Owing to the increase in the number of infrastructure projects in the country, the LED facade lighting market is growing significantly. Such lighting enhances the aesthetic appeal of buildings that range from heritage monuments and bridges to airports and railway stations
By Belal Khan
Professional façade lighting is a key component of the external appearance of many buildings. It is designed to highlight special features of a building’s architecture, enhancing its overall appearance.
There are several Indian companies coming up in the field of façade lighting. As lighting solutions, products and designs help to convey an architectural message, façade lighting manufacturers often work towards providing ‘media facades’, using video to dramatically enhance walls.
Owing to the increase in the number of infrastructure projects in the country, the LED facade lighting market is growing significantly. Professional façade lighting enhances the aesthetic appeal of outdoor projects by highlighting subtle features of the architecture. The current focus on tourism is also contributing to an increase in beautification of historic monuments and structures such as bridges.
Façade forms are determined by the light that falls on them, its direction and colour. The appearance of a façade alters during the course of the day due to the changing direction of sunlight and the varying components of diffused and direct light.
Current trends
Nowadays, architectural designs require lighting solutions capable of integrating lighting fixtures to the building materials, while also providing the necessary system monitoring. Products should have good lighting performance as well as good quality that can minimise the cost and time needed for maintenance.
Today, the way facades are designed has changed. Designers are not only making the structure innovative but are also using materials that are sustainable, environment-friendly and carbon-free. The driving force behind the industry-wide innovation is the increase in green building practices. Integrating LEDs into façade design can prove to be highly energy-efficient and environment-friendly, while adding glamour and highlighting the subtle features of a building.
The involvement of a professional lighting company in a project can ensure long-term cost-savings, whether in relation to equipment, operations or aesthetics.
Façade lighting trends have changed over the years and some of the latest are as follows.
Dynamic LED lighting: Programmable LED luminaires are used in a creative manner to enhance facades. Both colour-changing as well as colour-temperature-changing (warm white to cool white) products are available. Being long lasting, easy to install and maintenance-free, LED luminaires have become a must-have for every lighting designer.
Media façades: Another technology used by lighting designers is the media façade, wherein video mapping is used to create live videos as well as dynamic scenes on the facades. The entire system is programmable and different shows can be created depending on the occasion.
Light and sound shows: With the advent of LEDs, light and sound shows have become easier to implement and use. LED luminaires are seamlessly integrated with sound systems to create theme based lighting.
Leading industry player, Philips Lighting, offers professional LED lighting systems in a multitude of types, form factors and output levels. Colour-changing, tuneable white, solid white and solid colour LED floodlights deliver high-quality, digitally controllable lighting in the complete range of architectural and landscape applications.
What clients look for
While choosing products, clients look for fully integrated end-to-end LED lighting solutions that combine reliability and performance with ease of installation and operation, besides prioritising energy efficiency, sustainability and cost reduction.
Suggestions to large institutional buyers
The facade of a building is one of its most important aspects, for both the designers as well as the developers, as it creates the first impression of the building. The correct lighting techniques will highlight the main features of a building, and it is important that the right elements are picked for the task. Highlighting an object makes it visible, whereas a completely different result is achieved by silhouetting, which involves placing lights behind objects and illuminating the backdrop. Shadowing plays an important role when an object has some pattern on it, as this creates an interesting effect with lighting. For adding a simple contrast, uplighting is done on pillars/columns. Accentuating is best used when an object needs to be the centre of attraction.
“We suggest that designers and project developers discuss their plans with the lighting expert during the early stages of the project. That helps a lot to customise the desired solutions for them. Right from the beginning, Osram supports clients through the entire planning and construction phases to achieve high quality, innovative lighting,” says Terry O’Neil, CEO of OSRAM Lighting Solutions Asia Pacific.
Buyers should evaluate companies that can offer solutions suited to their requirements rather than standalone products. It is also important for the company to offer professional installation and maintenance services to ensure high product availability and performance. On the product side, compatibility of the product with drivers as well as controllers should be studied. It is advisable that all critical components are from the same brand. Ease of installation and minimal maintenance are important as these reduce the long-term operational costs.
Major buyers
The major customers for LED facades are those maintaining public buildings, municipal corporations, heritage monuments, public infrastructure such as bridges, metros, airports, railway stations and also private office buildings and malls.
According to Anil Bhasin, senior VP, Havells, in the recent past, the need for the restoration of monuments has become a trend, with awareness increasing about the need to preserve our heritage. In the process, the damage to old facades or ancient artworks is effectively controlled by reducing the overall light intensity of potentially harmful rays from bulbs. This is done by a good lighting design that uses the right light sources. LEDs are currently among the first choices for this sector. Not only do LEDs emit less heat, which helps maximise conservation efforts, but they are also IR and UV free.
In the hotel industry, the appropriate lighting speaks about the brand and grabs attention.
Products available in this category
The Philips Colour Kinetics range offers meaningful LED lighting solutions for architectural, theatrical, accent and general illumination applications, both indoors and outdoors. This wide portfolio includes professional LED wall grazing, wall washing, floodlighting, spotlighting, cove lighting, stage lighting, direct view and general lighting fixtures. Philips Colour Kinetics has the track record to prove the longevity and reliability of its LED lighting solutions. Its IntelliHue, IntelliColor, IntelliWhite, Essential Colour and Essential White LED lighting fixtures are ideal for applications as diverse as simple under-cabinet lighting, subtle accent lighting, dynamic effect and stage lighting, exterior architectural floodlighting, and stunning displays incorporating tens of thousands of individually controllable points of light.
Another leading player, Havells, offers floodlights ranging from very low to high wattages to address different applications. These products are well equipped with flexible mounting arrangements for different mounting needs. For ambience lighting, weatherproof flexible linear lights are available. Compact-sized products with different wattages are also in the Havells’ portfolio, catering to different lighting solutions.
Osram provides products and solutions for almost all professional lighting requirements, and provides support through the different project stages. In façade lighting, Media Tube, HO RGBW and Liner Quattro AC XB are new products offered by the company.
“Our clients are looking for quality system solutions with good support. We provide them not only with qualitative technology but also with a reliable team of experts. We are able to develop solutions that precisely match our customers’ requirements, and we are also a reliable partner following the installation, with our employees calibrating and setting the systems on-site.
“Given the legacy and reputation that Philips Lighting carries for reliable products, the trust factor of the customers is very high and that gives us an edge over competitors. We, at Philips Lighting, also offer turnkey solutions for customers.
“We help in equipment cost control by providing optimum lighting designs to meet an established budget. By using the right wattages, avoiding over lighting and using energy-efficient products, we cut down the operation costs. We help in creating innovative lighting solutions that achieve the perfect balance of function and aesthetics.
