2018 Lighting Awards winners—beacons for a sustainably bright future

I can’t help getting excited at the kind of projects being undertaken these days. The level of talent among design, engineering and construction teams amazes me as they continually surpass what we take to be normal and push the boundaries of possibility. The result is in truly spectacular creations, such as those recognised in the 2018 UK Lighting Design Awards 2018, held in May 2019.

A diverse group of projects from 18 countries were fittingly honoured for mesmerising ingenuity and stunning design. The standout one for me was the winner of the global project of the year; the Bloomberg European headquarters in London by Tillotson Design Associates and Foster + Partners. The judges described it as a scheme of ‘incredible complexity and sophistication’. Yes, you could say I’m a little biased as my partner, Selux was one of the lighting designers on the project. But even without bias, it’s an undeniable winner.

98.5 BREEAM rating

Apart from its inspirational design, it is the world’s most sustainable office building, with a 98.5 per cent ‘outstanding’ rating against the latest Breeam sustainability standard. As such, it will lead the way for many others to follow. Having been on the inside of the lighting industry for a few decades, I’m in admiration of those in the research field who are transforming the efficiency and longevity of modern lighting. Work is no longer work when you feel your efforts are contributing to a higher purpose.

With respect for its immediate surroundings, the building uses accent lights between exterior fins, edge-lit with concealed LEDs, giving soft illumination to the surrounding public area and avoiding glare for passers-by. Stone soffits are up lit with recessed optics within the plinths below.

Workspaces for wellbeing and flow

An imposing spiral ramp snakes to a six-floor height, culminating in a skylight at its vortex. It offers ambient light to the atrium with linear LED fixtures, again recessed behind bronze louvres under each step. Further theatrics are achieved within the ramp itself with cut-outs in the base of the sidewalls, diffusing light across each tread, marking your ascension.

The office floors are fitted with a custom LED-integrated ceiling system that illuminates but doesn’t dazzle, using technologies that contribute to most of the sustainable benefits in this project. Because of the sheer number of LEDs used, they can run at significantly below maximum output, using about 40% less energy than a fluorescent light system.

This is the future

Zooming into this multifunctional lighting, cooling and acoustic system is the pièce de résistance for me. To produce something as functional as this which is also aesthetically beautiful takes outstanding talent. For engineers who are given strict parameters within which to fit their functional architecture, this is a dream, taking up a mere 100mm in depth. More than two million three-dimensional formed-metal petals house over 500,000 LEDs. Magnificent.