Gulf Construction Online - Zumtobel puts facades in the spotlight

Just Out

Zumtobel puts facades in the spotlight

01 March 2012

Zumtobel’s new lighting repertoire (clockwise from top left) ... Aphrodite, Luxmate Emotion, Ikono, Pan, Skena and Pylas.

WITH its new portfolio for façade lighting, international lighting specialist Zumtobel aims to enhance the aesthetics of the environment using an interplay of light and architecture.

The Austrian integral lighting solutions supplier’s latest repertoire – ‘facades and architecture’ application area – concentrates on special luminaires and lighting control systems for illuminating the facades of buildings. These intelligent lighting control systems are tailored to strike a perfect balance between the sometimes conflicting priorities for lighting and aim to achieve the best possible energy efficiency and premium lighting in every application.

Light is used to enhance the aesthetics of museums, churches, high-rise buildings and shopping malls, by highlighting details at night or emphasising the size of a building, says Stefan von Terzi, Zumtobel’s marketing director, adding that the use of modern high-output LEDs cuts energy consumption significantly.

“The number of buildings that have illuminated facades is increasing sharply,” says von Terzi. “Because of changes in architecture, trends and technologies, lighting design faces a new challenge in this area. Our aim is to use our new product portfolio of contemporary facade spotlights to shape urban living spaces in a way that reconciles architecturally inspiring lighting concepts with the highest possible energy efficiency.”

Zumtobel’s new lighting repertoire, which uses LED technology, offers the right facade lighting product to suit every requirement. It includes:

• Aphrodite: This LED luminaire, developed in collaboration with designer Nik Schweiger, combines light, colour and movement in a fascinating way, providing the basis for animating facades and spaces to great effect. Non-repetitive lighting projections are made possible by a specially-developed LED module with a motor-driven glass cylinder. A choice of seven pre-defined lighting scenes with three speeds and various dimming levels is available. The spotlight is operated manually via two momentary-action switches installed directly on the luminaire, or digitally via DMX protocol.

• Pylas: Featuring superior LED technology and efficiency of more than 60 lumens per watt, the Pylas LED floodlight is a pioneer in contemporary facade lighting. The range, which includes four sizes in an identical design, presents itself as a suitable solution for illuminating facades from various distances and for highlighting details. Pylas is among the most versatile floodlights available on the market, boasting power ratings from 1.2 to 52.5 W, narrow-beam and wide-beam angles as well as various light colours and RGB models. The anti-glare accessories available ensure targeted lighting without any scattered light.

• Ikono: A high-output wall-mounted LED luminaire with IP65 protection, it features focused light distribution with a wealth of different effects and design patterns. The downlights and down/uplights in this range provide impressive patterns on building facades, creating directional lighting cones in white or variable RGB colours. On the outside, the only difference between the downlights and down/uplights – available in three design sizes – is the dimensions of their square light aperture: 90 mm, 130 mm or 180 mm. Depending on the size and respective lighting task, the most efficient LED technology is selected for each luminaire. This is combined with spot and flood optics matched to the task and a maximum power input of 25 W. The luminaire casts impressive shafts of light in warm or cool white colour temperatures over short or long distances to match the facade material.

• Pan: With a diameter of only 52 mm and requiring a minimum power of only 1.25 W, Pan LED luminaire is among the smallest commercially available spotlights for facade lighting. The rugged spotlight can be fitted flexibly in a downlight or uplight position to highlight architectural details. Made of die-cast aluminium, the luminaire features IP65/67 protection and comes ready for recessed and for surface mounting using a surface-mounted housing, to show off both modern buildings and historic monuments to full effect. Energised with 350 mA, the luminaire can be wired conveniently and quickly using an external supply box with a built-in converter.

• Skena: Using this LED luminaire, facades can be highlighted with rich lighting patterns ranging from elegant effects through to geometric compositions. The cube-shaped design of the wall-mounted luminaire with IP66 protection harmoniously blends into the architecture, both inside and outside the building; the luminaire can be installed rotated in increments of 45 degrees. The product range includes three different models with domed lenses or flat panels, emitting the light directed via a conic reflector with distribution characteristics of two to 60 degrees. The resulting elegant vertical or horizontal light beams create delicate and large-area effects.

• Luxmate Emotion: This touch panel is the creative tool that is used to write the screenplay for facade animation. Rhythmic lighting effects as well as gentle, almost imperceptible colour changes are possible, depending on the respective target group and brand message. The Emotion touch panel is described as the perfect way of coordinating all the available lighting design tools such as spotlights, LED luminaires or coloured luminaires.