02/12/2019

Architect@Work 2019 Zurich and Paris

The award winning concrete collection Brenta has been presented this year at Architect@work in Zurich and Paris, but also at Maison et Object and Materials & Light in Paris. Dates of 2020 shows will be shortly announced.

Brenta, designed by Italian firm EMO Design, is the first smart urban furniture collection made of a special mixture of High Performance Concrete (HPC), where each piece emits light. The collection is composed by four types of illuminating bollards (XL, L, M and S), two types of wall mounted luminaires (L and S), two types of illuminated benches (L and S) and two types of illuminated planters (L and M). For illuminating bollards XL and L and for wall mounted luminaire L, a special indirect light optic and reflector have been designed and engineered. The LED chips are hidden by a small reflector positioned on top of them. The shape of the reflector generates a wide beam of light on another white rectangular reflector that widens the beam even more. Thank to this reflector the photometry obtained allows inter distance between bollards of 6 times the height. The material the collection is made of is called NeriConcrete, it is a completely new and bespoke HPC (High Performance Concrete) mix. Its high mechanical strength is due to polymeric fibers present within the mass; it is a highly compact material with minimum porosity; it is waterproof thanks to the low water-cement ratio. The XL illuminating bollard can be equipped with integrated Wi-Fi antenna, whilst the L illuminated bench can be equipped with mobile phone wireless charger. Brenta collection won several awards, one of the most prestigious is the German Design Awards 2019 in the category ‘Lighting’.