A beautiful space deserves beautiful lighting. Fortunately, today’s lighting marketplace is the best it has ever been, and electricians and interior designers can find stunning fixtures with unprecedented power and quality. Before we dig into specifics, let’s review what sets architectural lights apart from the rest.
What Makes Architectural Lighting Different
Architectural lighting delivers fine aesthetics as well as performance. An architectural light is made to be seen. Its design and style match the beauty of the space—even the most impressive lobby, atrium, showroom, or c-suite boardroom. From bold sconces to minimalistic strip fixtures, these lights become integral pieces of a space’s interior design.
Of course, great architecture deserves great light, as well. The best fixtures are made with LED’s that offer powerful light (measured in lumens), fine-tuned color-corrected temperature (known as CCT, measured in degrees Kelvin), and top-rated quality (known as color rendering index, or CRI). Architectural LED lights combines visibility and ambience in ways that normal lights can’t.
High-quality architectural lighting can create a dramatic, almost theatrical, effect. The best commercial interior designs include plans for this kind of lighting. Years ago, it was difficult to procure really good architectural lights, but today there are many solutions on the market.
A good architectural light is designed for flexible mounting, as well. Often a high-end fixture needs to be mounted in an unconventional way, such as being suspended or being linked to other lights in an array. The best fixtures offer hardware to accomplish this.
To see examples of exemplary architectural lighting, check out some of the previous winners of the Lumen Awards (given by the Illuminating Engineering Society’s New York City chapter). These projects demonstrate the profound effects that good lighting can provide. Winners include the Rookery Building in Chicago, the Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago, 155 North Wacker in Chicago, the Denver Art Museum, the Comcast Technology Center in Philadelphia, and the TWA Hotel in NYC.
Up Close: Details of an Architectural Strip Fixture
One of the most common architectural lights is the strip fixture. These LED fixtures look like long, elegant luminaire boxes that are often artfully suspended in a space. Beautiful light is cast downward—and sometimes upward, as well—providing both illumination and ambience. A good example is the Linear X, from LuXurio provided by Duralec.
This LuXurio fixture is a sleek, minimalist object that would be at home in today’s most contemporary spaces—like an Apple store or a Silicon Valley headquarters. You could also use it in a historic building as a sophisticated contrast with the surrounding period décor. The fixture’s aluminum sides are smooth and matte and come in a premium powder-coated white or black finish. Its slightly rounded corners and its balanced proportions make it one of the most beautiful fixtures available.
However, it’s the powerful LED lights within the LuXurio luminaire that are its heart and soul. The high-efficiency LED’s produce up to 1,300 lumens per foot, and optional dimming makes the fixture the perfect fit for any application, whether it’s lighting a display case of luxury watches or softly lighting a hotel lobby. The color rendering index (CRI) is best-in-class, scoring over 80.
The color-corrected temperature (CCT) is changeable, as well. The adjustable fixture can be set to 3500K, 4000K, or 5000K. The lowest CCT provides a warm and cozy feel perfect for a restaurant lounge or a museum café. The highest CCT, on the other hand, provides a bold, white light suited for offices, conference rooms, or other situations where visibility is key. The LuXurio’s fixture has a frosted lens that creates 120 degrees of optimally diffused light.
A unique feature of the LuXurio strip fixture is its options for modular connection patterns. You can combine units to form different configurations: an X-shape, a T-shape, and an L-shape. This gives designers an opportunity to create even bolder lighting designs.
A variety of mounting options makes this lighting fixture perfect for any interior design, as well. Surface mount kits allow for easily installation on ceilings or walls. Suspension kits allow for dramatic installations in large spaces such as lobbies or atriums. High ceilings allow lighting experts to design in three dimensions. Aircraft cables ensure sleek looks and strong performance.
As with most new LED light fixtures, the LuXurio Linear X offers the potential of massive savings over older technologies. The high efficiency of LED’s means up to a 75% reduction in energy use. This can lead to huge savings on energy bills, especially during times of energy price spikes. In addition to these savings, building owners benefit from lower maintenance costs, as well, due to the long lifespan of LED lights.
To explore options in architectural LED lighting, talk to a Duralec lighting expert today.