The future of the workspace – for which most of mean ‘the office’ – remains a puzzle. The impact of the Covid pandemic, the rise of home working, a perceived shortage of qualified staff, the climate crisis, all come together in that simple question: ‘what will the office of the future look like’.
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Now – a caveat is necessary here. Short-termism is endemic in business thinking, so ‘the future’ is no longer than the next-but-one-refit. But that only means that an answer to that question is all the more urgent.
The Light Review visited the Workspace Design Show at the BDC to find out what people were thinking – and to see who among the lighting companies had chosen to see themselves as part of that answer. After all, we have our own domestic situation to manage with the introduction of new illuminance criteria in the form of BS EN 12464; how to achieve higher levels of task illumination while reducing overall energy consumption . . . and pulling a rabbit out of a hat, of course. We do so love magic shows.
You can read our view: ‘How dangerous is BS EN 12464 – 1:2021 for Good Lighting?’
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Technical integration
Acoustics is a necessary intervention in workspaces, particularly when the trend is towards exposed ceiling systems.
iGuzzini was featuring Light Shed, a combined suspended downlight within an acoustic panel. The strap line is ‘Designing Wellbeing’ and the opportunities for achieving that are many.
In a way, Light Shed is the antithesis of the Laser Blade. While the Blade was designed to be all but invisible, the Light Shed is up there dancing on the ceiling. If you want to know what iGuzzini feel about Light Shed, just put ‘versatile’ into a thesaurus. That’ll save me the trouble . . .
Deltalight, meanwhile was it’s usual elegant self, promoting it’s ZOOVER pendants. Again, designed to be a flexible addition to the modern office landscape, this system combines track+projectors with adjustable acoustic panels to provide worktop illumination and local acoustic control.
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Light efficacy
ERCO was laying a firm claim to light efficacy.. The brand new Invia 48v modular light structure system combines projectors and linear solutions, all the components that are needed to respond to the three lighting zones (task – immediate surrounding – peripheral) designated in BS EN 12464.
Look a bit more carefully and you will also find some subversion among ERCO’s submission. While the rest of the world is chasing luminous efficacy, ERCO is making the sound point that the really important figure is actually the Watts expended per square metre. A stated figure of 1.2W/m2 per 100 Lux says a lot more about a scheme than compliance with minimum ratings of 120lm/W ever will.
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Dedicated task lighting
ERCO was in surprising mode again with what, I believe, is the company’s first table- and floor-standing task light. Say hello to Lucy. It looks for all the world like a designer’s dream that slipped the leash and found it’s way into production. I’d already seen the Lucy in Dover Street and am still waiting (in vain, I suspect) for my test sample to arrive in order that I can confirm its ergonomic and photometric credentials.
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Ricoman may be a new name to many but a very respectable display of fixtures included a floor-standing tasklight, the KONTOR. This is a space-efficient tasklight+uplight that occupies exactly the space that light planners are looking for as a response to BS EN 12464.
We all know that CatA fit-outs need to be swept away; they have nothing to offer in terms of light performance and energy efficacy. But what takes their place. If something like the CatA fit-out has to survive then The Light Review favours a permanent background installation that delivers maybe 100Lux across the floorplate, combined with free-standing unit – such as the KONTOR to do the heavy lifting.
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Circular Economy and Remanufacture
Ricoman is also involved with existing users of its products, looking at ways to extend the life of installations, conversations that we’re hearing about more and more as the commercial building sector wakes up to the benefits of product refurbishment, rather than old fixtures going for recycling.
We suspect that, at the moment, this is only a partial conversation, coming from building managers and end-users, testing the waters. It’s something that has yet to filter down to the contractors and installers, who are still singing the old song of ‘take-make-waste’; though it’ll only be a matter of time before those guys are won over.
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Future Designs, therefore, came as a welcome example of what’s to come. I’ll admit that they are a new name to me and given that they’ve also been around for well over 30 years, that comes as a bit of a surprise. The company was showcasing ‘carbon careful TM’. This is Future Design’s initiative that ‘advocates refurbishment and reuse of existing luminaire carcasses, adapting to latest technology.’
And if anyone is still questioning the viability of that approach, Future Designs is happy to point to the work that’s going on at Canary Wharf, where they are doing exactly that. Its just a bit scary to think that construction at Canary Wharf began in 1988 and some of us were there to see it kick off the future of London’s financial district.
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The Workspace aesthetic
It’s hard to see how some decorative product makes its way through the confusion that is BS EN 12464, but if I had a new generation office to look at, I’d be tempted to look at this Spanish company.
Aromas is one of those companies that you may not know and didn’t expect to see but, once seen, you find that the products don’t let go – a kind of eye worm (if that’s not a disgusting idea too far). So I’m singling out ARC, because if I ever get the chance of creating a fixture that looks impossible , I WILL try to get the client to go with me. And off-centre pendant suspensions do it for me every time. Simple soul that I am.
The only change that I’d want to make is to replace the not-quite-invisible wire rope with a fishing line. If it’ll hold a frisky trout, it’ll hold up a light fixture.
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Honourable mentions
Daisalux ( ) is a Spanish emergency lighting company, and the only lighting company to remind everyone that there are practical elements that deserve some attention that is dedicated to Workspaces. Emergency lighting is about life safety; its important.
Cantelo Lighting, who I know because they’re based in the South Somerset village of Chilton Cantelo – a village that can now boast about something more than their amazing strawberries!
This family-owned business has recently launched an attractive range of accent lighting, manufactured in Europe. They have taken one of the units at BDC and are happily sweeping up whatever lighting interest comes into the hall – especially when there’s no other lighters there!
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Review summary
Lighting is a vital asset within every workspace – whether we’re working at home or on the 40th floor of a city tower. Office designers and space planners need access to the valuable information and knowledge that we carry as an industry, yet we seem to go out of our way to make it really difficult to transmit that knowledge.
I know a lot of manufacturers who complain that dedicated lighting exhibitions don’t get to the people that they want to talk to; those people are, presumably, office designers and space planners. But lighting representation at Workspace Design Show 2023 was limited to a handful of doughty representatives of the industry, as featured above, all carrying the same valuable messages.
If we’re to shift the conversation then we have to go out to meet the design influencers. We know where they are, we even know what they need. But they’ve got a whole lot more on their plates than searching out new approaches to lighting. Its up to us to increase our visibility with design influencers. Let’s see what 2024 looks like.
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