Luminaire Design Debate in Europe – Anything Loved is Sustainable

One panel at TiL 2019 saw Ourania Georgoutsakou Secretary General from Lighting Europe moderate a lively discussion on the future of luminary design and sustainability.  Ruarí O’Brien shared concerns on building culture and sustainable options “We must have a better product for people and society long-term and to be more credible in terms of sustainability.”  Ruarí gave food for thought on the approach to designing for longevity, “Anything that is loved is sustainable. Buildings that are loved are recyclable, sustainable.  When you create the architecture it shouldn’t be cheap it should be high quality for the user with a level of flexibility from the beginning, so as users change with time and technology, it is easier to adapt and re-use. Lighting designers and technologists must come together to improve luminaires.”  

LpS TiL 19

Horst Rudolph, ITZ Trilux highlights the challenges to find the right lighting systems for the future. “Dynamic light needs more complex technology internally and connectivity is necessary.”  The future of connectivity is uncertain and who will be the market leader? DALI, ZigBee, Bluetooth or IP based systems all provide viable options. There is a lack of consensus about the optimal future communication solutions. The panelists agreed that transitioning to lighting systems remains a challenge for architects and there needs to be a common language, improved communication and education on the technologies available.  Echoed by Mark Ridler at BDP, “The relationship between light and data, at the moment there is code that tells us what lighting should be at a working level, I think as users of these spaces we will start engaging, we will discover real feedback from the users.  This data will allow you as a designer to experiment and it will make our lighting much more closely tuned to what people want and like”.