During Light+Building 2018 in Frankfurt am Main at Neri stand, Christian Klinge, Head of Innovation - ÅF Architecture & Design, introduced ‘Lang’, the new post top luminaire designed by Danish firm ÅF Lighting.
It was a great experience for everybody to hear from the voice of the designer how Lang had been conceived, even if we had been involved in the birth of course. For this reason we asked Christian himself to talk about Lang, once again.
"Developing a new luminaire is a complex and demanding task which involves a multitude of aspects – explains Christian Klinge – ranging from practical and economic constraints to considerations regarding aesthetics and design. In the case of the LANG luminaire the complexity is amplified by the fact that developing a new post top luminaire means challenging a very long history, with very strong conventions. Post top luminaires have been with us for more than 200 years, and trying to come up with something new is very challenging. Nevertheless we were thrilled when Neri entrusted us to design the new member of their post top family."
"We started out by trying to identify the DNA of a post top luminaire – continues Christian – and found that the essence could be identified as a sphere of light embraced by a body, a hat and a bottom piece. With this basic definition in place we started experimenting with various ways of expressing these characteristics in a way that both respected the heritage of post top luminaires, yet had a modern expression. The design task was further challenged by the fact that we had to fulfill rather tough demands for light distribution and lumen packages, which led to the conclusion that the luminaire could only have two arms defining the Body. Furthermore the 'light engine' was divided in two separate PCB’s which meant that we had to find place for a double configuration in the luminaire top.
After struggling quite a lot with these difficult constraints we came to the conclusion that we had to turn the constraints into a feature for the luminaire and decided to investigate the possibility to ‘cut' the sphere of light in two and introduce a visible divider between the two. That turned out to be fruitful and meant that we suddenly had a unique design feature for luminaire in the form of a ‘blade' which could catch the light from the two light engines and help define the spatial dimension of the luminaire body. This was furthermore very much in line with one of the most important design principles we normally use in our work, which is platform-thinking. The ‘blade' feature allows for the luminaire to be customised to client needs and provide a unique expression for specific projects.
Regarding the design of the shape/aesthetic expression of the luminaire we wanted it to be immediately recognisable as a post top luminaire with the associated characteristics, yet having a distinct modern design. Especially the two arm configuration constituted a challenge in this regard. But in the end we managed to create a design which worked well, both seen from the side as well as frontal. In the front view the luminaire is distinctly simplistic and reflects some of the qualities found in the Scandinavian design tradition. Seen from the side it has an archetypical lamp type expression, yet a very modern sleek design. Hence one of the features of the luminaire is that it changes shape as you pass by it. Quite a lot of work was put into how the light from falls on the different parts of the luminaire establishing the night time expression. One will observe that the light slightly enhances the bottom part where the housing catches on to the pole as well as illuminating the inside of the arms creating the body of the fixture.
We are very glad that we managed to create a shape which works both with and with-out the blade, further increasing the feasibility and multi-functionality of the luminaire."
Main features
Two optics
Customisable blade
Technical details
Material: cast aluminium
Lumen output: 7,500lm
Fitting efficacy: 118lm/W
Colour temperature: 3,000K or 4000K