Incandescent lights are already becoming glowing reflections of the past as LEDs are installed in automotive technology, particularly brake lights. By producing less heat than standard lightbulbs, as well as being less prone to damage caused by vibration, LEDs are more energy efficient and don’t need to be replaced as often.
If this technology can be used to improve basic lighting for the home, one wonders what other improvements can be gained. LEDs can be tuned. For example, by using red and green lights in the same casing, the pulse widths of both lights can be varied to create colors such as yellow. Now that processor power is becoming increasingly less expensive, sophisticated lighting techniques can be added to any structure for any purpose, including affecting the mood of consumers or simply attracting public attention.
Currently, LEDs tend to be used for high-maintenance mechanisms like traffic lights. Five to 10 years from now, with increasing use and awareness, LED technology will replace all standard lighting and change lighting theories affecting interior design. This is foreseeable because small-sized LEDs are convenient to install and have a lifespan to justify incorporating them permanently into the architecture of buildings and other structures.
The primary contribution that allows LEDs to lead to new innovations is that they can be digitally controlled so that a broad spectrum of imaginable effects can be showcased inexpensively and wirelessly. Since transparent wiring can be included in glass that also has transparent solar cells, it is likely that manufacturers will be able to produce windows that are self-powered and can remain translucent or display color or actual images.
Given these advances in lighting technology, LEDs are sure to transform architecture brilliantly. Now citizens will not have to rely on the statues and carvings of ancient buildings or the mirror reflections of modern erections to experience a sense of architectural animation. With LED lighting, the colorful imagery and meaningful movements will provide endless possibilities. Several new buildings have implemented this technology in their design.
The National Library of Belarus looks like a typical contemporary structure during the day, but at night, the public that once thought it saw traditional reflecting windows now sees towering colors in the dark and a grand video display. 4,646 color-changing LEDs were built into the 23-story, 24-sided library. Now the public can watch an intriguing drama from miles away. All lights are operated by customized software on a standard PC. The lighting designer can coordinate effects to be displayed in real time on the computer monitor. Troubleshooting is not a problem, either, since any straying or defunct lighting component will be located and displayed to the program operator.
LED lights can be found within the architecture of the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle in New York City, as well. The Prow Sculpture lights up from 4:00 to 11:00 p.m., morphing from one invariable image to another. This technology can also be found at the Crown Fountains of Millennium Park in Chicago. The Agbar Tower in Barcelona uses one computer to display 4,500 lights, which colorize and make its 32 floors appear to move in the night.
