James R. Benya

James R. Benya's Posts

  • Jim Benya discusses residential lighting controls

  • Until the mid-1970s, buildings usually were designed without any type of lighting control. In fact, many also were designed without heating systems, because of the enormous heat produced by 24-hour operation of indoor lighting systems. In hot climates, you can imagine how this added to the amount of air conditioning required to cool an entire facility. No wonder that since the first energy codes were implemented in 1975, switches for every room is a basic requirement.

  • Details

    From very simple residential steplight systems to serious major lighting installations, there are a number of products designed for grid-free installations.

  • The real issue surrounding UL is whether its standards are current, necessary, cost effective, and fair. Most U.S. fixture makers (including those with offshore manufacturing) are resigned to meeting UL and many have set up in-house UL testing labs to do the work, keeping costs low. But for designers, inventors, and offshore lighting companies, UL can appear as a huge obstacle to bringing new lighting products into the marketplace. Moreover, with the threatened onslaught of new light-emitting diode (LED) technology, getting through the UL process threatens to become a barrier because of UL's deserved reputation for being intransigent and slow to accommodate new materials, concepts, and techniques.

  • In past years, this report has focused on a review of Lightfair's best products. In all fairness, that's a pretty good way to tell the Lightfair story because new products are the nuts and bolts of North America's largest lighting trade show. However, since Lightfair is a larger reflection of the lighting industry, this year's report will focus on the feel, buzz, trends, and perceptions that a week at the show provides for attendees.

Projects

130 William

Adjaye Associates, Hill West Architects

Condor Street Housing

Merge Architects

Double Stoop House

Model Practice

Falcon Ledge Residence

Alterstudio Architecture

Garden Laneway House

Williamson Williamson Inc.

West Lynn Residence

A Parallel Architecture

River Bend Residence

Lake|Flato Architects

The Rose Apartments

Brooks + Scarpa

Henry Island Guesthouse

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

Forest Retreat

Scalar Architecture

Sunnydale Community Center

Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects

National Juneteenth Museum

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), KAI Enterprises

Wacheno Welcome Center

Opsis Architecture

The Ecology School

Kaplan Thompson Architects, Briburn, Simons Architects

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