Light+Building 2014 in Frankfurt - Preliminary Report

Light Smart Grid

Only a few years ago, we still experienced the ‘digital Revolution’, and now the ‘energy revolution’ is approaching. Experts will not be the only ones to concern themselves with the generation, distribution, storage, and consumption of energy in the future. In which direction the development is heading to is illustrated at this year’s Light+Building trade fair, where technical and decorative lighting as well as building technology have found an ideal platform. Your reliable contact on site is as always: World-Architects.com in the Outlook Lounge.
The interactive light and sound installation ‘Resonate’ by the Mainz University of Applied Sciences used the last Luminale to demonstrate in an artistic way that the future belongs to the Smart Grid. (photo: Jochen Günther / Messe Frankfurt) 
The availability of energy is principally a matter-of-fact for people in industrialised countries. Energy is simply available and can be used everywhere by everyone. Who actually thinks about where electricity is coming from when switching on the light at home! Energy seems to be abound. However, a lot is currently changing: after the gradual ban of the conventional bulb, other technologies just experienced a literal boom. This development was shown quite plainly by the last Light+Building trade fair two years ago, when the LED cemented its breakthrough in all fields of lighting. From now on anything seemed possible with the small and long-lasting LED, for both engineers and designers. However, this development in the lamp segment is only the most obvious evidence of the change of a whole landscape. Even though energy as such will continue to be abundant in the future, the energy flows from energy producers to the consumer will (have to) run in an ever more sensibly networked system. The aim will be to use valuable energy from different sources with exact precision, so that human beings and the environment can benefit from this. Many things have not been implemented or solved yet, and so numerous questions are waiting for an answer, not only on the side of developers and engineers, but also on the political level. The Light+Building trade fair, which will be open this year from 30 March to 4 April, will present several answers. At the almost completely booked out trade fair grounds of more than 240.000 m², professional visitors will find more than 2,300 exhibitors from 50 countries and numerous innovations in the four official product segments: lighting, electrical engineering, home and building automation as well as software for the construction industry. Besides countless new luminaire designs, one of the main topics will be the dealing with energy, which will be intelligently controlled and networked in a Smart Grid, so that the potentials of different sources, storage devices and consumers can be efficiently exploited.
Generation, storage, consumption: the Smart Grid consists of many components, which have to be intelligently networked. (image: Messe Frankfurt) 
This year, Messe Frankfurt GmbH has given Light+Building the courageous theme: ‘Explore Technology for Life – the best energy is the energy that is not consumed’. Against the background of the pending challenges in the energy field, this sounds like a request that is first of all (of course) directed at experts. They are not only supposed to develop energy-saving appliances, but understand this as part of a comprehensive energy system, which also shows the responsibility for trade-spanning energy issues. In the end, a Smart Grid is only smart if it functions both on the small and the large scale. It is also about the compatibility of the single components, which are interlinked in a building as well as via a national or even international power grid. Admittedly, the latter will be a long time in the coming. In building automation, however, the control of the own grids via smart phone or tablet is in great demand. That way, one can check from other places than home if the light, the iron or the oven has really been switched off. Electricity as a universally producible and consumable energy will play an indispensible role in the future. However, power cannot always be produced with regenerative energy sources like wind and the sun, and so the issue of storing electricity gains centre stage. Currently, this is primarily done with accumulators or pump-storage power plants. ‘Power to Gas’ or other developments offer interesting alternatives, too. Storage issues will therefore be an exciting part at Light+Building. The determination of the demand will also be an indispensible factor of the modern Smart Grid: ‘smart metering’ makes it possible to obtained different consumption data live, which are then, amongst other things, used as a basis for power generation. This makes it also possible to detect unwanted power guzzlers in a building and – above anything else – one’s own dealing with energy can be controlled and exercised. Therefore, the guiding theme of this year’s trade fair is also directed at a society, where a change of thinking has to take place, especially since energy savings no longer mean reducing the comfort (as it is often claimed). Quite the contrary – the new technological developments can even increase the comfort and additionally reduce energy consumption – so this is an issue an industrial society like ours has to address in the future. Solutions in this field have been the focal area of the special show ‘Smart Powered Building – Your building in the smart grid’ by ZVEI, which takes place for the second time this year at the open-air site between Hall 8 to 11. Here, products and components available on the market are used to present solutions. The ‘E-House by ZVEH in Hall 8.0 is also worth seeing and descriptively takes up the topics. Furthermore, countless lamp and luminaire makers will surprise the visitors with many ideas and innovations.
Every two years, Light+Building provides an ideal platform for the lighting and building technology industry. In the picture: iGuzzini, Light+Building 2012. (photo: Markus Bachmann) 
Building technology and light: both fields are important role models for the future of energy by demonstrating what the energy grid of the future can look like and what it can achieve. The exhibitors at Light+Building will present many ideas and developments, including a comprehensive supporting programme consisting of special shows, lectures and (last but not least) trade fair tours that will offer the visitors inspiration and several proposals for solution. Exclusive meeting point for architects, interior architects, designers and engineers is the Outlook Lounge on the top floor of the staircase in front of Hall 4, where World-Architects.com in cooperation with Stylepark provides the right ambience for a chat amongst experts.
During their tour, the guides will again head for many renowned and surprising manufacturers. The photograph shows Jan Blieske and Jan Dinnebier, who will again be around this year. (photo: Markus Bachmann) 
Carefree through the trade fair jungle: Free Guided Tours @ Light+Building
240,000 m² of exhibition space in 11 partly three-storey halls and more than 2,300 exhibitors: There is more than a lot to see at Light+Building. However, visitors need not be afraid of the sheer amount, because the guided tours by World-Architects.com provide a good and individual overview of the exciting topics of the trade fair. For approximately two hours, selected architects, interior designers, designers and specialised journalists lead you through the trade fair halls and facilitate a special and individual look at the products, manufacturers and trade fair stands. Where possible, a company representative at the stands will comment on the own products and answer questions of the group. Two guided tours are offered per trade fair day, and 11 guides will lead interested visitors through the halls. What else do you need!
Thomas Geuder
11 Guides will guide to highlights of Light+Building and Luminale : (fltr, fatb) M. Hank Haeusler, Carla Wilkins, Michael F. Rohde, Reinhard Germer, Gabriele Allendorf, Mark Elliott, Ulrike Brandi, Jan Dinnebier & Jan Blieske, Robert Volhard, Thomas Geuder 
Tour 1 «Contemporary Media Facade Technologies»
M. Hank Haeusler - Media Architecture Institute, Sydney
Tour 2 «White plus White»
Carla Wilkins, Lichtvision Design & Engineering, Berlin
Tour 3 «LED – so what?»
Michael F. Rohde, L-PLAN LIGHTING DESIGN, Berlin
Tour 4 «From LED light source to LED luminaire»
Reinhard Germer, L-PLAN LIGHTING DESIGN, Berlin
Tour 5 «Architecture – Light - Identity»
Gabriele Allendorf , Gabriele Allendorf – light identity, Munich
Tour 6 «Hospitality + LED»
Mark Elliott, Point of View, Sydney
Tour 7 «Human centric light»
Ulrike Brandi, Ulrike Brandi Licht, Hamburg
Tour 8 «Selected Highlights»
Thomas Geuder & Robert Volhard, World-Architects.com - Stylepark
Tour 9 «Tools for Architectural Lighting»
Jan Dinnebier & Jan Blieske, studio dinnebier, Berlin
Tour 10 «Selected Highlights and Special Guest/s»
Thomas Geuder & Robert Volhard, World-Architects.com - Stylepark

Meeting point of every free guided tour is the Outlook Lounge: staircase in front of Hall 4, top level
Registration at www.world-architects.com/en/pages/page_item/LB-14-L
Multiple registrations are, of course, possible!
One of the crowd favourites at the last Luminale in 2012: Time Drifts by Philipp Geist, who was awarded the ‘Deutscher Lichtdesign-Preis’ in the light art category for this project last year. (photo: Jochen Günther / Messe Frankfurt) 
And in the evening, light, art and culture: Free Guided Tours @ Luminale
When the gates to the trade fair are closed in the evening and people have to pass their time in the city, there are various opportunities to concerns oneself with lighting topics: for the 7th time, the ‘Luminale’, the biennale of light art, takes place parallel to Light+Building, featuring international light artists and their most recent artworks, design objects, performances, light-and-sound installations etc. A bus service organised by the City of Frankfurt provides easy access to all locations – or you chose the exclusively composed guided tour by World-Architects.com. In about two and a half hours, we will head for selected highlights in a separate bus and listen to one or the other explanations from the curators.

The guided tours take place from 30 March to 3 April and always start at 8:00 p.m. at the meeting-point at Paulsplatz/Paulskirche. www.world-architects.com/en/pages/page_item/lb14-luminale
At the last Light+Building, OLEDs still were an expensive toy, but some day, this flat light source will revolutionise lighting. (photo: Der Raumjournalist / Thomas Geuder) 
An ideal day at the trade fair …
… starts in the Outlook Lounge (staircase in front of Hall 4, top level) with a cup of coffee, where you can meet colleagues and engage in a conversation. The Outlook Lounge is an ideally located starting point for visiting the halls. But you have to be back in the Outlook Lounge by 11 a.m. at the latest when the first guided tour to the individual highlights starts. Back at about 1.30 p.m., you can take a rest and subsequently visit lectures or (even better) the special shows ‘Smart Powered Building – Your building in the smart grid’ (open-air site between Halls 8 to 11) and ‘E-House’ (Hall 8.0). Make sure to be back in the Outlook Lounge by 3.00 p.m. when the second guided tour of the day begins. It will guide you to further innovations in the trade fair jungle until 5.00 p.m. Afterwards, you can still have one hour left for individual appointments. In the evening, the guided tour will bring you to the light artworks of Luminale worth seeing in a relaxed fashion. Frankfurt offers enough options to end the evening in a wonderful way. Thomas Geuder
Natural: The trade fair is about all types of illumination, this also includes outside and street lighting. The picture shows we-ef, Light+Building 2012. (photo: Markus Bachmann)  
An exciting topic of Light+Building still is the (equivalent) replacement of conventional bulbs. (photo: Osram) 
Building automation of a different kind: with its simple system Swiss manufacturer digitalSTROM has already attracted attention in the forefront. (photo: digitalSTROM) 
Building control keeps getting easier (for the user) and, above all, independent of the location. (photo: Jung) 
You may be curious to find out what innovations as well as trade fair booth architectures the big players in the industry like Zumtobel have to show. (photo: Markus Bachmann) 
Students at the Städelschule in Frankfurt want to animate the ‘Rossmarkt’ square with an ‘amorphous luminous caterpillar’. (photo: Messe Frankfurt, Städelschule and Media Architecture Institute Vienna) 
In permanent operation for the last 10 years: the former Luminale project illuminating the Main embankment. (photo: Messe Frankfurt, Jochen Günther) 
Autor:
Thomas Geuder
Veröffentlicht am
Feb. 25, 2014