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Below are selected excerpts from the latest issue of Lighting Art & Science for International Designers.  If you would like to read these articles in full please contact melinda@rala.com.au to purchase the latest issue of Lighting Art & Science for International Designers.

Pricing

Single Copies (excluding Who's Who of Lighting)
- Australia: $18.50 (includes GST, Postage + Handling)
- Overseas: $21.50 (includes Postage + Handling)

                Who's Who of Lighting (single copy)
                Australia:  $28.50 (includes GST, Postage + Handling)
                Overseas: $37.50 (includes Postage + Handling)

 
 

EnergySmart Buildings Supplement
(click on cover image to download a copy of ESB Supplement)

This edition of Lighting Magazine has a special addition, a new supplement for the 'green' buildings sector. EnergySmart Buildings is a unique publication which features the very latest in technology and lighting systems for commercial buildings.

In this first edition, EnergySmart Buildings has a focus on the office building sector and the significant opportunities it presents to use energy more efficiently. There are a range of views from those working in the industry as well as reporting on the policy environment for energy efficiency in Australia and around the world.

There are also a range of comprehensive case studies showing the business case for energy efficient design and operation; and deployment of cutting edge lighting and building management systems. Whether you are a property manager or developer, a tenant, an engineer or consultant, you are sure to find this new publication invaluable.

To read EnergySmart Buildings in full please contact melinda@rala.com.au to purchase the latest issue of Lighting Art & Science for International Designers

Exterior Lighting

Lighting leads the new world of ‘media architecture’
By Paula Wallace
In Germany recently, a group of interested professionals came together from a diverse range of disciplines to talk about the phenomenon known as media architecture.

It can best be described as the meeting point of physical and digital space, but it could be argued that its highest aspirations are often not realised through installations which are purely commercial in intent. But this is beginning to change. There are a number of organisations working together to produce interesting media façades which feature content other than advertising.

This process of fusion of architecture, design, engineering, digital applications, culture and media is throwing up new challenges and possibilities. And lighting designers are playing a key role in both the development of media architecture, especially media façades, as well as advancing the technology which has largely paved the way for its development. Namely L/ED (light emitting diode) advancements, whose products form the basis of most media façades and which are transforming buildings into dynamic screens.

If you look at the exterior of built forms as a skin, then this can be a breathing, changing organism. Light has literally made it possible for these skins to communicate their messages, as night-time experiences. But they needn’t be limited to this, as methods advance they could also play a unique part in the day-time experience of passers-by.

Image: Smartlab System, used for installations at the Design Lab which is a research discipline within the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning

Guest Editorial

Challenges ahead for stadium lighting
By David Lewis, AssocIESANZ, Practicing Affiliate IALD, David Lewis Lighting Design
The sports stadium design process is a complicated affair and more so when it comes to lighting. Today’s large stadiums rely on television as an integral part of their business model. Getting the fans to the stadium is not enough – the whole financial viability relies on staging events that can also be televised. Of course other major factors are in play too – particularly advertising, sponsors and including [stadium] naming rights.

Television rights, however, provide large sums of finance to complete the viability in the long term: “He [David Gallop, NRL CEO] is referring to another, equally tough, competition characterised by as much ego, bluster and antagonism as the action on the field – the multi-million-dollar television broadcast rights negotiations. It's a process that pits the NRL against the AFL, the television networks against the codes and the networks against each other. The negotiations will also test the financial strength of the Nine, Ten and Seven networks and their various owners. … Throw in a Communications Minister who is yet to announce changes to the rules that govern sports broadcasting and a media establishment grappling with new technologies and you have the makings of a fascinating contest.”, The Australian, 13 February 2010.

Image: DAVID LEWIS, Vancouver Winter Olympic Games 2010

To read this article in full please contact melinda@rala.com.au to purchase the latest issue of Lighting Art & Science for International Designers

Technical Feature

Visual triggers of migraine and headache
By Alex J Shepherd, Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006. Paper presented at Lux Pacifica, Bangkok, 2009

Introduction
Many aspects of the environment can affect a person’s comfort and health, yet they do not appear to be adequately recognised by those who create the spaces in which we live and work. The environment can affect a person’s comfort and sense of well-being by, for example, having a negative impact on mood, arousal, stress, or the ability to concentrate. It can have more serious effects if it elicits discomfort or affects a person’s health by aggravating an existing medical condition such as migraine or epilepsy. This paper describes aspects of the environment that can trigger migraine and headache. It focuses on headaches triggered by light, lighting and visual stimuli and includes a study of the relative importance of these visual triggers compared to other known headache triggers. These issues are important because of the large number of people affected. Those involved in the design of the visual environment could improve the quality of life, and health, of many by avoiding environmental features, particularly visual features, which can trigger migraine and headache.

Migraine and headache triggers
Most people will have experienced headaches where they can identify the cause, such as headaches resulting from stress, tiredness, dehydration or, in women, hormonal factors. For many, these headaches are easily resolved with rest, sleep, or over the counter medication. There are, however, many less commonly known factors that can induce migraine and headache, such as certain foods (e.g. cheese, chocolate, red wine and citrus fruits), hunger, irregular sleeping patterns, and various environmental factors.

The environmental headache triggers include visual stimuli, acrid smells and noisy environments. Some of the visual stimuli are similar to those that can induce seizures in patients with photosensitive epilepsy (e.g. flicker, glare, or repetitive, high contrast stripes or grids). The serious consequences of inducing a seizure have resulted in guidelines that restrict the content of televised images [1] (although they are not always followed, as demonstrated by reports of seizures triggered while watching flickering images on television [2] as recently as 2007 [3]). The prevalence of epilepsy is only 0.5% of the population and, of these, 4-5% can have their seizures induced by visual patterns [4,5]. Given the much higher prevalence of migraine and headache, which can also have serious consequences for health and are associated with high personal and professional costs, the formulation and adoption of guidelines to avoid visual environmental triggers appears long overdue.”

Image:  Artwork displayed in the foyer at Birkbeck College, University of London, resulted in complaints of migraine, headache, dizziness, eyestrain and general malaise

To read this article in full please contact melinda@rala.com.au to purchase the latest issue of Lighting Art & Science for International Designers

 

To read this article in full please contact melinda@rala.com.au to purchase the latest issue of Lighting Art & Science for International Designers