Oct 3 2008
Already illuminating thousands of commercial environments today, Philips' solid-state lighting technology moves into the home as part of Cellophane House, on view at The Museum of Modern Art's Home Delivery, Fabricating the Modern Dwelling exhibit in New York. Surpassing the limitations of conventional lamps and fixtures, Cellophane House is a five-story, fully transparent and sustainable house illuminated solely by LED sources as a provocation for the future possibilities of residential lighting.
Home Delivery is a two-part exhibition on the historical and contemporary significance of factory-produced architecture. It includes five full-scale houses, one of which is Cellophane House, in the outdoor space west of the Museum. Designed by KieranTimberlake Associates, Cellophane House features a translucent architectural envelope that collects solar energy through integrated photovoltaic panels, and demonstrates the use of embedded light as an element of architecture itself.
"Cellophane House perfectly demonstrates the future direction of lighting; freed from the limitations posed by typical fixture size, shape and heat emission. With LED sources, we were able to create luminous surfaces that emphasize the house's translucency and architectural features in various intensities and colors," said Brian Stacy of Arup Lighting. "Most importantly, we were able to achieve the desired effect in a sustainable and energy-efficient way."
The structure's entire LED lighting installation consumes just 1.3 watts of energy per square foot, compared with the average house of about 1.7 to 2.3 watts per square foot, including plug loads for the average house.
"The opportunity to replace conventional sources with energy-efficient LED lighting continues to grow, yet just as exciting is the potential to encourage completely new methods of lighting," said Jeff Cassis, CEO, Philips Color Kinetics. "Today we offer simple solutions with familiar form and function to help advance adoption of solid-state lighting. But as demonstrated by Cellophane House, LED systems accommodate a far wider range of applications that allow us to rethink the way spaces are illuminated."
Unique applications of Philips' LED lighting at Cellophane House include:
- Uplighting the translucent floors with eW(R) Cove Powercore to create luminous planes
- Creating a glowing staircase by embedding eW Cove Powercore in the stair treads
- The use of eW MR lamps in place of conventional sources commonly used for recessed downlighting
- Uplighting the roof deck canopy with ColorBlast(R) 12 to bring dynamic color and a visual counterpoint to the house
Said Stacy, "In a typical house, all wiring and mechanical systems are hidden behind dry wall -- an impossibility in a house made of transparent and translucent materials. Because LED systems are compact and free of heat emission, they can be concealed in tight spaces where conventional lights are impractical. Further, with the ability to connect up to 100 units on a single circuit, the task of circuiting is a breeze, and does not require hidden transformers."
"Our mission is to create a design with a significantly reduced carbon footprint, and LED technology helps us achieve that goal," says David Riz, Principal, KieranTimberlake Associates.
Philips sees LED technology as the future of energy-efficient lighting; today for many commercial uses and increasingly for residential applications as well. Performance trends suggest that LEDs have the ability to become predominant light sources, given their longer life, durability, non-toxic materials, lack of radiated heat and UV, and flexibility to accommodate wide-ranging fixtures and form factors. Moreover, as inherently digital devices, LEDs produce light that can be intelligently controlled to dynamically customize environments, from restaurants and casinos to retail shops, homes and even automobiles.
Additional information about Home Delivery is available at http://www.momahomedelivery.org/ .
2nd October 2008