April 2009

Via Yahoo, AFP has distributed an article about Mansfield, UK using garish pink lighting, normally used by dermatologists to reveal acne, to deter youths from loitering. It’s apparently achieving its intended result. Click here for the full story.

“Designing with Light” is a studio course in the Design Department at UC Davis taught by Professor Michael Siminovitch, director of the California Lighting Technology Center. Students enrolled in the 2009 course design, develop and prototype a fully working LED-based lighting fixture for the Annual LED Luminaire Design Competition. Students use a development kit of [...]

The New Buildings Institute has announced that they will be previewing the latest version of the Advanced Lighting Guidelines at Lightfair International May 5-7 in New York City. To see the 2003 ALG, click here. The new edition will be published online and features contributions from many of the country’s top experts in lighting design. [...]

The California Lighting Technology Center has established the Don Aumann Memorial Lecture in Lighting Efficiency. Don Aumann was an important member of the CLTC team until he passed away suddenly in 2007. The committee for the Don Aumann Memorial Lecture is requesting nominations for potential speakers at this annual event hosted at University of California [...]

Yesterday, we reported that Philips has acquired Italy-based Ilti Luce SpA, an LED design company for architectural indoor lighting. Philips has also recently announced that it has acquired Dynalite, a maker of lighting controls headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Dynalite has become part of the Lighting Electronics business within the Philips Lighting sector. Dynalite was founded [...]

Here’s a project story I wrote for Archi-Tech Magazine before it went digital, which I still find interesting to revisit. The photos appear to be a bit saturated on the web translation here, but you can still get a great flavor for the project. The project was initiated by the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan [...]

Following another historic low score in January, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) was up two points in February, but still pointing to a general lack of demand for design services. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate 9- to 12-month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The [...]

Philips has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Italy-based Ilti Luce SpA, an LED design company for architectural indoor lighting. Upon closing of this transaction in the first quarter of 2009, which is subject to certain contractual and other conditions such as regulatory approvals, Ilti Luce will become part of the Professional [...]

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and PG&E recently demonstrated streetlights installed on Turk Street (between Taylor and Jones) in the Tenderloin District, networked using Echelon’s LonWorks technology. The new LED streetlights, remotely controlled and monitored, promise to reduce the city’s energy and maintenance costs while improving lighting quality and safety. Streetlights are among a city’s [...]