24/7talk Interior Design, a blogging page about Interior Design

Lighting Design is one of my favorites in the Interior Design Discipline. But I find not to many people pay enough attention to a well planned or thought out Lighting Design in their Home, Office, Dining Room, Kitchen or Bedroom, even though we spend most of our day in these rooms with the Light on. To get to the point, I found just a couple of days ago a very interesting News Article about the opening of the new Deutsche Handelskammer in Hamburg the so called "House in House". Here a very nice Slide Show by Nimbus about Lighting Design with smdLED. The "House in a House" is one of the first buildings worldwide to be lit exclusively with energy-saving smd LEDs by Nimbus. More than 160,000 of these LEDs over all the five levels were required. 400 LEDs are in each of the 380 light-module panels suspended from the glass ceiling on each floor. Due to the uniqueness of this lighting and its interaction with the translucent, transparent and reflecting material, the building acquires an almost "immaterial" appearance. Depending on requirements, LED modules bathe individual areas in bright light for working or they illuminate individual zones only weakly so that, for example, people can see where they are going. The lighting for the building is absolutely energy efficient because it is possible to request only the level of light intensity that is actually needed. Dynamic light sequences which can be triggered when necessary provide an additional effect. When the touchscreen is touched, the LED modules emit calming waves of light which move across the ceiling and are hardly noticeable. The dynamic light control system even conjures up natural scenes in the building: light clouds which slowly drift by above the heads of visitors.
A very informative Flash Movie about the smdLED Technology
- Because I Love Green Technology.

Lighting Design with smdLED

Admittedly, the technology behind light emitting diodes - known as LEDs for short - dates back to 1962. But only 44 years later, it came that the latest generation of ultra-flat smdLED semi-conductor diodes revolutionized our understanding of light and lighting. Nimbus smdLED luminaires are a forward-looking alternative to halogen and compact fluorescent lamps. They are flat, cool, economical and safe. Which opens up entirely new dimensions to planners and builders - in design, in lighting concepts and in actual use. The benefits are obvious. The ultraflat smdLED illuminats are perfect for a slim new and previously unimaginable design. These ultra flat luminaires only require extremely low installation depths and minimum fitted heights. The Lighting Designer therefore has the advantage of completely new installation possibilities and uses. Further they are cool. Just light no heat. I personally call it where the Form follows light: Ultra-flat One other advantage one has to deal only Just light - No heat. The new nimbus smd-LED luminaires can safely be touched even after they have been in use for many hours. A patented, ultra-thin cooling plate in a special alloy cools the SMD-LED luminant. One other great Advantage: no risk to children, no source of fire. This opens up situations where one could could not use or install normal Lights. The nimbus smd-LED luminaires operate for up to 50,000 hours, so they are extremely long-lasting and highly robust. Not even frequent switching on and off or vibrations will affect the luminant in any way. They provide the full light intensity as soon as they are switched on. The risk of them failing is put at 3 to 1 million. And because they are so highly efficient, they use up to 90 percent less electricity. Less is more this is a another favorite theme of mine. The nimbus SMD-LED luminaires work without dangerous electricity and harmful UV light. They operate with safety-low voltage (24 V). The highly compact converter may be positioned almost any distance from the luminaire: anywhere, even in a wall or ceiling junction box. And the non-UV light protects sensitive and valuable exhibits. There is much more, but one would have to create a complete Website like the Nimbus Lighting Design Web Site

Why Wool Carpets? Why not? The oldest floor covering fiber known to man is the renewable fleece of the sheep. (A natural Product readable available, long before the hype of going green) But what makes wool so special? It’s in the genetic make up of the fiber itself. Wool has a scaly surface texture that adds flexibility to the fiber which impacts strength and resistance to abrasion during wear and the textured surface traps air, acting as an insulator in cool to hot temperatures. Wool’s impervious outer membrane protects the inner core from stain damage by keeping liquid spills on the surface for easy removal. The membrane acts as its own protective shell against spills. Wool has a natural spiral growth pattern that gives wool a permanent crimp that will provide a life-time of resilience to traffic, furniture weight , stretching and abrasion. And wool’s high nitrogen content (combined with high moisture regain and high ignition temperature) makes wool naturally difficult to ignite and when burning, wool extinguishes itself. Wool Carpet is used on most all luxury ocean liners, Coast Guard ships and commercial aircraft and in the finest Casinos throughout the world because of its excellent fire retardant capabilities and performance under extreme traffic conditions. And equally important, wool is totally natural, renewable and biodegradable. The earth’s most friendly carpet fiber. Below are a couple of more Wool Carpet advantages listed.

Wool Carpet Features

• Renewable natural resource for an environmentally friendly product
• Naturally flame retardant fiber that protects those who live on the carpet
• Easy-Care properties that make maintaining a Wool Carpet simple and affordable
• Naturally fiber of the Wool Carpet resilient for a life time of beauty and comfort
• Natural “hand”, no plastic or synthetic feel

So when you think to replace your Flooring in your home or office, make a prestigious and practical selection by investing in Wool Carpets. It always has been a favorite of mine, long before the hype of going green started.

 

Sometimes priorities go haywire, like this last month.
My blogging and work on my website which I perform all myself came to an absolute stop due to a couple of new interior design projects I took on. Since a couple of years I do all of my interior design planning as well as architectural design with Vectorworks and InteriorCad, a software package I fell comfortable with and have good knowledge and also feel very comfortable to work with.
One of my new projects required me to jump onto AutoCad Architect and perform all my design work with AutoCad. Even though Vectorworks has a capable import function, it was just to cumbersome and time consuming. There was no time to play around and wait for problems to arise.
So I just had no choice than to use for my interior design work, AutoCad Architect as it had to be seamless integrated in the whole construction project. After a couple of days of using the software, I got used to it and at present time I have to say, I feel as comfortable as with Vectorworks.
It is the software most architects and designers use and it has the largest user base in the United Staates. Nevertheless I’m happy that I could add AutoCad Architect as an alternative software package to my repertoire.

My 3D interior design will still be done with my favorite package Vectorworks in combination with InteriorCad, something which is a pleasure to work with.
Another item which is currently a must is the immediate update of all my web pages in Final Touch Interiors.
The CSS Framework from Dirks Jesse called YAML-Yet another multicolumn layout has proven to be very robust and even my SE results have gone up, even though only a couple of pages have been written and implemented with the new CSS Layout.  Further proof about the quality of YAML and it looks that a new version is around the corner.

A humorous article comparing web designers to architects. Taken from “Brisbane Web Design Company Hello Media”

Dear Mr. Architect:

Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion. My house should have somewhere between two and forty-five bedrooms. Just make sure the plans are such that the bedrooms can be easily added or deleted. When you bring the blueprints to me, I will make the final decision of what I want. Also, bring me the cost breakdown for each configuration so that I can arbitrarily pick one.

Keep in mind that the house I ultimately choose must cost less than the one I am currently living in. Make sure, however, that you correct all the deficiencies that exist in my current house (the floor of my kitchen vibrates when I walk across it, and the walls don’t have nearly enough insulation in them).

As you design, also keep in mind that I want to keep yearly maintenance costs as low as possible. This should mean the incorporation of extra-cost features like aluminum, vinyl, or composite siding. (If you choose not to specify aluminum, be prepared to explain your decision in detail.)

Please take care that modern design practices and the latest materials are used in construction of the house, as I want it to be a showplace for the most up-to-date ideas and methods. Be alerted, however, that kitchen should be designed to accommodate, among other things, my 1952 Gibson refrigerator.

To insure that you are building the correct house for our entire family, make certain that you contact each of our children, and also our in-laws. My mother-in-law will have very strong feelings about how the house should be designed, since she visits us at least once a year. Make sure that you weigh all of these options carefully and come to the right decision. I, however, retain the right to overrule any choices that you make.

Please don’t bother me with small details right now. Your job is to develop the overall plans for the house: get the big picture. At this time, for example, it is not appropriate to be choosing the color of the carpet.

However, keep in mind that my wife likes blue.

Also, do not worry at this time about acquiring the resources to build the house itself. Your first priority is to develop detailed plans and specifications. Once I approve these plans, however, I would expect the house to be under roof within 48 hours.

While you are designing this house specifically for me, keep in mind that sooner or later I will have to sell it to someone else. It therefore should have appeal to a wide variety of potential buyers. Please make sure before you finalize the plans that there is a consensus of the population in my area that they like the features this house has. I advise you to run up and look at my neighbor’s house he constructed last year. We like it a great deal. It has many features that we would also like in our new home, particularly the 75-foot swimming pool. With careful engineering, I believe that you can design this into our new house without impacting the final cost.

Please prepare a complete set of blueprints. It is not necessary at this time to do the real design, since they will be used only for construction bids. Be advised, however, that you will be held accountable for any increase of construction costs as a result of later design changes.

You must be thrilled to be working on as an interesting project as this! To be able to use the latest techniques and materials and to be given such freedom in your designs is something that can’t happen very often. Contact me as soon as possible with your complete ideas and plans.

PS: My wife has just told me that she disagrees with many of the instructions I’ve given you in this letter. As architect, it is your responsibility to resolve these differences. I have tried in the past and have been unable to accomplish this. If you can’t handle this responsibility, I will have to find another architect.

PPS: Perhaps what I need is not a house at all, but a travel trailer. Please advise me as soon as possible if this is the case.
(Author unknown)