E Lichtbericht 94

Published in April 2012

Benetton megastores, ViennaThe LED is conquering the retail sector. From shop window to sweater shelf, new projects such as the Benetton stores in Vienna are now illuminated throughout with LED technology from ERCO, which has proven highly effective and economically efficient. But the new technology is now also presenting itself in a fresh look, underlined

and enhanced by the unique light qualities of the LED lighting tools. Whether shop, museum or façade illumination – this Lichtbericht again shows 100% LED.

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After outdoor applications and museum light­ing, LED lighting solutions are now also con­quering the retail sector. Italian fashion brand United Colors of Benetton has illuminated two of its megastores in Vienna throughout with ERCO LED lighting tools. Starting with façade lighting through to scenic window displays all the way to the presentation of its merchandise on the shop floor. In contrast to the old HIT lighting, the new LED concept appeals not only on an aesthetic level; the connected load could, as a result, be reduced from around 140kW to now 50kW. A lighting solution, then, that is as sustainable as it is effective.

From page 10, the LED plays an important role in a talk with experts. The aim of this talk con­ducted by Armin Scharf was to show how the LED is changing luminaires and, as a result, the luminaire industry. It also provides a look behind the scenes of the technology change at ERCO. New technologies necessitate a new approach to the product. Dealing with these technologies requires, as it were, a feat of translation from technology to culture. Our old established credo of “light, not luminaires” is very much coming into effect here. The technology of the luminaire is fundamentally redefined by the LED, whereas light as a cultural concept requires reliable quali­ties, but at the same time spreads because of an altogether new scope for design.

An impression of new qualities in lighting design is given on page 14 in an article on ERCO’s RGBW varychrome technology. Variable light colour, brightness and subtle white nuances turn spotlights with this technology into veritable all­rounders among the lighting tools. The result is a vast spectrum of new creative potential for lighting design. Whether saturated colours or the various shades of white along the Planckian locus – there is no limit to the creative scope.

Expert talk: The LED – more than a new type of lampWe are slowly beginning to realise just how profoundly the LED will change the luminaire industry. Armin Scharf talks to experts at ERCO.

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LED light in the museum is described on page 24 featuring the Palazzo Bembo in Venice: his­torical architecture looking out over the Rialto bridge; inside, contemporary art effectively illuminated by Logotec LED spotlights. In Graz, the Museum im Palais is a further example of museum lighting with LEDs. The collection in the refurbished Palais Herberstein is part of the Joanneum Universal Museum. Here, the works of art are effectively staged using LED technol­ogy, while ERCO’s lighting tools produce an equally impressive atmosphere in outdoor areas.

All things considered, there is no question that LED technology is well on its way and is now successfully used in many different types of project. At the Light+Building trade fair in Frankfurt, we will further showcase the tech­nology change towards LEDs. We look forward to welcoming you there.

LED spotlights with RGBW varychrome technologyThe new all­rounders among the lighting tools

ERCO Technical Centre LED case study: New light for conference rooms

ERCO Technical Centre LED case study: RGBW wallwashing in the representative office

FocusDouble­focus downlights in use Double focusTechnology of LED double­focus downlights

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Palazzo Bembo, VeniceHistorical architecture, contempo­rary art, visionary lighting: ERCO LED technology proves its fine qualities in Palazzo Bembo exhibition halls.

Museum im Palais, GrazThe treasury of Styria: a further example of an institute of worldwide significance that has opted for ERCO’s LED technol­ogy in its galleries.

ECE Center Thier-Galerie, DortmundAn economic keystone and city land­mark: the new shopping centre “Thier­Galerie” in Dortmund's city centre. LED lighting tools by ERCO enhance its strik­ing appearance.

About this issue

Keylights

Bright prospects

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LED conquers the fashion world: Benetton megastores, ViennaThe new megastore of the Italian fashion brand United Colors of Benetton in Vienna is presenting itself in an aesthetically and technically innovative fashion – illuminated exclusively by ERCO LED lighting tools.

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32 Backlights

ERCO LichtberichtImprintPublisher: Tim H. MaackEditor in Chief: Martin KrautterDesign/Layout: Simone Heinze, Christoph SteinkePrinting: Mohn Media Mohndruck GmbH, Gütersloh

1028768000© 2012 ERCO

Photographs (Page): Andreu Adrover (32), Julia Cawley (1), Aksel Gross/Electric Gobo (14), Alexandra Lechner (2), Thomas Mayer (2, 3, 4–5, 24–25), Rudi Meisel (U1, 2, 3, 6–9, 26–29), Alexander Ring (10–13, 14–21, 33), Dirk Vogel (2, 30–31, 32, 33), Sabine Wenzel (2), Michael Wolf (U4), Edgar Zippel (2, 3)

Translation: Lanzillotta Translations, Düsseldorf

Background

Projects

Introduction

Report

Contents About this issue

Light & Technology

Tim Henrik Maack

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Keylights

GrazThe Kastner & Öhler department store is truly a venerable establish-ment, which has been in Graz since 1883. All the greater was the furore over the modern renovation of the headquarters – and the appro-priately promoted lighting concept, which largely uses Optec spotlights for metal halide lamps.

Kastner & Öhler fashion house, GrazArchitect: Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos, Madrid; Rolf Seifert, GrazLighting designer: Vedder Lichtmanage-ment, Munich/Mitterbergwww.kastner-oehler.at

UtrechtDutch sculptor Ruud Kuijer has received multiple awards for his “Waterwerken” project. The work of art involves a number of abstract concrete sculptures with multifac-eted references to the subject of water set up on a spit of land at the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal in Utrecht. For dramatic effect at night, the works are illuminated using effi-cient and durable Powercast LED projectors.

Waterwerken, sculptures by Ruud Kuijer, Isotopenweg, Utrechtwww.ruudkuijer.nl

LondonAbout to marry a prince and need appropriate invitation cards? Wel-come to this printing and station-ery shop with its rich tradition. It prides itself in being a supplier to the Royal family. But even ordinary customers feel equally comfortable in the freshly renovated premises: Quintessence recessed luminaires ensure excellent visual comfort while Optec spotlights appropri-ately accentuate the products.

Mount Street Printers, Londonwww.mountstreetprinters.com

EltvilleEmbedded in the vine hills of the Rheingau, this ancient monastery is known as a state-owned winery – but also as the location for such film classics as “The Name of the Rose” or an atmospheric setting for concerts. ERCO’s outdoor lumi naires accentuate the scenic atmosphere at night and ensure reliable orientation without glare.

Kloster Eberbach, EltvilleArchitect: Rimpl + Flacht Architekten, WiesbadenLighting designer: Bamberger engineer-ing firm, Pfünzwww.kloster-eberbach.de

BerlinIn the cheeky vernacular of Berlin-ers, the Victoria statue topping the Victory Column in Berlin since 1873 is nicknamed “Goldelse”, meaning something like “Golden Lizzy”. The column was restored in 2011 and given a fresh and modern appear-ance at night: the relief-adorned base of the statue is uniformly illu-minated by efficient and durable Tesis LED wallwashers.

Victory Column, BerlinProject management: Denkmalamt Berlin (State Office for Historical Monu-ments)

CasablancaAs the first art auction house in the country, the CMOOA has looked after Morocco’s growing art market since 2002. To do so more efficiently, the company has moved into a new building. Featur-ing state-of-the-art technology and ERCO gallery lighting, the auc-tion lots are now presented in line with international standards.

Compagnie Marocaine des Œuvres et Objets d'Art, CasablancaArchitecture and lighting design: Cabinet d'architecture et design Wael Elmir, Rabatwww.cmooa.com

CascaisThe Lacoste shop in the Portuguese seaside resort of Cascais represents the latest state-of-the-art in shop design of the famous sportswear brand with the little crocodile. The designers opted for a mix of Quintessence LED downlights for ambient lighting, HIT directional luminaires to accentuate the products, and Cantax spotlights with metal halide lamps in the shop windows. White surfaces are a dominant feature while RGB cove lighting adds colourful accents – in harmony with the clear, bright colours of the collection.

Lacoste Boutique, CascaisProject manager: Joana Mouta, Lacoste/Devanlay PortugalInterior designer: Luis Duarte, Space Inverters, Lisbonwww.lacoste.com

RomeThe baroque Palazzo Barberini houses the eminent Museum Gal-leria Nazionale d'Arte Antica. Fol-lowing renovations in July 2011, it is once again fully accessible to the public. This room with a fresco by Pietro da Cortona is a true architec-tural gem.

Palazzo Barberini, RomeArchitect: Carlo Maderno (~1556–1629), Francesco Borromini (1599–1667), Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680) Lighting designer: Adriano Caputo, Studio illumina, Romewww.galleriaborghese.it

The gold brocade of the wall covering is illumi-nated by warm grazing light. This sunlight effect is artificially produced by Powercast projectors with metal halide lamps mounted outside in the air well.

IfraneThe small town in the Middle Atlas mountains of Morocco is a popular skiing resort and holiday destina-tion. Established in 1973 as a luxury establishment, the Michlifen hotel has now been extended and fully redesigned – including a dramatic lighting concept for indoor and outdoor areas using ERCO’s light-ing tools.

Michlifen hotel, IfraneArchitect: Axe International, Casablanca Lighting designer: Oscar Nystrom, Bromma/Saint-Tropezwww.michlifenifrane.com

TurinOnce a palace of the kings of Savoy, the Venaria Reale has now undergone extensive reconstruc-tions transforming it into an extra-ordinary museum and a lively cul-tural centre. Today, it is equipped with cutting-edge technology – some galleries even with Cantax LED spotlights from ERCO.

Venaria Reale, permanent exhibition, TurinProject team: Architect Salvatore Simonetti, architect Stefano Faletti (consultant), Dr. Alberto Vanelli (director), Dr. Gianbeppe Colombano, architect Francesco Bosso, architect Giovanni Tironiwww.lavenaria.it

StuttgartNew look for the Court of Honour of Stuttgart’s Alte Staatsgalerie (Old State Gallery): Tesis in-ground wallwashers for metal halide lamps now efficiently bathe the neo-classical façade in uniform lighting. The rider statue of King William I of Württemberg is accentuated against this background using Tesis directional luminaires.

Court of Honour of the Alte Staatsgalerie, StuttgartArchitecture and lighting design: Christoph Anstett, cda architekt, StuttgartLandscape planning: Köber Landschafts-architektur, Stuttgart www.staatsgalerie.de

ViennaSwiss parquet flooring manufac-turer Bauwerk presents its high-end products in the design stores of the Stilwerk chain – after Hamburg and Düsseldorf now also in Vienna’s Stilwerk on Praterstraße. Optec spotlights and Quintessence down-lights and wallwashers optimally accentuate the high-quality wood.

Bauwerk parquet flooring store, Stilwerk, ViennaArchitect: Stephen Williams Associates, Hamburgwww.bauwerk-parkett.com

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Bright prospects LED – awesome! Frans Hals Museum, HaarlemDirector: Karel Schamperswww.franshalsmuseum.nl

Photo: Thomas Mayer, Neuss

Featured in the photo (from left to right): Ferdinand van Dam (OTH Architecten B.V.), Carlo von Meijenfeldt (ERCO), Marijke van der Wijst (Van Der Wijst Interieurarchitecten BNI), Julian Wolse (OTH Architecten B.V.)

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A store design with the air of liberation, trans­parency and authenticity, both simple and com­plex: Italian fashion brand Benetton now debuts with not one but two megastores in Vienna run by brothers Marc and Tino Wieser through their MTM Textilhandel GmbH. Acting with the confidence of successful trading partners – the megastore on Mariahilfer Straße is, after all, the largest Benetton store in Europe – they enlisted the help of a creative team of architects and designers to develop a vision for the Benetton experience at the point of sale. Without culti­vating a rustic eco look, sustainability is more than just a buzzword: a reduced deployment, not only of materials, but even more so, of energy for aspects such as the lighting based on ERCO LED technology, is a clear recognition of future requirements. Just as important in the sustainability concept, however, is respon­sible consideration of urban design issues. The striking corner building of the megastore on Kärntner Straße was given discreet, yet effec ­ tive lighting to illuminate its magnificent his­toric façade, while accent lighting emphasises the structure and dimensions of the building’s fabric – with minimal energy requirements and no light pollution thanks to the LED technology of ERCO’s Grasshopper projectors. As precision lighting tools, Grasshopper LED projectors fea­ture Spherolit lenses with diverse light distribu­tion patterns from spot to wide and oval flood so as to match the task at hand perfectly.

Both stores present a uniform appearance. Entrance and shop windows seamlessly lead from the exterior to the interior. Here, too, focus

LED conquers the fashion world: Benetton megastores, ViennaThe new megastore of the Italian fashion brand United Colors of Benetton in Vienna is presenting itself in an aesthetically and technically innovative fashion – illuminated exclusively by ERCO LED lighting tools.

was given to maximum transparency and flow­ing transitions. Fixtures, partition walls and suspended ceilings made room for a generous space continuum. “The buyer stands in the shop window, the city exudes all the way into the shop,” architect Michael Rieper describes the design approach. “Store decorations are reduced to illuminated mannequins, variety is created through the merchandise.” The shop is designed effectively around the merchandise, which is presented at, in and on displays that seem neutral without appearing trivial: fili­gree shelf structures made of black, bare steel tubes look as if drawn into the room, with the aesthetics of a CAD wireframe rendering – con­trasting the compact furniture that gains in stylish sophistication through the interplay of cubic volumes and recesses. This aspect bears the mark of another member of the creative team – that of Italian haute couture fashion and interior designer Vincenzo De Cotiis.

Warm, direct lighting accentuates the seemingly unfinished surfaces of the interior – and effectively sets apart the textiles whose “United Colors of Benetton” demand the high­est standards of lighting quality, specifically in terms of colour rendering. These standards are more than met by ERCO’s LED lighting tools: “The old lighting situation with metal halide lamps was highly unsatisfactory,” Rieper criti­cises in hindsight. “2100 light points made up what was a uniform concept without effective accent lighting – based on a connected load of around 140kW,“ the architect says. Now, as little as around 50kW are enough for quali­tatively superior lighting that is orientated around human perception, ensuring more flex­ibility and producing less wasted heat, which, in turn, guarantees savings in air condition­ing and ventilation as well as visitor and staff comfort.

Both Benetton megastore locations in Vienna, on Kärntner Straße and on Mariahilfer Straße, confronted the designers with the usual challenges related to existing buildings: win­dows, columns, technical installations that limited their freedom of scope. Using Logotec LED spotlights, 3­circuit tracks, and LED recessed spotlights, directional luminaires and down­lights from its Quintessence range, ERCO was able to offer a comprehensive and flexible solu­tion. A lighting concept that dispenses with fixed grid positions, and instead focuses on the furnishing and wall surfaces, left enough scope to react efficiently to on­site surprises. The final decision for ERCO was made only after exten­sive sample demonstrations with real life condi­tions. Efficiency, light quality and the compact shape of the Logotec LED spotlights with inter­

Entrance area and Level 2, Kärntner StraßeSuspended Hi­trac structures accommodate the Logotec LED spot­lights that illuminate the ground floor. The significant ceiling height requires spotlight char­acteristics from flood to narrow spot to ensure optimum emphasis of the merchandise. Inte­grated LED strips in the

Architecture: Marc & Tino Wieser, MTM Textilhandel GmbH, ViennaMVD Austria, frank, rieper architekten, Vienna/Graz Interior & CI designer: Vincenzo De Cotiis, MilanPhotos: Rudi Meisel, Berlin

www.benetton.at

changeable Spherolit lenses for quick and easy modification of the light distribution pattern tipped the scales in ERCO’s favour – along with the convincing service quality of ERCO’s team of lighting consultants in Vienna.

Hi­trac profile brighten the exposed brick ceil­ing. The same concept of accent lighting on the colourful textiles using Logotec LED is used in the children’s depart­ment on Level 2, supple­mented by Quintessence LED downlights and directional luminaires as ceiling­integrated com­ponents.

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Kärntner Straße, shop windowThe shop windows of the megastores are left without back walls as separation from the shop floor – giving customers the experience of flow­ing transitions between the different zones. Here, the designers opted for Logotec LED spotlights with narrow spot to flood characteristics as lighting.

Precise beams with virtu­ally no spill light produce strong contrasts with mar­ginal reflections on the pane for maximum effect of the window display even in broad daylight.

Kärntner Straße, basement level The men’s department on the basement level high­lights a further aspect of the lighting concept: the free arrangement of tracks and recessed lumi­naires orientated not on an orthogonal grid, but rather, on the merchan­dise shelves. Again, the merchandise is accentu­ated by Logotec LED spotlights, while ambient lighting could be kept to a minimum thanks to the bright surface of floor, walls and ceiling.

Mariahilfer Straße,shelf lightingA recurring element in the megastores are shelving systems along the walls. Lighting here is provided by a combi­nation of several com­ponents: Quintessence LED recessed luminaires with flood characteristic and an exceptionally wide angle of tilt of 40° provide basic lighting. Logotec LED spotlights on a continuous 3­circuit track add precise accent lighting for the merchan­dise.

Mariahilfer Straße, escalatorsA generous void con­nects all three levels of this store. Quintessence LED recessed spotlights in narrow spot bridge the enormous distance with an output of just 9W per luminaire. The levels themselves are illumi­nated by Quintessence LED downlights and directional luminaires

Mariahilfer Straße, upper level“United Colors”: The variety of colours of the textiles consistently forms the focal point of presen­tations at Benetton. High­quality colour rendering is a vital criterion for the lighting – ERCO’s latest lighting tools with warm white LEDs have a colour rendering index in excess of Ra 90.

Kärntner Straße, façadeIn order to light the amply structured historic façade, the designers opted for Grasshopper LED projectors. Depending on whether the grazing light was to reach across one or two levels, the projectors were fitted with 14W and 21W mod­ules, respectively. Along with the lighting effect,

with glare­free darklight reflectors to ensure an inconspicuous ceiling appearance.

priority was given to glare control for users of the upper levels.

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Armin Scharf:The whole light scene, it seems, is mesmer-ised by the LED. But how much of a break-through is this technology in actual fact?

David Kuntzsch:The LED is indeed a much talked about sub-ject, it seems nothing else exists any more. When it comes to actual planning, however, things are a little more complex. It’s true that the LED is gaining ground, but conventional lamps continue to play a big role. From ERCO’s viewpoint we can clearly say in terms of market penetration that the LED is now measuring up to traditional lamps and ranks well in terms of economy.

Andreas Blaut:Working in development, I can only confirm this. The LED has broken away from earlier reservations and it’s the only technology we use now. The LED is also a dominant topic whenever we talk to other market players or suppliers.

Armin Scharf:And what is the situation in design?

Henk Kosche:The same. As far as I can see, the LED has established itself firmly over the last five years. All our current projects are centred on this technology and the LED is a common occurrence in our daily work.

Markus Görres:Issues around LED technology have defined our day-to-day business for quite a few years now, and not only in terms of opera-tive aspects. The LED, after all, also requires new skills if these issues are to be resolved comprehensively and in the interest of our customers.

Armin Scharf:This means ERCO has already made the shift to LEDs?

The LED: more than a new type of lampWe are slowly beginning to realise just how profoundly the LED will change the luminaire industry. Armin Scharf talks to experts at ERCO.

Andreas Blaut:We are definitely past the initial stages, since we have built up quite a good level of new know-how across all our departments and successfully implemented a number of major projects involving LED light. Having said that, we still have a long way to go. Looking at the forecasts, we can expect huge market potential here, especially in such sectors as museums, retail or outdoor lighting. These are precisely the areas where we already hold a strong position.

David Kuntzsch:In terms of conception, development and design, we are talking about big changes here. LED deliveries are already on a par with traditional lamps. The HIT lamp, of course, still has particular significance for retail applications, especially where very large lumen packages need to be made available at a comparatively reasonable price.

Armin Scharf:What are these new skills that are required for LEDs, what specifically has changed at ERCO?

Andreas Blaut:Where do we start? Initially, we found our-selves having to design LED PCBs, develop entirely new optical systems, and devise electronics to control these LEDs. Using LEDs also means we need to procure them first, and you need experts here who can com-

identical. The light intensity distributions are exactly the same, only the lamp has changed. It means we demonstrate a high level of innovation while remaining reliable and predictable to the outside.

Armin Scharf:Is this a contribution to planning certainty in times of change?

Markus Görres:Exactly. Designers who need to ensure greater energy efficiency for a concept based on low-voltage halogen lamps can do so quite easily. We offer a solution with the same character-istics, but based on LED technology.

Armin Scharf:LED technology is developing at a very fast pace; when is the right time from a customer point of view to join the movement?

David Kuntzsch:The demand for LED solutions is already very significant, as you know. It means the cur-rent technical and economic advantages are perceived to be highly positive to the point that people want to capitalise on them right away. This is true even though people know that later investments will have even greater advantages. Even now, we are already talking above-average energy cost savings of 60 to 80 per cent. With savings on such a scale, it makes perfect sense to switch to LED solu-tions right away, rather than waiting initially

the same time, it’s the market segment with the highest standards in terms of lighting quality that is most active in adapting to this new technology. This is hardly surprising in light of the LED characteristics. The National Gallery in London employed their own team of experts to measure the quality of light in their laboratories for many months, before deciding on an LED solution in late 2010.

Ever since we started offering luminaires with LEDs producing even higher luminous flux, other market segments also started to show interest. Last year, for instance, we were able to execute quite a number of chal-lenging retail projects, some opting exclu-sively for the LED.

Armin Scharf:The fact that especially museums are leading the way here is remarkable. Are they not the ones that complained the loudest about the disappearance of the light bulb?

Markus Görres:The loss of conventional incandescent sources has been dramatised so much because alter-native light sources such as the fluorescent lamp weren’t able to provide adequate colour rendering or brilliance. The LED now has assumed that position, with even better char-acteristics.

Andreas Blaut:Looking at the technical characteristics of the LED, i.e. energy savings, no IR or UV component in the light, the LED is indeed ideal for the illumination of art.

Henk Kosche:Thanks to our own optoelectronic systems, our 20W LED spotlights today are as efficient as 100W low-voltage halogen spots. With accent lighting playing such a crucial role especially in museums, the gain in efficiency is significant.

David Kuntzsch:And the colour temperature of the LED doesn’t change when dimmed. That’s impor-tant for a museum, where the items displayed in an exhibition are to be presented with the same level of illuminance. Differences in distance between luminaires and exhibits means the light needs to be dimmed, which, when using halogen lamps, results in an unwanted shift in the colour temperature.

On 2 February 2012, author Armin Scharf met with a group of ERCO experts in Lüden-scheid to talk about the state of LED technology. From left to right: Armin Scharf, Henk Kosche (Design), David Kuntzsch (Marketing), Andreas Blaut (Development), Dr. Markus Görres (Lighting Technology).

Henk Kosche:We have been dealing with this technology quite intensively for over ten years now and have always looked closely to analyse the suit-ability of the source for various appli cations. We started with orientation luminaires back in 2000, before turning to LED outdoor lumi-naires. Today, we cover the whole spectrum of architectural lighting. We always want to pro-vide our customers with the best possible light quality; the technology must follow suit.

David Kuntzsch:The trickiest bit about new technologies is facilitating the transition. In other words, we wanted to continue providing our customers with sophisticated solutions which actually meet their requirements and not merely illus-trate technical feasibility.

Armin Scharf:How does ERCO define the light quality of LEDs?

David Kuntzsch:Light quality has different meanings for different people especially when talking about LEDs. There are the objective, measur-able light qualities, such as colour tempera-ture or colour rendering. For us, these are – in overstated terms – hygiene factors. As a technology-driven company, it goes without saying that we use chips guaranteeing the highest colour rendering and a defined col-our temperature. For many market players that’s all there is to light quality; for us it’s actually just the beginning.

For us, light quality also means thinking from the target surface. Vertical illuminance, for instance, is all about uniform wall illumi-nation using an asymmetrical light distribu-tion. We need, therefore, to come up with a lighting technology that reproduces exactly what our customers have been accustomed to for many decades. Ultimately, we provide our customers with light, not luminaires. That’s actually ERCO’s credo.

municate with the suppliers. Incoming QC processes, in turn, need to assess the quality of the LEDs. In this way, LEDs have brought a wave of change to every sector of our com-pany.

David Kuntzsch:ERCO provides a global infrastructure of lighting consultants who not only sell a pro-ject, but help the customer implement their conceptual design. In order to maintain the quality of our consulting services, our staff in this sector needed intensive familiarisation with the material in a very short space of time. This proved to be an enormous chal-lenge.

Armin Scharf:Has this, as it were, developed into some sort of LED culture at ERCO?

Henk Kosche:Yes, absolutely. The LED has brought with it a continual process of change, we deal with the new challenges facing us very openly, critically analysing and scrutinising each as they arise. Exactly what you should do with new technologies.

David Kuntzsch:LED culture for us means that things change for ERCO, but not, if at all possible, for the customer and their processes. The appli-cations and approaches of our component system acquired over many years remain

Armin Scharf:With the LED, the luminaire sector is adopting the same short cycles as the semi-conductor industry. Is speed a priority here for ERCO, i.e. being the first to launch LEDs in a product sector, or is reliability more important, meaning that products from the start are technically sophisticated and mature?

for maybe another 5 per cent or so in terms of efficiency.

Armin Scharf:In which segments in particular is the LED much in use?

David Kuntzsch:Based on the projects already supplied, we find the deployment in museums and galler-ies using LEDs is disproportionately large. At

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About the authorArmin Scharf works and lives as a freelance journalist and copywriter in Tübingen. His focal subjects include industrial design, new technologies and building technology aspects. He is also a permanent external member of the Design Report team and various customer magazines, and since 2009 has been run-ning his own online magazine, zwomp.de, dedicated specifically to the exciting field of industrial products design.

www.bueroscharf.dewww.zwomp.de

Armin Scharf:Integrated Spherolit lens technology is one particular aspect that makes ERCO stand out from the rest. What are the advantages here for the designer, the user?

Andreas Blaut:We combine a primary lens directly on the LED with interchangeable collimators and Spherolit lenses, meaning we provide a mod-ular optical structure. If the parameters of a lighting solution change, it is quite easy to exchange these light-guiding components to produce a different light distribution. This has phenomenal advantages in practice and makes for great planning certainty.

Markus Görres:On top of that, we only need to communi-cate one principle, the customer only needs to understand one principle. With it, they get a number of advantages on the side: less spill light, better beam quality. They can consist-ently combine luminaires irrespective of their application.

Armin Scharf:There are competitors who follow a different modularity principle in that they combine purchased standard elements. Is this not an option for ERCO?

Andreas Blaut:No, because firstly, it limits the flexibility, as purchased modules are hard, if at all, to change. We, on the other hand, are able to react to the frequent changes to LED chips and provide our customers more or less promptly with the best possible light quality.

David Kuntzsch:In addition to the issues of quality, which would have been impossible to resolve with off-the-shelf modules, our customers also demand differentiated, better solutions for their specific projects. ERCO ultimately also stands for developing and producing

target surface. Yet generated light can be lost in the housing or stray somewhere on the wall as spill light. Comparing our prod-ucts with those of our competitors, we often register 50% to 100% more illuminance on the target surface using the same amount of energy.

Armin Scharf:The LED luminaire market seems rather con-fusing. Will this change?

Andreas Blaut:I reckon it will likely become even more con-fusing in the medium term. The established luminaire manufacturers are making efforts to reduce the level of complexity in order to make life as easy as possible for their custom-ers. At the same time, there are companies that bring with them electronics and LED competence from other sectors, which is not really conducive to clarity. It is entirely pos-sible that a time may come when customer

Optoelectronics as a core competence: Using a modular presentation system, Dr. Markus Görres demonstrates the princi-ple of ERCO’s LED lighting technology. The experts’ theory: All components of the overall LED luminaire system must be optimised to produce lighting tools with superior perfor-mance and efficiency.

requirements again become a priority and the market consolidates.

David Kuntzsch:It is quite possible that the market and its make-up will change because of new sup-pliers. These include companies with strong brands, e.g. from the consumer electronics sector. Conversely, established companies could lose their previous relevance as they fail to find adequate answers to new questions brought in by designers.

Armin Scharf:What is the significance of varychrome tech-nology which adds a white LED to the RGB system?

Andreas Blaut:Behind what is known as RGBW technology lies the vision that an ideal luminaire that can produce saturated colours as well as pastel-type whites and various colour tem-peratures.

Markus Görres:RGB alone isn’t able to achieve a continuous colour spectrum or good colour rendering; RGB systems are actually suited only for pure colour applications. If illumination in white is required along with it, you will need an additional white LED. The RGBW system pro-vides entirely new possibilities especially in terms of colour rendition quality.

David Kuntzsch:Mixing different colours in a single beam is a challenge because, optically, the different coloured LEDs are not in the same focus. You would normally get shadows behind an object with undesirable coloured edges to the beam. We have approached this problem with our own solution where the complete colour mixing occurs as the light is emitted from the luminaire.

Armin Scharf:Let’s talk about heat management for a moment. Here, too, ERCO is very proud of its smart solutions.

Andreas Blaut:Let’s put it this way: “We are no fans of the fan”.

Markus Görres:LEDs emit light into the forward hemisphere, but the heat is delivered to the rear hemi-

sphere. Good thermal coupling of the chip surfaces or the PCB makes for ideal heat dis-sipation. This is what we try to ensure from the start with high-end thermal simulation. Unlike our competitors, we only use passive cooling without active components, such as ventilators or membranes. These, after all, reduce the efficiency of the luminaire as well as its service life and can cause disturbing noises.

Armin Scharf: What possibilities does the LED offer in terms of luminaire design?

Henk Kosche:Freedom in design arises from the restric-tions which come with a technology. As an overall system, the LED is, after all, not a low-complexity technology. Appropriate design, therefore, is based on mastering complexity. The product should be as easy to use as possi-ble and be intuitively understood by the user. In this field, it was quite a challenge for us to combine familiar with innovative aspects and to find the right style for the product.

David Kuntzsch:The attitude to design which ERCO applies to its products could be described as functional minimalism. Looking at the luminaires here in front of us, you can see that the transition to new shapes has already taken place. The LED light heads are now completely flat. In that sense, the LED has indeed produced its own product language.

Markus Görres:The advantage of our strategy is just as obvi-ous in the design. Purchased modules would have left us with the old principles: lamp plus reflector – and so, with a structure that is no different at all from conventional solutions. The depth reduction and the formal freedom which we’ve now achieved are based on a consistent use of our own components, our own optical elements.

its own approaches to lighting technology. Put simply, we believe this is the only way to assure the quality which the customer rightly expects of us.

Markus Görres:Customers don’t want us just to deliver a downlight, they want the whole spectrum of applications, from narrow beam accent light-ing to uniform wallwashing. This would not be possible with standard modules.

Henk Kosche:We noticed early on that the advantages of LED technology can only be realised when you have a coherent overall system. The LED’s efficiency and longevity is only achievable with superb thermal management. The same can be said for the role of electronic man-agement in the overall system. We simply had no choice other than to deal with each of these elements individually and optimise them as a system.

Armin Scharf:How is this reflected in the overall efficiency?

David Kuntzsch:Generally, the designer looks at the quantity of light generated and the energy required for it, i.e. the ratio of lumens to watts. In our opinion, this falls a bit short though. Lumens, after all, only quantify the luminous flux generated by the lamp. We are interested, however, in how much light arrives on the

ERCO Lichtbericht 94 1514 ERCO Lichtbericht 94

LED spotlights with RGBW varychrome technology

Varychrome technology with RGB colour mixing was a key factor in the breakthrough of LEDs in architectural lighting. For the first time, LED luminaires provided a combination of features that could not be implemented using con-ventional technology: flexibility and variability joined comfort, long life and efficiency. Their capacity for superb dimming and highly saturated light colours make LEDs the ideal light source for colour mixing luminaires. ERCO now presents a new generation of LED varychrome spotlights that mark a clear advance, especially in terms of versatility and light quality, arguably the most flexible tools for accent lighting and wallwashing ever provided. These new develop-ments are based on the principle of adding white LEDs to the primary

colours red, green and blue (RGB). Addressing these four components individually and using a DALI-compatible 4-channel control gear means highly saturated light can be produced together with pastel hues, but more especially so, it provides high-grade white light with variable colour temper ature – infinitely variable along the Planck-ian locus. The additional warm white component (3000K) also ensures excellent colour rendition. ERCO’s varychrome spotlights now combine the RGBW colour mix-ing available in the Quintessence range of recessed luminaires since 2010 with the patented LED optical system consisting of collimators and Spherolit lenses. As a specific feature, the varychrome spots have a light mixing layer integrated in the primary optical system to pro-

Thanks to their LED lens systems with Spherolit lens technology, the new LED varychrome spotlights provide the usual wide range of light intensity distributions from spot to wallwash with homo-geneous beams without colour shadows. The wallwashers, in particular, are ideal for dynamic, coloured light to add ever new dramatic lighting effects to architecture.

duce homogeneous beams without colour shadows. The Spherolit technology provides a wide variety of light intensity distributions from spot to flood and wide flood all the way to oval flood and wallwash.

Saturated colourIn order to produce coloured light, the four colour components red, green, blue and white are individu-ally addressed along the principles of additive colour mixing. Mixing 100% blue and 100% red, for instance, produces highly saturated light in magenta. In ERCO’s LED varychrome spotlights, the colours are mixed in the LED optical system resulting in a colour that appears homogeneous even on the cover glass.

Neutral white (approx. 5000K)In addition to the three primary colours, the new LED varychrome spotlights now also have warm white LEDs. This, as a result, allows any light colour to be infinitely changed to pastel hues, but even more so, for whites to be produced along the Planckian locus – by add-ing further blue or red components to the white light.

Warm white (approx. 2700K)The new LED varychrome spotlights allow infinite adjustment of the colour temperature in a range from 2700K to 5500K. The already good colour rendering of the warm white LED (Ra>90) is further optimised by adding extra spectral components.

RGBW LED moduleThe red, green, blue and white LEDs are combined to light points on the modules of ERCO’s LED varychrome spotlights. The modules are devel-oped and produced by ERCO to strict specifica-tions.

Beams without colour shadowsThe individual colour light sources of conventional RGB spotlights, recognisable as red, green and blue light points on the cover glass, often result in the phenomenon of corresponding multi-coloured perimeters around the shadow edges. In the development of its new LED varychrome spotlights ERCO focused specifically on elimi-

The new all-rounders among the lighting tools: ERCO’s new LED spotlights with RGBW varychrome technology feature variable light colour and brightness, subtle white nuances with excellent colour rendition and interchangeable Spherolit lenses for various light intensity distributions.

nating these colour shadows. To this end, the colour components are homogeneously mixed right in the LED optical system with the result that the cover glass already appears in the mixed light colour and the beam illuminates objects and surfaces without any colour shadows.

ERCO Lichtbericht 94 1716 ERCO Lichtbericht 94

%100 B G R

80

60

20

0

40

800400 500 700600 nm300

%100 B G R

80

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400 500 700600 nm3000.00.0 0.20.1 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

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380

490

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Red

White

530

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Blue

465

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Products with RGBW technologyThe new LED varychrome technol-ogy for spotlights consists of the RGBW module, a special LED opti-cal system with integrated colour mixing layer, a six-fold collimator, interchangeable Spherolit lenses, and customised DALI control gear. It is available in the new Light Board and Opton spotlight ranges and in the latest generation of Cantax spotlights. For ceiling inte-gration, ERCO provides Light Board as recessed RGBW luminaires. RGBW technology now also fea-tures in LED downlights and LED wallwashers in the Quintessence range.

Spherolit lens for RGBWThe new LED varychrome spot-lights feature a special form of the patented Spherolit lens technol-ogy developed by ERCO. The LED modules with their primary lenses directly on the LEDs, the collima-tors as secondary lenses to create a parallel beam, and the Spherolit lenses as tertiary lenses to control the light distribution are comple-

Light Board varychrome RGBW

Opton varychromeRGBW

Cantax varychrome RGBW

Light Board varychrome recessed luminaire

RGBW LEDsMixing RGB LEDs with warm white LEDs com-bines the advantages of both systems: RGBW lumi naires produce var-iable shades of white along the Planckian curve with excellent colour rendering, but also col-oured light in pastel hues all the way to the highly

RGB LEDsThe RGB LEDs are ideal for mixing highly saturated coloured light. However, the white light from RGB LEDs does not give satis-factory colour rendition quality, making it less suitable for lighting tasks where colour is critical.

Colour temperatureLight Clients with the varychrome RGBW attrib-ute, such as those from the new LED varychrome spotlight range, allow the colour temperature to be adjusted continuously over a wide range in the Light Studio software. Alternatively, the familiar colour wheel can be used to select any light colour.

Colour space Within the coloured area of the CIE diagram, the Planckian locus traces the whites of different colour temperatures – from bluish cool white to red-dish warm white. RGBW technology produces both highly saturated col-ours and variable shades of white.

mented by a further layer: this colour mixing layer is positioned between LED module and the six-fold collimator for totally mixed homogeneous colour components in the optical system to produce a beam without any colour shadows.

LED spotlights with RGBW varychrome technology

Control of RGBW spotlightsThe lighting control system Light System DALI provides two control panels for corresponding spot-lights in its integrated Light Studio software – the colour circle, which allows selection of any colour, and the slider control to regulate the whites of a defined colour temperature. In accordance with the current DALI standards, ERCO’s varychrome spotlights with RGBW technology only require one DALI address despite having four colour channels. The proven colour com-pensation technology used in the factory ensures a high level of col-our constancy and precision.

saturated range. The more uniform spectrum results in a good colour rendition quality.

The optical components of ERCO’s LED varychrome spotlight with RGBW technology: RGBW LED module with primary lens (1), light mixing layer (2) with diffuser film (3), six-fold collimator as secondary lens (4), inter-changeable Spherolit lens as tertiary lens (5).

Spectrum and colour renditionDue to the properties of the human eye, light that appears white to us may have a very different spectral composition. This results in varying renditions of body colours which define the colour rendition qual-ity in relation to a full-spectrum reference light. Because of their narrow-band spectrums, pure RGB luminaires produce white light

with poor colour rendition charac-teristics. The more uniform spec-trum of the RGBW luminaires, in contrast, enables a highly natural, superior colour rendition.

ERCO Lichtbericht 94 1918 ERCO Lichtbericht 94

ERCO Technical Centre LED case study: New light for conference rooms

ERCO has taken to upgrading its own premises in a continuous commitment to deploying modern and efficient LED lighting. The experi-ence gained in the process provides the best arguments for offering optimal LED lighting solutions to designers and clients.

The basement level of ERCO’s Technical Centre in Lüdenscheid accommodates a number of con-ference rooms that, although designed along the same concept, differ primarily in terms of size to cater for different usage requirements. All rooms have a glass front to the exterior, which can be shaded where necessary using motorised interior blinds. A suspended acoustic ceiling ele-ment incorporates recessed luminaires and hides installations such as media technology, air con-ditioning and ventilation systems. At the head of the room, the ceiling element stops short of the wall. The resulting haunches are used to keep air outlets, electric screen and tracked spot-lights out of sight. The lighting concept differ-entiates between ambient lighting components in a downlight matrix and lighting at the front

In the small conference rooms, ceiling-integrated lighting is provided by Quintessence LED down-lights, whereas the larger rooms differenti-ate between downlights and wallwashers. Interior blinds and projection screens can be integrated in the light management ensured by Light System DALI using DALI blind and screen actuators: A sim-

Logotec LEDThe spotlights and wall-washers with Spherolit lenses are mounted on 3-circuit track and via DALI dimmers are con-nected in groups with the lighting control sys-tem. The uniform wall-washing of the back wall creates a larger room impression. One spotlight is used to create a glare-free zone of higher illu-

ple touch of the Light Changer recalling the “Presentation” scene, for instance, dims the light-ing while the screen is simultaneously lowered.

face in the form of spotlights and wallwashers on track.

The dimmable LED technology used in the Quintessence downlights and Logotec spot-lights scores primarily in terms of efficiency and light quality, but delivers a further convinc-ing argument in that it was easily integrated into the lighting control system Light System DALI. Intelligent lighting control is crucial for efficient visual comfort particularly in multi-functional rooms. Thanks to DALI plug and play, the LED luminaires are quick and easy to incorporate into pre-programmed user require-ments, which can be readily recalled with a touch screen on the Light Changer, not only for individual dimming of the various light compo-nents, but also for automatic activation of the projection screen, for instance, for multimedia presentations.

The energy savings potential is again con-siderable here: Compared to the previous installation – at the time equipped to conform with the prevailing standard using general-purpose, halogen and fluorescent lamps – the energy consumption has dropped by around 75% – in the muted light of a presentation, even a data projector of the latest “ECO – low energy” generation has a significantly higher energy requirement than the new LED lighting.

Old New (LED)41.38W/m2 11.05W/m2

100% 27%

100% 18%

4.9t

Lighting conceptConnected load per m2 (W/m2)

Comparison of connected load (%)

Comparison of operating costs

CO2 savings per year

Corresponds to a reduc-tion to 27%

minance at the room entrance to produce the effect of a “welcome mat”.

ERCO Lichtbericht 94 2120 ERCO Lichtbericht 94

ERCO Technical Centre LED case study: RGBW wallwashing in the representative office

Light that can be infinitely controlled, not only in terms of brightness, but also colour, opens up new dimensions for scenic lighting effects in rooms. Where variable room lighting of a high quality is as important as individual accent lights in rich colours, LED varychrome luminaires with RGBW technology are the perfect solu-tion – they combine red, green and blue LEDs with efficient warm white LEDs. Individually addressed using DALI-compatible control gear units, these luminaires can produce intensive light of any colour through additive colour mix-ing, but also shades of white along the Planck-ian locus – from the extremely warm tone of a dimmed light bulb all the way to the bright and cool white of zenith daylight. Through bal-anced spectral composition of the light, colours are rendered beautifully and appear natural. For the representative office in ERCO’s Technical Centre, designers opted for Quintessence RGBW wallwashers with LEDs to ensure uniform wall-washing of the room surfaces using light of variable hues. A Light System DALI installation

Coloured lightAlong with the option of infinitely variable colour temperature of white light, RGBW varychrome luminaires also cover the whole spectrum of coloured light: from pas-tel hues all the way to a highly saturated range. As a result, they are suit-able both for high-quality white light with good colour rendition in day-

DALI plug and playERCO’s RGBW lighting tools can be integrated as DALI Light Clients in such lighting control systems as Light System DALI. In compliance with the current DALI stand-ard, the control gear units only require one DALI address in spite of having four control channels. On commissioning, the factory-encoded ERCO

Variable colour tem-peratureLight components with variable colour tempera-ture such as wallwashing with RGBW varychrome wallwashers open up countless possibilities of scenographic lighting in the room. One such option in a specific appli-cation would be wall-washing adjusted to the natural light coming in

to-day operation, but also for coloured scenic lighting in rooms used for special occasions, such as a reception or a private viewing. ERCO’s Light Changer offers appropri-ate graphic tools on its touch screen for colour selection.

through the large win-dows throughout the course of the day: cooler room light in the after-noon (left), warmer light towards dusk (right).

provides the intuitive interface to operate the lighting so that a single touch of the screen calls up the right light scene for different times of the day, occasions or moods. Appropriate graphic control panels also allow for interactive manual intervention, for instance, in order to correct the colour temperature of a group of wallwashers as requested.

Light Clients are auto-matically recognised by Light System DALI to offer true “plug and play” con-nectivity.

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QT12 LED 90W 20W, warm white

1800lm 1305lm

20lm/W 65lm/W

178lx 199lx

8.79W/m² 2.10W/m²

Lamp

Luminous flux

Luminous efficacy

Illuminance

P*

Corresponds to a reduction to 24%

Double-focus downlights in useCeiling-integrated lighting with lamps largely concealed from view pretty much typifies the maxim of “light, not luminaires”. The develop-ment of the double-focus down-light has now taken this approach to positive extremes. Whereas the higher luminous flux of conven-tional downlights necessitates larger luminaire apertures, the double-focus downlights stand out due to their rather small aperture. Their advantage in terms of light-ing lies in optimised screening of the lamp to avoid glare. This aspect is relevant particularly in rooms with high ceilings such as foyers or concert halls. Conventional downlights easily cause glare here through direct view upon the lamp. The regressed position of the lamp in the double-focus downlight, in contrast, ensures pleasant visual comfort. Double-focus downlights typically produce a relatively nar-row beam to achieve appropriate lighting effects even in rooms with higher ceilings.

The small light aperture of the double-focus downlights also has design advantages. Compared to conventional downlights and their considerably much larger luminaire apertures these luminaires take on a very discreet effect on the ceil-ing. The latter, as a result, appears more homogeneous and incon-spicuous. Grids with large, bright luminaire apertures are perceived as disturbing particularly on dark ceilings. Double-focus downlights therefore can contribute to a discreet appearance of the ceiling even in rooms of normal height.

Technology of LED double-focus downlightsDouble-focus downlights with LED technology are designed dif-ferently from double-focus down-lights for conventional lamps, but their applications are the same. Tra-ditional double-focus downlights such as for high-pressure discharge lamps comprise an upper ellipti-cal reflector and a lower Darklight reflector. The lamp located at the upper, first focal point of the ellipse is reflected to the second focal point. Here sits the upper edge of the compact Darklight reflector, which reduces glare and achieves excellent visual comfort in the room. Detrimental points here are their large size along with relatively poor efficiency.

Since PCBs with several LEDs produce diverse focal points, the existing lighting technology cannot directly be transferred to LED tech-nology. Consequently, the light of the Quintessence LED double-focus downlights is guided via a compact lens system with collimator and Spherolit lens. The projected light is emitted as a precise beam with lit-tle spill light immediately from the Spherolit lens making a Darklight reflector unnecessary. Instead, a matt black anti-glare cone ensures visual comfort along with an incon-spicuous ceiling design, especially for dark ceilings. This technical approach results in a higher light output ratio than for conventional lamps, a much better unified glare rating (UGR), and a smaller size. The LED double-focus downlights are fitted either with flood or wide flood Spherolit lenses for adjust-ment to the room height.

Thomas Schielke

Concert hall application: Due to its height, the hall requires high luminous flux for an attractive light-ing design. Double-focus downlights can produce the necessary horizontal illuminances while main-taining a high level of vis-ual comfort.

Airport terminal applica-tion: High rooms place particular demands on visual comfort, as the angle increases the view into the recessed lumi-naires. Double-focus downlights are ideal for such applications due to their high glare control and inconspicuous ceiling apertures.

In contrast to down-lights (left), double-focus downlights (right) have a smaller, inconspicuous luminaire aperture but the same luminous flux to produce a more discreet impression. The Darklight reflector in recessed lumi-naires for conventional lamps ensures good visual comfort.

Focus Double focus

The most notable advan-tage of double-focus downlights with LED technology compared to those with conventional lamps is reduced energy consumption along with a smaller size.

The LED double-focus downlights are provided with a matt black anti-glare cone for optimum glare protection and an inconspicuous ceiling especially in dark rooms with high ceilings.

ERCO Lichtbericht 94 2524 ERCO Lichtbericht 94

In the midst of tourist stampedes, Venice, the sinking beauty, is well established as a hub for contemporary art. Its driving force is the Venice Biennale, whose attraction ensures that a num-ber of renowned galleries and collections also receive a share of the international audience. A particular appeal is often created by the venues themselves: historical sites like the old Arsenal shipyards, where tangible history is contrasted with artefacts formed by contemporary minds – some unwieldy, strange, inaccessible, and awaiting history's judgment.

The splendid Palazzo Bembo, built in the 15th century by the prominent Bembo family and located on the Canal Grande, now houses another space for such inspiring encounters. The house where, in 1470, the scholar and later cardinal Pietro Bembo was born, is once again a place of art and culture. What was, for many years, a vacant space across several of the Palazzo’s floors was brought to life again by Global Art Affairs, a foundation which has organised exhibitions featuring international artists for several years, initiated by Dutch artist Rene Rietmayer. Together with his curators Sarah Gold and Karlyn De Jongh, Rietmayer had been searching for a venue for the 54th Bien-nale exhibition “Personal Structures” featuring 28 artists from five continents. Having secured a long-term commitment to the exhibition space, the trio invested many resources and countless hours into the rooms’ restoration, which had to meet both the requirements of the historic register and, in the light of the exhibits’ importance, the standards of a museum. The

solid walls of the historic Palazzo allowed them to get away without installing air condition-ing. By contrast, a professional and sustainable lighting solution was a “must”. The foundation ultimately opted for an ERCO track system with Logotec LED spotlights and wallwashers. Cura-tor Sarah Gold relates her experience with the system as follows: “It works perfectly, allows the art optimal expression, and is easy and convenient to move around when we rearrange exhibitions.” Thanks to its efficient LED tech-nology, the connected load is only about 20% that of a comparable system using low-voltage halogen technology. This not only saves power and natural resources; it also spares the cura-tor’s nerves, seeing how fickle the wiring in old Palazzi can be, as Sarah Gold knows: “Here in Venice, we have seen vernissages where, at the precise moment the light was supposed to come on, the master fuse blew instead. That's not going to happen here!”

Palazzo Bembo, Venice

A glance through the window puts each exhibit into the context of six centuries of European cultural history: the log-gia hall of Palazzo Bembo looks out over the Canal Grande and the Rialto bridge. The Logotec LED projectors, equipped with warm-white LEDs and proprietary Spherolit technology lenses, ensure a perfect lighting design.

The minimalistic, neutral design of these compact projectors adds a subtle, yet characteristic ingre-dient to the blend of his-torical architecture and contemporary art.

For several years, the Global Art Affairs foun-dation has organised exhibitions featuring international artists. In Palazzo Bembo, it has found a permanent venue in Venice, one of the most important hubs for contemporary art. The photo to the left shows the following works of art: Arnulf Rainer (Austria): Head, untitled,

Exhibition and lighting design: Global Art Affairs, Leiden/VenicePhotos: Thomas Mayer, Neuss

www.palazzobembo.orgHistorical architecture, contemporary art, visionary lighting: ERCO LED technology proves its fine qualities in Palazzo Bembo exhibition halls.

2010; Cross, untitled, undated. Carl Andre (USA): Crux 14, 2010. The photo to the right shows the following works of art: Wallpaper by Peter Halley (USA): Judgment Day, 2011; in the back-ground, by Yuko Sakurai (Japan): Tsuyama.

ERCO Lichtbericht 94 2726 ERCO Lichtbericht 94

Graz, the capital city of Styria, links rich history with a creative future as if the one entailed the other. How many modern cities have a historic centre that the UNESCO has listed as a world heritage site, and more so, were chosen by the same international cultural organisation as one of the ten “UNESCO Cities of Design” world-wide? The Joanneum Universal Museum is part of this vivid cultural tradition in Graz. Founded in 1811 by Archduke Johann as the first ever museum in Austria, it encompasses nine sites in historic and modern buildings today. Its collec-tion includes well over 4.5 million items from different areas making it one of the largest of its kind in Europe. One such site is the baroque Palais Herberstein at Sackstraße 16. Since 1941, this important historic building in the old part of Graz has housed initially the New Gallery of the Joanneum, before extensive refurbishment and restoration work was carried out to reopen in May 2011 as the “Museum im Palais”, the new home of the Cultural History Collection.

A reopening that meets all the standards of a “City of Design”. With effect, the new museum blends the authentic presentation of magnifi-cently restored baroque-style rooms in the Palais with exhibition galleries of a modern design that meet all the curatorial requirements. Today’s museum extras such as gift shop and restaurant are housed in atmospheric indoor and outdoor areas on the ground floor. Evidence of the vari-ety of roles ERCO’s lighting tools are able to play in a context such as this. The Joanneum is yet another institute with global reputation that has opted for LED technology from ERCO to light its galleries. Its ornate baroque stairwell, the court-yard and the pillared arcades all feature stun-ning architectural lighting using ERCO products to further enhance the attractive appearance of this building.

The oldest part of the Palais hails from the 16th century. Today’s façade design with its two portals was added in the 18th century by baroque master builder Joseph Hueber (1715–1787), who also built an ornate central stairwell to weld the three wings into a single building: The grand stairwell is lined by pairs of putti carrying lanterns and opens upwards to an illusionistic ceiling fresco depicting a view into Olympus. Like another fresco in the vestibule of the exhibition circuit on the 2nd floor, it is attributed to Philipp Carl Laubmann (1703–1792). The magic of the lighting here lies in light sources that are hidden from the observer. ERCO’s DALI-dimmable Trion ceiling washlights for T16 54W fluorescent lamps were placed on the surrounding plaster cornice. Their asymmetrical light distribution illumi-nates the arched ceiling uniformly – to produce

The treasury of Styria: Museum im Palais, Graz

The circuit starts off in the grand baroque stair-case. It opens upwards to a ceiling fresco by Philipp Carl Laubmann (1703–1792) depicting a view into Olympus. It is illuminated by Trion ceiling washlights for T16 54W fluorescent lamps, which the designers spread around the exist-ing plaster cornice. The uniform washlighting

One of the courtyards of the Palais is also used as a terrace for the “Prato” restaurant. Season per-mitting, visitors can dine “al fresco” here in a rather unique ambience. The glare-free Kubus façade luminaires lend the build-ing a discreet presence at nightfall. They are pro-vided with efficient 20W metal halide lamps and

Historic arched ceilings form a grand entrance into the Museum im Palais. The lighting technology of the Tesis uplights for 35W metal halide lamps used here has been modified to emit an even softer light with a wider beam reach-ing far into the ceiling centre.

Eye-catcher on the Sack-straße façade in Graz: the magnificent baroque portal, effectively lit using two Tesis in-ground lumi-naires. These adjustable uplights are fitted with 20W metal halide lamps and sculpture lenses to produce an oval beam.

Lighting design: Gerald P. Marko, Graz Exhibition design: Dr. Eva Marko, GrazPhotos: Rudi Meisel, Berlin

www.museum-joanneum.at/museum_im_palaisThe Cultural History Collection in the refurbished Palais Herberstein is part of the Joanneum Universal Museum: a fur-ther example of an institute of worldwide significance that has opted for ERCO’s LED technology in its galleries. Light is also used outdoors for highly effective architectural lighting.

gives the fresco a magic appearance as if shining from within.

Kubus façade luminaire HIT

Tesis in-ground luminaire HIT

mounted in groups of two with a beam emit-ting light both up and down.

ERCO Lichtbericht 94 2928 ERCO Lichtbericht 94

the effect of a fresco that seems to shine from within.

Following this overwhelming overture, the museum circuit continues on a dramatic level. It initially takes the visitor through a suite of four rooms, an antechamber, and a cabinet room with opulent Rococo decor, in order then to pre-sent the permanent exhibition of the Cultural History Collection in plain modern exhibition rooms. Based on the overriding theme of ‘status symbols’, the artefacts on show here represent political power, an aristocratic lifestyle and court education, and generally have a close link with Styria or Graz. Among the highlights of the Museum im Palais are, for example, the Styrian Ducal Hat (c. 1400), Frederick III’s Gothic state coach (~1450) and the only incontestably genu-~1450) and the only incontestably genu- and the only incontestably genu-ine transverse flute in the world made by the eminent French instrument-maker and flautist Jean Hotteterre, in around 1680.

As the lighting designer of the exhibition, G.P. Marko cleverly staged these cultural treasures in such a way that capitalises on all the advan-tages offered by the system design of ERCO’s LED lighting tools. Depending on the size and format of the exhibits, the designer brought all available light intensity distributions of the Logotec LED spotlights into play, from narrow spot to wide flood, oval flood and wallwash. The Spherolit lenses, easily interchangeable for future requirement, give designers and engi-neers great flexibility in fine-tuning the system, while the low proportion of spill light produces dramatic contrasts. To ensure the right dosage of illuminance, the LED spotlights can be individu-

Thanks to the LED light-ing technology with collimators and Spherolit lenses to control the light distribution, ERCO’s LED light used in the museum solves many different lighting tasks: from washlighting of an installation with oval flood characteristic (left) all the way to precise accent lighting on smaller objects using a narrow spot characteristic.

Logotec LED

A highlight of the exhibition, Emperor Frederick III’s Gothic state coach (~1450), is given appropriate lighting: the highly dramatic effect is produced by light sources concealed in ceiling ducts, their optimum position and focusing previously determined in extensive lighting tests. The design-ers used Optec LED spot-lights 9.6W, narrow spot,

for specific accentuation of the magnificently carved coats of armour on the front sides of the coach.

Cultural history with a local link: The Graz collec-tion presents true gems such as the “Styrian Ducal Hat” (top right), but also historic everyday objects and oddities. The system design of ERCO’s LED lighting provides a light-ing tool for each exhibit that ensures appropriate light distribution with the option of adjusting the level of brightness exactly

The Spherolit lenses, which are easily replaced to provide different light distribution patterns, make Logotec LED spot-lights a flexible tool for effective exhibition lighting.

ally dimmed without the shift in colour temper-ature known from halogen lamp. The spectral composition of the warm white LED light is free of infrared and ultraviolet components to allow for best possible protection of the irreplaceable exhibits. All these aspects add up to provide an attractive, highly flexible and safe lighting solu-tion with minimum energy requirement and heat input – a prime example of translating the potential of ERCO’s LED technology successfully into efficient visual comfort in museums and galleries.

to its curatorial and con-servational requirements using the integrated dimmer.

ERCO Lichtbericht 94 3130 ERCO Lichtbericht 94

Dortmund is a textbook example of structural transformation. Less than 50 years ago, the region’s notorious economic triad of coal, steel and beer dominated this Westphalian metropo-lis, the largest breweries of the time quenching the thirst of miners and steelworkers. In the meantime, the blast furnaces have gone cold, some dismantled, sold and shipped to China, while brownfields such as the former Phoenix steelworks provide ample space for new busi-ness districts, lakes, and exclusive residential real estate. The breweries also had to surrender to the decline in German consumers’ appetite for beer. As more and more businesses moved to the outskirts, enormous spaces became avail-able in the city centre. New buildings as well as converted pre-war edifices are now utilised by the emerging service sector, both for cultural and retail purposes. One example of this is the Thier brewery site, a prime location between the Hiltropwall and the busy shopping street Westenhellweg, abandoned by the brewery as early as 1996.

That real estate was discovered and developed by Hamburg-based ECE Projektmanagement, a leading European specialist in this field. It cre-ated the Thier-Galerie, a new, attractive shop-ping centre with over 33,000 square metres of retail space. The Berlet house’s meticulously reconstructed historical façade facing Westen-hellweg as well as the interior design concept of a “house within a house” contribute to the centre’s architectural appeal. Especially when it comes to projects of this scale, sustainability is an important factor to consider.

With many years of experience, ECE brings a vast amount of know-how to the task of energy and resource efficiency. This is borne out by the fact that heating only accounts for 20 to 30% of the centre’s energy consumption while the rest is used for ventilation, air conditioning and lighting. This puts the focus on the lighting concept: According to ECE, it has cut the energy consumption in its new centres by an average of 20%, simply by installing state-of-the-art lighting tools, an approach that fits in perfectly

with the ERCO concept of efficient visual com-fort. Within these parameters, Dortmund-based LDE KOBER’s lighting designers sought to create an agreeable atmosphere on the inside with a mix of daylight and accentuated artificial light - ing and to make the building as a whole stand out at night by highlighting the façade’s fea-tures. The top floors of the newly built space serve as parking garages and are designed as a roof parapet. A casing of warm-coloured perfo-rated metal gives elegance and lightness to the top section. Shimmering in a golden hue, it is accentuated at night by the grazing light from Focalflood LED façade luminaires. The build-ing has advanced to a landmark with minimal energy consumption and need for servicing thanks to ERCO LED technology.

ECE Center Thier-Galerie, Dortmund

Focalflood LED façade luminaireThe grazing light of the Focalflood façade lumi-naires brings out the surface texture of build-ings at night. The narrow light distribution over the whole wall avoids unnec-essary light pollution. The wide light distribu-tion in the other direction ensures good uniform-ity on the façade and, if

Ordinarily, ECE's responsi-bility as an operator does not extend to furnishing tenants' shops. However, ECE provides them with a lighting manual they created to help optimise energy efficiency. In this way, shops such as the fashion jewellery bou-tique “39°C” were inspired to use ERCO products to

Architect: Kaspar Kraemer Architekten, Cologne (façade); ECE Planning Team, HamburgLighting designer: LDE KOBER, DortmundPhotos: Dirk Vogel, Dortmund

www.thiergalerie.de

An economic keystone and city landmark: the new shopping centre “Thier-Galerie” in Dortmund's city centre. LED lighting tools by ERCO enhance its striking appearance.

mounted in a row, allows wide luminaire spacing. The two mounting brack-ets help with easy adjust-ment to the inclination of the luminaire.

LightcastIP68 rated downlights generate a light carpet accentuating the entrance area. Again, the lighting tools are metal halide lamps.

Tesis UplightsThe adjustable uplight from the Tesis range of recessed floor luminaires, rated with IP68, lends itself to accentuating vertical features of a façade with its narrow beam. Highly efficient metal halide lamps are used as lighting tools.

OptecThe universal range of Optec luminaires is available for use both with conventional light-ing tools, such as metal halide lamps, and with LEDs – in both cases with a wide selection of light distribution char-acteristics from spot to wallwash.

deliver a lighting concept that is consistent with the idea of efficient vis-ual comfort.

ERCO Lichtbericht 94 3332 ERCO Lichtbericht 94

Backlights

Exponatec 2011, CologneInternational museums, well-known vendors, and high-calibre visitors in an ever more emi-nent cultural market met at the Exponatec trade show in Cologne from 16 – 18 November 2011. Also present were experts of ERCO Leuchten GmbH demonstrating LED lighting technology as a topic of particular interest to museums. At a compact trade fair stand, practical experience of LED lighting tools such as the Logotec LED spotlights was backed by ERCO consultants with application studies from world leading institu-tions including the National Gallery in London, where ERCO’s LED technology had led to drastic savings in energy and maintenance costs cou-pled with optimal light quality (full report in Lichtbericht 92). The resulting technical discus-sions brought to light the significant potential of the concept of efficient visual comfort for museums and cause us to be optimistic about the further development of museum lighting. This is an area in which ERCO is already a recog-nised authority.

www.exponatec.dewww.erco.com/museum/de

PLDC 2011, MadridIn October 2011, the architectural lighting scene gathered in Madrid for the Professional Lighting Design Convention (PLDC). Contributing to the supporting programme, ERCO Spain had organ-ised an “Afterwork Event” for the evening of 21 October 2011 to be held at Studioloft 11:13, one of the trendiest venues in Madrid. Many of the international lighting experts used this oppor-tunity after a full day at the convention for an exchange with colleagues in a more informal setting effectively illuminated by ERCO, to enjoy the refreshments provided or simply to relax to the music. Thank you to all our guests and the team who have helped make this evening a great success!

www.pld-c.comwww.rockandloft.com/11.13/

Dr. Dirk Stahlschmidt takes his leaveOn 27 January 2012, our managing director Dr. Dirk Stahlschmidt bid a sad farewell to the com-pany to go into retirement. In a small ceremo-ny marking 26 successful years at ERCO, he was sent out in style. His executive colleagues and hundreds of employees had gathered to wish the outgoing managing director all the very best for this next stage of life. Dr. Stahlschmidt began his career at ERCO as a management assistant before he was put in charge of domes-tic sales in 1987 followed by his appointment as managing director in 1989. He also looks back on many years of service in an honorary capac-ity – such as on the advisory board and as chair-man of the Fachverband Leuchten (Luminaire Association), as jointly responsible founder of the international Light+Building trade fair, and on the board of managing directors of the ZVEI, the German Electrical and Electronic Manufac-turers' Association.

Superior, hands-on LED lighting technology from ERCO: Spherolit lenses which can be replaced without tools to control light distribution pat-terns are crucial aspects particularly for museum experts – providing, for instance, for flexible light-ing situations in changing exhibitions. The LED light-ing tools made an equally convincing argument in

International lighting experts came together at the Afterwork Event organised by ERCO Spain for the PLDC in Madrid last October.

Thanks to a colleague, who was respected and appreciated among the workforce as a straight-forward person of inte-grity: managing director Tim Henrik Maack paid tribute to the work of Dr. Stahlschmidt (left). Below: Successor Marcus Schramm used the oppor-tunity to introduce him-self as the new managing director.

Hundreds of employees had gathered in the cafeteria of ERCO’s Lüdenscheid head office to bid farewell to their managing director. A meal gave opportunity to look back on the time with Dr. Stahlschmidt.

Otl Aicher – GestalterA biography by Eva Moser2011, Hatje Cantz (German)ISBN 978-3-7757-3201-7

Otl Aicher (1922-1991) is known as a visionary designer and pioneer of visual communication. His work on ERCO’s image has left a deep mark on our com-pany. Art historian Eva Moser now pre-sents the first comprehensive biography of Aicher that delves deeper also into the lesser known sides of the designer. After meticulous research among members of his family, friends and in archives, it gives insight into his life especially as a young and private person presenting aspects that will be new even to Aicher experts. Aicher’s connections in politics and cul-ture make his biography an exciting piece of contemporary German history.

Richard Reinke (right), chairman of the Works Council, also acknowl-edged the constructive cooperation with the out-going managing director with a donation from the Works Council to the Friends of the Psycholog-ical Counselling Service Lessingstraße, which Dr. Stahlschmidt chairs in an honorary capacity.

terms of long life, effi-ciency, colour rendition, and the protection of exhibits.

E ERCO GmbHPostfach 246058505 LüdenscheidGermanyTel.: +49 2351 551 0Fax: +49 2351 551 300info@erco.comwww.erco.com

The world’s largest museum opened in April 2011 with the exhibition “The Art of the Enlightenment”. A massive new annex now extends the total area of the Chinese National Museum to 191,900m2. The architectural design by gmp and the exhibition presented by Germany’s three largest museums, the Staatliche Museen in Berlin, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen

in Dresden and the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen in Munich, are not the only contribu-tions from Germany – ERCO sup-plied thousands of metres of track along with thousands of spotlights for exhibition lighting – some featuring cutting-edge LED tech-nology.

Chinese National Museum, Beijing

Architect: von Gerkan, Marg und Partner (gmp), Hamburg Photos: Michael Wolf, Hong Kong

www.kunstderaufklaerung.dewww.chnmuseum.cn