source isa high-quality white LED available incontrollable colour temperatures.The presentation Regent gave of thisproduct at Light+Building was sim-ple, understandable and convincing.The colour temperature was conti-nuously variable between 2700 and

Lamp Lumens CRI

per watt

LIFI-STA-40-01 120 95

Metal halide 85 65-75

White LED 70 75

Ceramic metal halide 100 70-90

High-pressure sodium 125 20

Low-pressure sodium 180 <20

Efficiency of available light sources. Status: July 2008.

PLD 3_2008_ENG_48_61 31.07.2008 13:00 Uhr Seite 59

60

6500K at a constant colour ren-dering index of 90. Intensity andbrightness are likewise conti-nuously variable.

There was also news on theOLEDs front. Ingo Maurer got together with Osram and experi-mented with this new lightsource to come up with some future-oriented concepts. OLEDscombine all the qualities of theLED, such as low operating vol-tage and no mercury content,and offer some special featuresof their own. The light sourcedoes not comprise a mass of tinydots of light, but takes the formof a uniformly lit surface. Theemissive electrolumine-scent layerallows the formation of ultra-thin andscalable surfaces. OLEDs are verymuch in line with the general trendtowards luminous surfaces. Philipsare not working hand in hand withIngo Maurer, but OLEDs are verymuch on their agenda too.

But even OLEDs are not the be alland end all. What was not shown atany of the fairs, but is being resear-ched with considerable success inthe research laboratories at the Uni-versity of Karlsruhe, are LEDs madeof zinc oxide nanowire, or so-calledquantum wires. Zinc oxide is basi-cally white powder. Hundreds of

thousands of tons of it are producedevery year. In body lotions and moi-sturizers zinc oxide works as a sun-block, or in car tyres it helps dissi-pate heat. Zinc oxide is a natural semiconductor. The working groupdedicated to semiconductor physicsat the University of Leipzig have suc-ceeded in integrating phosphoratoms stably into ZnO:P nanowire(phosphor doping). This means thatthe scientists have been able to pro-duce high-quality ZnO quantum wi-res, which are pretty much zero po-tential, and especially eligible forblue and ultra-violet light emittingdiodes and laser diodes. But this is

very visionary stuff, and wewill have to wait and see whatdevelops. A quantum leap,maybe?And there is something ofnote to report on with regardto compact fluorescent lamps.Osram's new Dulux L28 wattHE has a rated lamp life of20,000 hours at 100 lumensper watt. The only faux pas inthe development of this lightsource is that Osram opted todesign a new lamp base forthe new lamp, which ofcourse means it can only beused in luminaires designedto take it. This 'innovation'

met with a lot of head shaking. Time will tell who can react more

flexibly and/or faster: Osram or the market…

A possible future application with

OLEDs. OLED panels become an inte-

gral part of the space when applied as

facade elements.

Light produced by zinc oxide: the

white powder is a natural semicon-

ductor and could play a part in future

LED technology.

Photo: University of Karlsruhe

PLD 3_2008_ENG_48_61 31.07.2008 13:00 Uhr Seite 60

CELEBRATION OF LIGHT

PROFESSIONAL LIGHTING DESIGNERS ASSOCIATION

‘

PLD 3_2008_ENG_48_61 31.07.2008 13:00 Uhr Seite 61

PROFESSIONAL LIGHTING DESIGN

is published by

VIA-VerlagMarienfelder Strasse 18D-33330 GueterslohGermany

www.pldplus.com

info@via-internet.com

TitelLuxim 09.10.2008 12:15 Uhr Seite 2