For the UN climate change conference in November last year Mathieu Lehanneur, a French designer, came up with tree-like LED street lighting for Paris that not only cut light pollution in the city but was also powered by solar energy. Moreover, these energy-efficient luminaires are very much suitable for everyday use – if your cell phone dies on you can simply recharge it (or any other mobile device) on one of these lantern posts.
Solutions as well thought-out as they are energy-efficient plus particularly sophisticated designs for light and building technology are just waiting to be discovered by architects, engineers and planners at this year’s Light + Building, the world’s leading fair for light and building technology, which will be taking place in Frankfurt am Main from March 13-18, 2016. In the halls of the exhibition center, some 2,500 leading manufacturers will be presenting innovative technologies and the latest design trends from the fields of lighting, home & building automation and electronics. The show will stretch over a total of 22 levels in the halls and its motto will be “Where modern spaces come to life: digital – individual – networked”.
From highlighting to mood lighting to systems that imitate daylight – visitors to the fair can find out all they need to know about the subjects of light and luminaires in halls 1 through 6, in hall 10 and at the Forum where leading manufacturers such as Osram, Philips, Nimbus, Viabizzuno, IGuzzini, Tobias Grau and Ingo Maurer will be presenting their latest products. Many manufacturers of more technically complex luminaires will be focusing on the aspect of “Human Centric Lighting”, that biologically effective lighting that regulates people’s day/night rhythms and on the beneficial effects of such lighting to our health. If you are interested in the design trends for 2016 and 2017 as well, we recommend a visit the transition of halls 5.1 and 6.1 where, for example, at the “Trendforum” style experts Bora Herke Palmisano will be organizing guided tours through staged scenarios peppered with decorative luminaires for both commercial and living-room furniture. The exhibitors in hall 5.0 will be presenting outdoor and street lighting and in hall 4.0 trade visitors will be able to discover the latest components and accessories for lighting technology.
However, it is not only in the lighting section that there are resourceful solutions for efficient energy management to be discovered but also in halls 8, 9 and 11 in the section on home and building automation – here, taking as their motto “Smart Powered Building” reputed manufacturers such as Siemens, Gira, Toshiba, Teco und Stiebel Eltron will be exhibiting such innovations as access control and fire protection systems, as well as systems for networking new and old buildings intelligently – systems that offer a surprising potential for energy-saving, both for operators and for users, plus more security and ease of operation.
And if you feel rather lost in this jungle-like fair, why not treat yourself to one of the competent guided tour of the halls organized by World-Architects and Stylepark? Renowned architects, journalists and experts such as Robert Volhard, Thomas Geuder, Ulrike Brandi and Gabriele Allendorf will be taking you through the highlights of the fair in one of their tours lasting approximately two hours and offering you fascinating insights. All the tours start in the Outlook Lounge in hall 4.2’s foyer.
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For the first time in 2016 one of the particular focuses of Light + Building will be on hall 1, with its motto “Trendspot Design”. Stylepark has developed a special concept for this hall in collaboration with Messe Frankfurt:
We will be setting up a special area in hall 1.2 which will be orchestrated by Zurich-based designer Jörg Boner. Here, as part of an exhibition, products from the fields of home and building automation, electronics and light that have received awards from the German Design Council in the competition “Design Plus powered by Light + Building”.
With their agreeable ambience, the Stylepark Café and the Stylepark “Architects’ Lounge by Jörg Boner” in hall 1.2 represent an opportunity for a pleasant break, somewhere that gives experts from the sector the chance to exchange opinions away from the hustle-bustle of the fair. This is also where Stylepark holds its exclusive “architects’ lunches”. Every day throughout the fair, we invite selected designers and architects, exhibitors and lighting planners to come here and engage in discussions with one another over lunch.
Furthermore, you can also take advantage of the “map” that will be distributed all over the site. This was developed by Stylepark and, for the first time, offers trade visitors a guide, curated by Stylepark, to the most innovative products in hall 1.
As an international platform for architects, planners, designers, trade and industry, this year Light + Building is again hoping for a lively exchange of opinions with experts from the trade. Accordingly, seminars and lectures about the subject of light and integrated building technology will be taking place daily in halls 3, 8 & 11 and in the Portalhaus under the title of “Building Performance”. Debates will also be taking place at “Futurecourse”, a panel discussion organized by Zentralverband Elektrotechnik- und Elektronikindustrie (ZVEI) in hall 8.0, C41, where representatives of politics and business will be discussing topical questions. Moreover, Zentralverband der Deutschen Elektro- und Informationstechnischen Handwerke (ZVEH) will be setting up an “e-house” in hall 8.0, J60 in which solutions for networked building technologies will be presented to consumers in clear terms. Practical examples of the systematic interplay of digital components in buildings designed for specific purposes such as offices will also be presented at “Digital Building”, a special show on the open-air exhibition ground between halls 8, 9 and 11.
Additionally, in collaboration with xia – Intelligente Architektur, AIT, the journal of the architecture profession, has launched an award, the Innovationspreis Architektur und Technik, and will be presenting products from the field of building technology with impressive design concepts at a special show in hall 3.0, A41. And anybody who wants to bring the evening to an atmospheric close can admire numerous light installations in the cities of Frankfurt and Offenbach every evening after the fair created by artists, architects and various cultural institutions as part of Luminale, a lighting culture biennale. (sb)
