Archinect - News

Get ready for a big boom in vertical farming schemes

2022-04-07T17:24:00-04:00

At a time when supply chain disruptions continue to slow distribution, consumers embrace healthy eating habits and climate change is expected to affect crop yields, a practice known as controlled-environment agriculture, including indoor vertical farms relying on artificial light and technology, is attracting venture capitalists. What made moving indoors possible was a drop in price in LED lights, which plunged as much as 94 percent in 2015 from 2008.

The increasingly popular subsegment of the agriculture industry is expected to grow into a $9.7 billion market share by 2026 propelled by expanding urban populations and a decrease in arable land associated with traditional farming, which is on track to be cut in half by midcentury. Start-ups like FARM-X and AeroFarms have been able to expand their portfolio of warehouses thanks to an influx of seed capital but may still face limitations stemming from high energy costs required to maintain high-tech sensors and lighting systems based on LED technology that has recently stalled out in terms of its theoretical maximum efficiency.

“LED’s are not going to go down much more,” an adviser to the Tennessee Department of Energy explained to the Times. “Where investors are going against physics, they are going to have a hard time.”

The new world's largest kaleidoscope is a sight to behold

2022-02-03T14:33:00-05:00

The creative landscape of Saudi Arabia got a colorful new addition as STUFISH Entertainment Architects has revealed its design for what the firm says is now the world’s largest kaleidoscope.

The massive 40 x 6 x 3-meter (131 x 19.5 x 10-foot) installation hinges on an intricate series of LED tiles and a combination of seamless and warp-less mirrors that create an expansive, awe-inspiring internal environment. Visitors will be exposed to scenes of the Arabian Peninsula's stunning natural landscape and spotted with digital content that promotes the country’s investment in high-tech development.

Image copyright Stufish courtesy of LEAP

The installation is part of the 2022 LEAP future technologies conference hosted by Saudi Arabia, which concluded today at Riyadh’s Front Expo Centre. STUFISH partner Maciej Woroniecki says it is meant to represent “how a simple and considered design, when supported with a material that can scale as intended, can return an experience that is far larger th...

Pittsburgh is the latest city to join the dark-sky movement

2021-12-29T19:59:00-05:00

The Pennsylvania city announced in August it will become a dark sky city starting in 2022, meaning that it will switch to lower wattage LED bulbs and add shades along bridges, roads and other public areas. It’s the first city in the eastern part of the U.S. to adopt such policies but it joins other cities, including Tucson, Sedona and Flagstaff in Arizona, and Fulda in Germany, in their efforts to reduce light pollution and increase energy efficiency.

The dark-sky movement officially began in 1988, has produced events such as Earth Hour, and is currently expanding into other U.S. cities such as Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia.

Light pollution caused by stronger “white” LED fixtures has been shown to cause health and environmental harm along with negatively impacting the circadian rhythm of both humans and animals alike. To date, Pittsburgh has committed $16 million dollars to streetlight projects which will install about 40,000 fixtures in a period of 12–18 months. The city’s push is also beneficial to the reduction of traffic accidents and sense of pedestrian safety, according to Carnegie Mellon professor Diane Turnshek.

“It’s better for the environment, if you change to these low wattage and low color temperature lights,” she told Bloomberg. “It’s better for people’s health, better stars, and just across the board they’re better.”

The history and future of New York City's streetlight system

2018-06-11T20:51:00-04:00

New York’s nightscape is as iconic [...] as it is taken for granted. A city without streetlights is impossible to imagine, but New York’s 396,572 street-side luminaires are as unremarkable as the streets’ paving — invisible until something changes. An initiative to replace sodium and halogen bulbs with energy- and cost-efficient LEDs has thrown the nightscape suddenly into question, as some city residents bemoan the loss of romance (and sleep).

In her piece for Urban Omnibus, landscape and urban designer Emily Schlickman takes a fascinating closer look at the history of New York City's system of street-side luminaires (the largest in the nation), and how the recent transition to LED technology is affecting the city and its residents—both people as well as nocturnal fauna.

Wilshire Grand, the tallest building in Los Angeles, lights up over the weekend

2017-06-26T15:57:00-04:00

Nearly a fifth of a mile up in the sky atop Los Angeles’ tallest building, two massive LED displays — each 42 by 60 feet — sit dormant, ready to beam messages out across the city. The screens consist of 250 million pixels, each no bigger than a pea, ready to explode with vibrant oranges, blues and greens once the sun sets and the building begins to glow.

Los Angeles's tallest building, the Wilshire Grand, finally opened it's doors this past Friday. Standing at 1,100 feet, it is the tallest building in the U.S. west of the Mississippi. Beyond it's height, the tower is bringing something else new to the downtown skyline with two massive LED displays and roughly 2.5 miles of LEDS running up and down its spine.

In 2011, the LA City Council approved a plan to designate the area of Wilshire Grand and its surroundings as a sign district which would allow buildings to have LED Displays, including some for elaborate advertising. Though it had its opponents, backers claim this will bring an energy to the area akin to Times Square or Tokyo. The display screen atop will flash the logo for Korean Airlines, who owns the building, and for the InterContinental Hotel, which is a key tenant. It is also envisioned to have special displays for key events like holidays or a hypothetical Lakers Champion win. At street-level, a sign with static advertise...

Medical experts issue warning about street lights

2017-06-26T12:11:00-04:00

The American Medical Association (AMA) has just adopted an official policy statement about street lighting: cool it and dim it. The statement, adopted unanimously at the AMA's annual meeting in Chicago on June 14, comes in response to the rise of new LED street lighting sweeping the country. An AMA committee issued guidelines on how communities can choose LED streetlights to "minimize potential harmful human health and environmental effects."

There are two basic issues at hand. First, new, "white" LED lighting, which have a color temperature of between 4000K and 5000K, can cause discomfort and glare. This is because the light is concentrate and has high blue content, which can cause severe glare and force pupillary constriction. Second, these lights can impact human circadian rhythmicity, affecting our sleeping pattern. And, actually, it's not just human sleeping patterns at risk—wildlife migratory patterns are being disrupted as well.

A MAD gallery in Beijing that doubles as "a new facade for the city"

2017-05-30T19:16:00-04:00

Galleries often act as stagnant interior display spaces: their primary function is to host works in a relatively unobtrusive way that is artful without being ostentatious. But what about galleries that are designed to serve another purpose, as the freshly completed Roca’s Beijing Gallery in Dongzhimen by MAD Architects does?

Instead of tacking a few fixed pieces onto the walls, the gallery itself has an interior LED-laden wall that projects images both of gallery visitors and the pedestrians outside in a purposeful attempt to create an interface with the surrounding urban environment. Imagine combining the introspective mirror and looped video concepts of someone like Dan Graham with the aesthetic thirst for juxtaposition of a gallery curator: the rotating series of images, which was designed by art critic and curator Jérôme Sans, changes at varying intervals, and can be glimpsed by those passing by outside.

Sometimes the changes occur in seconds; in others, days go by before the imag...

Touring Danish playground emphasizes multi-faceted nature of play with modular elements + a smoke machine

2017-04-20T13:06:00-04:00

In addition to conceptually representing the inherent creativity of play, this touring modular playground made up of 35 white cubes mounted on safety rubber also features inlaid LEDs and a smoke machine, making it ridiculously cool for its target demographic.

As Stephan Gustin, one of the designers behind architecture firm Gustin Landscape's playground explains, "Kids are like grown-ups – we are all different, and since the ‘classic’ playground design only considers physical play, it is this variation in personality that is a high priority for My Playground. We created a set of ‘building blocks’ that can be configured in several ways to fit different places. We created these white cubes with refined decorations that have the feeling of a 'non-specific' landscape, meaning that you can create your own story, your own drama and your own fantasy. The cubes will then transform and blend into different environments. This could not happen if it looked like a giant ladybug - or classic swing...

LED streetlights may contribute to 'serious health conditions' says AMA, prompting cities to re-evaluate

2016-09-26T13:16:00-04:00

high-intensity LED streetlights ... emit unseen blue light that can disturb sleep rhythms and possibly increase the risk of serious health conditions, including cancer and cardiovascular disease. [...] Some [researchers] noted that exposure to the blue-rich LED outdoor lights might decrease people’s secretion of the hormone melatonin. Secreted at night, melatonin helps balance the reproductive, thyroid and adrenal hormones and regulates the body’s circadian rhythm of sleeping and waking.

While the American Medical Association cautions cities to re-evaluate their use of high-intensity LED lights for health reasons, others have pointed out that most televisions and computers also emit the blue light wavelength found to be potentially harmful. Aside from human health concerns, LEDs are also "a major contributor" to anthropogenic light pollution in the night sky.

Related on Archinect:

Visually Stunning Integrated LED Metal Mesh Transforms Facades

2016-03-28T09:00:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by GKD Mediamesh®.

GKD Mediamesh® is a woven stainless steel fabric with integrated LEDs that is used to create a transparent digital display. This unique product is the perfect solution when a digital display is needed on a façade, yet the view through windows needs to be maintained or air flow is required. Mediamesh® evolved from an architectural mesh product woven by GKD. GKD is a German-based Company who began as a weaver of industrial wire cloth in the 1920’s. These products were used in all types of industrial applications from filtration to aggregate screening to conveying. In the early 1990’s, architects began to look at these metal products and think about their potential uses in architecture. This is how architectural mesh was born.

As beautiful as architectural mesh is, customers still wanted more. They wanted to be able to have images, text, and video on these facades. Ag4 Mediatecture Company in Germany understood this and came up with the ide...

A closer look at UNStudio’s new Theatre de Stoep in Spijkenisse, The Netherlands

2014-10-14T14:05:00-04:00

In the Dutch town of Spijkenisse, the Theatre de Stoep designed by UNStudio recently celebrated its grand public opening, not long after the theater was completely realized. Inspired by the type of liveliness only experienced through live theater performances, the new cultural theater features undulating edges and a striking color palette of white and vivid purple, and circular LED lights on its façade.

Check out a timelapse video of the theater's construction below. More details about the project on Bustler.

Big businesses and baby steps: Weekly News Round-Up for September 22 and 29, 2014

2014-10-06T18:43:00-04:00

Friday, October 3:

Eisenhower Memorial clears key hurdle on Gehry design: In a positive step for the Memorial's Approving Process Odyssey, the National Capital Planning Commission has OK'd the Commission on Fine Arts (the other federal body that must approve the design) to vote on the Memorial.
Where are the women? Measuring progress on gender in architecture: A series of infographics on the representation of women in architectural practice and education, courtesy of ACSA.

Wednesday, October 1:

Guggenheim plans New York expansion… again: Not for more art space (Gehry tried that before) but for offices.
Zaera-Polo steps down as dean of Princeton's School of Architecture: From the press release: "the school's former dean, Professor Stanley T. Allen, will serve as acting dean until a permanent successor is appointed and that Professor Allen will chair the search for the new dean."
Tiny Spanish Island to be First Energy Self-Sufficient Island: The 10,000 population island will use renewable e...

LEDs to be installed in the Sistine Chapel

2014-09-30T12:57:00-04:00

When Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, he did so, for the most part, using the light of the sun that streamed through the windows of the building. And for the past 500 years since then, viewers have admired the results of that work, for the most part, with the help of that same light source. Starting next month...the famous ceiling will be getting a new look in the form of new lights. Some 7,000 LEDs, to be precise [...]

Scientists Develop Technique to Improve Flexible, Conductive, Transparent Glass

2014-06-26T19:01:00-04:00

A new technique developed by a Binghamton University physicist and his colleagues will improve the quality of flexible, conductive, transparent glass. (The sort that's needed for Minority Report-style giant computer displays.)[...] Creating a more reliable production process for a-IGZO will save electronics manufacturers money. It could also reduce energy use, as a fully transparent display can take advantage of ambient light and does not require as much backlighting.

Advances in technologies such as this one will enable glass to go beyond transparency and become screens, with the potential to radically change architecture and urbanism. A future in which windows, doors, and even walls could stream movies or display art is fast approaching. LED and LCD screens have already become ubiquitous in many cities for advertising. And in Beijing, screens are being used to display sunrises because air pollution is so bad that the skies are almost perpetually gray – a reminder that cool technology doesn't alone make a for a sci-fi utopia.

Lucid Stead by artist Phillip K. Smith III illuminates Joshua Tree, California

2013-11-22T21:03:00-05:00

Now here's a little weekend inspiration. "Lucid Stead" is an art installation by Phillip K. Smith, III in the beautiful desert landscape of Joshua Tree in California. With some mirrors, LED lights, custom built electronic equipment, and Arduino programming, Smith transformed a 70-year-old homesteader shack into an architecture piece that complements and contrasts with its peaceful environment throughout the entire day.

All images courtesy of Phillip K. Smith, III; photographers: Steve King, Lance Gerber, Lou Mora (see image gallery below for details)

Memory Cloud by RE:site + Metalab Completed

2013-03-08T17:43:00-05:00

It's been almost one year since the collaboration of artists RE:Site and architects METALAB won the competition to design Texas A&M University's new Memorial Student Center 12th Man Hall [...]. The resulting lighting installation, Memory Cloud, has now been completed, and we have first photos and a video of the project.

Bruce Munro Announces Largest Solar-Powered Field of Light for Ayers Rock, Australia in 2013!

2012-06-29T14:12:00-04:00

After a series of acclaimed installations around the world, Munro will be bringing his Fields of Light back to the project’s birthplace at Ayers Rock (Uluru) in the heart of the Australian red desert in 2013. The installation will be his largest to date, and it will be powered entirely by solar energy.

bracket [goes soft]: Buoyant Light

2012-04-16T18:24:00-04:00

In anticipation of this week's event, Publish Or... bracket [GOES SOFT], we will be showcasing a piece from the book each day this week. We hope to see you this Thursday!

Buoyant Light
by Claire Lubell and Virginia Fernandez

The Canadian Arctic is a vast landscape, dotted with remote communities whose lives depend on natural cycles for subsistence. While imagining widespread distribution, Buoyant Light is sited in Igloolik, an Inuit community of 1600 at 70 degrees North with active creative and research programs. Like much of the Arctic, Igloolik is witness to acute changes in permafrost, sea levels and ice. As an island, it is particularly vulnerable to unreliable freeze-thaw cycles of the sea which directly affects safe hunting and traveling.

Image: View of Igloolik at night, illuminated on land and water by a distributed series of buoyant lights.

Buoyant Light consists of a balloon and a buoy which serve a dual function: to harvest solar energy, providing Iglooli...

Memory Cloud by RE:site + Metalab

2012-04-02T15:43:00-04:00

Texas A&M University has recently awarded the winning commission for the new Memorial Student Center 12th Man Hall to Memory Cloud, a collaborative project by RE:Site (Norman Lee and Shane Allbritton, Artists) and METALAB (Andrew Vrana, Joe Meppelink and Michael Gonzales, Architecture + Fabrication).

Lit Up: an LED lighting field trial

2011-12-16T08:18:30-05:00

"We like to test things in-situ in order to understand their real performance rather than rely on manufacturers' claims," explained James Russill, EST's technical development manager

The UK based Energy Saving Trust (EST), has completed a study which measured the performance of more than 4,250 LED light fittings installed at 35 sites. The LED lights were all installed in social housing and based on the findings, EST suggests the "new technology" can deliver huge energy savings, reduce costs and makes residents feel safer. To read the report in its entirety visit the EST's site here.

Dynamic Performance of Nature by EB Office

2011-11-21T14:53:10-05:00

Dynamic Performance of Nature is a permanent architectural media installation in the Leonardo Museum of Art, Science and Technology, located in Salt Lake City, Utah. DPoN engenders environmental perception in the museum’s visitors by communicating global environmental information through a dynamic and interactive interface embedded in the material of the wall.