Light+Building

David Singer, principal, Arc Light Design, New York Bio: Singer is an architectural lighting design consultant and a registered architect who also serves as a senior associate and principal in lighting of the interior design firm of Tonychi and Associates. He has worked on projects around the world and specializes in the design of decorative lighting fixtures. He has taught the Luminaire Design course for the graduate lighting program at Parsons the New School for Design for the past 15 years.

Impressions of Light+Building: I believe the economic slowdown has had one good outcome: Some manufacturers have taken the time to reconsider their products relative to the new generation of LED light sources and advances in control systems. Two years ago, the products at this fair were mainly about retro-fitting existing fixtures with unimpressive LEDs and had a general lack of direction. This year, Light+Building was exciting and rejuvenating, as it provided a glimpse to the lighting advances of the next three to five years.

Much of this new product development on the LED front has been focused on getting a handle on the management of heat and how the form of the heat sink becomes a priority in the form factor of the luminaires themselves. There were notable fixture designs where the heat sink was integral to the fixture housing or enclosure. This achievement was not only done with decorative fixtures but also linear strip and downlight concepts. These fixtures, more often than not, took on new and fresh fixture forms. Though they provide a downlight performance, they do not look like the typical recessed downlight or troffer. Additionally, these new forms are in line with the aesthetic of the design proposals of many interior spaces authored by a new generation of designers. Notable fixture companies were Nimbus and Kreon.

The advances in controlling light sources and the ability to manipulate light level and color were also impressive. This may be the first of the new generation of control systems designed to control solid-state control gear. There were many advances in the control and keypad technology for controlling LEDs. The most impressive control system was the seamless dimmable ceramic metal halide in downlights, which could dim from 100 percent to 50 percent smoothly and without color shift. Notable fixture companies were Philips and Philips/Ansorg.