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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). — Urban Omnibus
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... View full entry
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."
— CNN
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
It was only a matter of time until Richard Meier would come out with a lighting collection. Earlier this month, the architect launched a series of stylish indoor lighting fixtures simply named Richard Meier Light at the Ralph Pucci New York showroom. Industrial designer Ana Meier, who is... View full entry
The team led by artist Leo Villareal and architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands had the winning proposal in the Illuminated River design competition, which will redesign the lighting scheme for central London's bridges across the River Thames. The winners were one of six shortlisted schemes created by notable contenders such as Adjaye Associates, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Amanda Levete Architects, who all led multi-disciplinary teams with famous artists. — Bustler
Learn more on Bustler.For more about bridges on Archinect:If London Garden Bridge is cancelled, NAO report says taxpayers could lose £20mNEXT Architects design a swooping "Mobius strip" bridge for Changsha, ChinaCalatrava's Peace Bridge in Calgary keeps getting vandalized and the repair costs are... View full entry
designjunction is now in its sixth year – what did you originally set out to achieve with the exhibition? Has that changed?At the time (back in 2011) when we launched designjunction, we felt London was missing a commercial show with more creative energy and a greater relevance to the A&D... View full entry
![Light pollution now blots out the Milky Way for eight in ten Americans according to a recent study. Credit: Falchi et al., Science Advances[link TK]; Jakob Grothe/National Park Service, Matthew Price/CIRES and CU-Boulder.](https://archinect.imgix.net/uploads/xf/xfpj7kgt44jrv0qm.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&w=514 "Light pollution now blots out the Milky Way for eight in ten Americans according to a recent study. Credit: Falchi et al., Science Advances[link TK]; Jakob Grothe/National Park Service, Matthew Price/CIRES and CU-Boulder.")
Where should you travel if you want killer views of the stars unblemished by artificial light?Certainly not the U.S. or Europe, where nearly 100 percent of the population endures some form of light pollution...Italy’s [ISTIL], NOAA, the National Park Service, and elsewhere built one of the most comprehensive atlases of global light pollution to date. They hope their work will set a benchmark for future generations struggling with day blending into night. — CityLab
You can find the atlas of artifical sky brightness here.More on Archinect:New glow-in-the-dark cement could illuminate roads & structuresDesigning for the Night"drawing/space" by Emma McNally to show at “Abstract Drawing” exhibition in London’s Drawing Room View full entry
"We don't have a single 'style,'" Steven Holl explained in reference to his firm's new four level, 35,000 square foot Visual Arts Building commissioned for the Franklin & Marshall College. "We always try to shape a unique experience, and our approach is the same with this project. We look... View full entry
'I envisage to make a forest of light. A forest which consists of countless light cones made from spotlights above. These lights pulsate and constantly undergo transience of state and flow.'
“People meander through this forest, as if lured by the charm of the light. Light and people interact with one another, its existence defining the transition of the other.”
— Sou Fujimoto
In another collaboration with top-notch designers, fashion label COS has teamed up with Sou Fujimoto to create a nature-inspired installation for Milan's Salone del Mobile 2016 next month. For COS' fifth year of taking part in the design fair, Fujimoto is creating a "Forest of Light" that will... View full entry
Researchers at MIT have shown that by surrounding the filament with a special crystal structure in the glass they can bounce back the energy which is usually lost in heat, while still allowing the light through...
Usually traditional light bulbs are only about five per cent efficient, with 95 per cent of the energy being lost to the atmosphere. In comparison LED or florescent bulbs manage around 14% efficiency. But the scientists believe that the new bulb could reach efficiency levels of 40%
— the Telegraph
In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect... View full entry
Mexico City-based designers Ana Paula Ruiz Galindo and Mecky Reuss, professionally identified as Pedro y Juana, have perhaps one of the most visited exhibitions in the entire Chicago Architecture Biennial. Their installation – a network of hanging paper lanterns on pulleys, accompanied by... View full entry
Photographer Ryan Schude's narrative panoramas are as informed by the artist's humor as they are by the structures in which they often take place. Consider "The Saturn," a typical Southern California dingbat that is transformed into a tableau of subjects wondering where they went wrong. There's... View full entry
Dutch designer David Graas playfully reimagines the natural forms of cave stalactites and the perpetually increasing height -- and number -- of skyscrapers in a collection of 3D-printed bulb shades called Stalaclights.The Stalaclights are characteristic of Graas' eccentric yet sophisticated... View full entry
Choi + Shine Architects, who envisioned the beautiful Land of Giants in 2010, developed a new lighting system called the BIT Light™. BIT's name is primarily derived from the Korean word for light (빛) which is somewhat pronounced like "bit" in English. It also stands for Bulb with Integrated... View full entry
