Conventional luminous ceilings actually use relatively little lighting technology. They rely exclusively on a maximum clearance between lamp and diffuser - typically 300 to 700 mm - in order to produce uniform illumination, and rarely offer many color options. Cielos is a multi-colored luminous ceiling system comprised by the lowest-profile, wide-area luminaires available.
Cielos meets all the functional requirements of a luminous ceiling within a 70 to 150 mm depth, and the lighting extends all the way to the edge of the luminaire. Every module is a self-contained luminaire element, fully equipped with ballasts and a double-diffuser chamber. Light is actually diffused twice: first in a diffuser layer with backing, then in the safety glass with a visually high-grade finish. The problem of eliminating any unwanted greenish hue is solved with high-grade iron-free glass. Using glass also prevents aging and solves the problem of fire-load regulations. [via Zumtobel.]
Labels: intelligent, lighting
We live in a time in which all material frontiers are being explored, and the interest in new materials now extends beyond the fields of design and architecture into popular culture. With the recent explosion in the quantity of new materials and products, it is important to highlight the candidates which will most likely influence our physical world.
I am pleased to announce the launch of
Transmaterial 2, the second volume in a series chronicling materials and products that redefine our physical environment, to be published by
Princeton Architectural Press. The first volume of
Transmaterial has been quite successful, and is already in its second printing.
Transmaterial received positive mentions in
A+U, Architectural Record, Azure. Building Design & Construction, BusinessWeek Online, Engineering News Record, Event Design, Fast Company, I.D., New Scientist, Popular Science, The Statement, Worldchanging, and other media sources. The second volume will build on the foundation created by the first book, and will be distributed internationally like the first volume.
If you are interested in participating, you will need to submit a product questionnaire, images, and permission. You may download the necessary forms in a
zip file or individually here:
directions,
questionnaire,
permission. Please submit all materials by January 31, 2007.
Thank you in advance for contributing to this exciting project.
Blaine Brownell,
Editor
Alog is a modular shelving system made from MDF and ash which features a wall-mounted modular block and easily detachable shelves that require no fittings. The nature of the design allows for various combinations and compositions of shelves, allowing the user to create his/her own customized system. Developed by Johannes Herbertsson & Karl Henrik Rennstam, the design has strong roots in the language of graphic design and functions as both shelving and a visual wall display. Alog is 648 x 648 x 200 mm in size, and the shelving provides a playful solution to storage requirements with simplicity of use built in. [via Vujj; suggested by Clayton Whitman, Seattle.]
Labels: 12, intelligent, shelving, wood
TX Active is a photocatalytic cement that can reduce organic and inorganic pollutants present in the air. In a large city such as Milan, researchers have calculated that covering 15% of visible urban surfaces with products containing TX Active would enable a reduction in pollution of approximately 50%.
“With what we have termed urban photocatalysis,” explained Enrico Borgarello, GroupResearch & Development Manager, “in the presence of air and light a natural process of oxidization is created which leads to the decomposition of organic and inorganicsubstances present in the city. Let us take, for example, nitric oxides and dioxides, sulfur dioxides, carbon monoxide, i.e. some of the elements which we see controlled everyday by air monitoring stations: the photocatalytic reaction which occurs on the surface of the material treated with TX Active, thanks to its cement matrix transforms these pollutants into salts which have no impact on the environment and health. Laboratory tests have shown that just 3 minutes of exposure to the sun is sufficient to obtain a reduction in polluting agents of up to 75%."
According to Deputy General Manager Fabrizio Donegà, who runs the Italian operations, “TX Active will initially be marketed in Italy, then in France and in the United States, and subsequently in some other of the 19 countries where the Group operates worldwide. It is an industrial project which allows us to enter the exclusive product market and which gives us the opportunity to underline that cement, which is often popularly associated with environmental decline, is in fact a very environmentally efficient product." [via Italcementi Group; suggested by Nick McDaniel, Seattle.]
