Find the perfect LED lighting products for your next project through Architizer’s new community marketplace for building-products: Click here for more information. Are you a lighting manufacturer looking to connect with architects? Click here.
The global LED lighting market is expected to surpass $100 billion by the end of year 2024. This represents an extraordinary growth rate, but it should not come as a surprise: In an era of rapid urbanization and rising concern for the environment, LEDs represent a far more energy-efficient method of illuminating buildings, both inside and out.
That said, their sustainable qualities are not the only reason architects love LEDs. Light emitting diodes can be contained within incredibly slim casings or even positioned upon flexible, sheet-like materials, enabling lighting designers to create unique forms fit for a broad range of architectural typologies.
Many of these forms were showcased this week at LEDucation, one of the world’s biggest shows dedicated to new creations in LED lighting. Architizer explored the exhibition rooms at the Hilton in Midtown Manhattan and talked with some of the most forward-thinking brands in the business about the very latest in LED innovation. We’ve picked out some of the most visually striking LED fixtures at the show — here’s who lit up LEDucation this year:
Interlace by WAC Lighting
A Mobius Strip gone wild, WAC Lighting’s playful Interlace pendants demonstrate the flexibility of LEDs more than perhaps any other product. Available in two sizes — 28” and 39” diameter — a pair of seamless interlocking loops are backed by highly reflective chrome. These sinuous, sculptural forms are suspended using powered aircraft cables, creating a glowing statement piece that appears to float in mid-air.
Pluck by SONNEMAN – A Way of Light
Renowned lighting brand and Architizer Member Brand SONNEMAN describes its Pluck floor and wall lamps as being “dramatically poised”, and it’s easy to see why. The product boasts a slender, arced profile and a crisp-edged, puck-shaped light that hovers delicately in mid-air. This disk is held with a magnet and rubberized ball that allows users to angle it in any direction, while the arc itself can swing out for maximum extension or be folded against the wall.
Custom lighting installations by FLOS / Lukas Lighting
FLOS recently acquired Lukas Lighting, a brand specializing in the creation of dramatic bespoke LED lighting for commercial interiors. They’ve worked on beautiful corporate interiors, retail chains, hospitality, and more with clients like JP Morgan Chase, Michael Kors, and Four Seasons Hotels. A standout installation completed in recent years was a light wave composed of 2,600 polished stainless steel and clear glass spheres, levitating within Capital One’s Gensler-designed New York headquarters.
Seraph Collection by Blackjack Lighting
Blackjack Lighting’s Seraph Single Pendant can be customized with a diverse set of light guides to suit the taste and space of different clients. Available with either a polished chrome or matte black finish, groups of pendants can also be arranged in unlimited variations within the Seraph Modular System, enabling dramatic light constellations that fill the entire ceiling.
ModernRail Pendant by Tech Lighting
Tech Lighting exhibited a large array of stylish sconces, recessed lights and linear lighting fixtures, but the distinctive ModernRail Pendant was a highlight at LEDucation. The aged brass fixture’s elegant form is defined by a series of frosted opal glass globes with fully dimmable LEDs. At a scale of 3’ in length and 12” in diameter, the pendant is ideal for all architectural typologies from commercial to residential.
Cu-Beam suspended lighting by Dyson
Architizer Member Brand Dyson has developed a sci-fi-sleek LED lighting solution for the modern workspace. The Cu-Beam down-light provides powerful, focused illumination for specific tasks, while the ultra-wide distribution of the up-light is suited to atriums, foyers and offices. For full flexibility, the “duo” option combines up- and down-lights that can be independently controlled for different functions. Each unit contains innovative heat pipe technology to keep it cool throughout each day.
Ripls by Louis Poulsen
Created by Danish designer Jakob Wagner, Ripls is a “multi-dimensional” light fixture that changes in character as you move past it. The undulating surface of the lamp evokes the subtle rippling of water, creating a diffused glow that makes it ideal for intermediary spaces such as corridors, stairways and reception areas. This is Minimalist lighting with a gentle twist.
VentoFlex Tiles by Emerge Lighting / Visual Communications Company
Ventoflex by Visual Communications Company (recent acquirer of Emerge Lighting) is perhaps the most literal manifestation of this article’s headline. The wafer-thin modular system allows architects and interior designers to bend a constellation of 90 CRI Luxeon LEDs around or through other architectural elements, producing a completely bespoke lighting installation. The square sheets are so thin that they can be cut with scissors into any shape that designers desire.
Slikk and yo.yo by IMPACT Architectural Lighting
The subtlest of curves makes the world of difference for one of IMPACT’s signature lighting fixtures. Slikk is engineered from a single piece of aluminum that has been welded, rolled, spun and ground smooth for a striking, seamless finish. Meanwhile, IMPACT’s playful yo.yo pendant displays a series of bolder curves, and is inspired by everyone’s favorite electronics-free toy. It comes in 12”and 16” diameters, and is available in 14 vivid powder coat paint colors.
Mantis Sconce by Lindsley Lighting
Cofounder Alan Lindsley worked at Gensler for 13 years before launching his own lighting firm, and his architectural background shines through in the streamlined form of the Mantis Sconce. Mantis boasts a slim profile only made possible through the use of LEDs, and is available with an anodized silver, anodized bronze or white powder coated finish.
Eclipse and Frame by Folio
Folio’s stunning “Folio Panel” range is built around the idea of combining maximum light with minimum thickness. True to its word, the company’s LED technology allows for units that are just 23mm thick and provide an even distribution of dynamic white light to the space below. Among the many forms offered by Folio, Eclipse and Giro are two of the most elegant, suspended lightly above kitchen countertops and meeting tables like gently glowing halos.
Search for the LED lighting products for your next project through Architizer’s new community marketplace for building-products: Click here for more information. Are you a manufacturer of glulam products looking to connect with architects? Click here.
