Wednesday, May 21, 2008

LEG Lights

It looks like there is a new lighting technology on the horizon. Just when we thought LED was the next generation of lighting, now LEG comes along. Light Emitting Glass (LEG) is anticipated to be more readily available within the next three years. It does seem like a very interesting technology. It is described as
“two glass sheets that form an internally sealed airspace inside of which is a mixture of rarefied gas that are subject to a constant pressure of between 0.1 and 0.6 bar and spacers to prevent any deformation. Light is produced by an alternating, high-frequency electric field generated by two electrodes produced by the deposit of an ultra-thin conductor layer covering each of the external surfaces of both glass sheets. The electrodes are powered by a specific device which provides the mixture of rarefied gas with the necessary voltage and frequency for its excitation and ionisation. Thus excited, the gaseous mixture emits UV radiation which is transformed into visible light by phosphor elements.”

Excerpt from Reed Business Article (pdf)

SAAZS has partnered with Saint Gobain to develop an exclusive lighting collection using the technology. SAAZS describes their lights as having 4 layers of glass and is referred to as planilum technology. The technology is unique because the light source is the material and offers a wide variety of configuration and uses. I have not found any information about using the technology outdoors. Because it is made of glass, they say it is 90% recyclable. Each light is 100W and is estimated to last 50,000 hours. Inhabit describes the energy efficiency as being “halfway between a conventional bulb and a neon light.” I would like to review the photometrics to see if this is just decorative or it can be more useful for effectively illuminating spaces. SAAZS' lights do look promising. Of course, I have no ideas what the cost are for the lights which may be another barrier to wide adoption. It will be interesting to see where this goes. At the moment, I am still betting on LED.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Graphic Precast Concrete

Reading about Graphic Concrete Ltd’s (GC) new concrete surface treatment was captivating. I imagine there are numerous applications in the built environment. The technology at first reminds me of Scott System’s (SS) form liner products except it seems to be a much subtler and detailed. Currently, GC’s system can only be used on precast concrete products as opposed to SS’s ability to be used for cast-in-place concrete work. Precast concrete process provides GC a higher degree of control in the plant. According to their website the technology involves the use of a surface retarder on a membrane surface that was developed by interior architect Samuli Naamanka. The process can create single pieces that are 3000mm high by 1250mm wide. This makes it possible to create large single pieces without seams. You can make pieces larger than this by continuing the pattern. They have a series of standard patterns. I particularly like the 4090_piksel and 4011_5_Atomi patterns. You can also submit your own pattern and even create various unique fairface finishes. Though the most exciting application is the ability to submit custom digital images in black and white using their GCArt&Design product.

According to the company, the cost for applications over 5,000sf usually run around $2.50 a square foot. This is for the GC Collections product or other repetitive custom designs using their GC Pro product. For the GC Art & Design product that allows you to create non-repetitive designs from photographs or other digital graphics, the cost is determined on a case by case basis.

Graphic Concrete Ltd’s is based in Helsinki, Finland. The first graphic concrete installation was in 2002. The company is currently launching the product in the United States. International Concrete Products in Germantown, Wisconsin is the only company familiar with their process in the United States so far. Hopefully, they will be able to add more companies to the list.

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