20 years of Light + Building: Fascinating and pioneering work on lighting and connected building technology
Achieve more as a team, be the first to explore new worlds and relive the fascination of new discoveries. Lighting and connected building-services technology create visionary networks.
Light + Building brings them to life – 2020 in its twentieth year.
Under the motto ‘Connecting. Pioneering. Fascinating.’, Light + Building is not only celebrating its 20th jubilee but also the upwind being enjoyed by a global sector. For connected lighting and building-services technology is the catalyser of the 21st century. “It has the potential to guarantee efficiency, security, comfort and health for a large proportion of the world’s inhabitants. And this will be of particular benefit to rapidly growing urban areas”, says Wolfgang Marzin, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Messe Frankfurt.
Accordingly, Light + Building spotlights both the interlinkage of intelligent building-services systems and the influence of future-oriented light design. Answers to the worldwide demand generated by expanding markets will also be given by the top themes of the world’s leading trade fair in Frankfurt am Main from 8 to 13 March 2020.
Top themes at a glance
‘Dynamic digitalisation’ is the overarching theme of all top themes, which refer to the claim of the anniversary edition of the fair in the ‘Connecting’, ‘Pioneering’ and ‘Fascinating’ categories. In this way, Light + Building spotlights the sometimes varying roles of energy producers and consumers with ‘progressive energy management’, which can be regulated with the aid of smart building-automation systems. Moreover, ‘smart urban’ depicts the current situation and future of intelligent e district infrastructures. Additionally, the likely increase in e-mobility calls for comprehensive and efficient charging infrastructure. ‘Advanced e-charging infrastructure’ stands for this subject area at Light + Building. Another important aspect for the sector and users is ‘connected safety and security’. All four thematic blocks are assigned to the top theme of ‘Connecting’.
Parallel to this, the top theme of ‘Pioneering’ covers areas that have a great potential but are not yet fully established in the market. For example, ‘X as a Service’ whereby ‘X’ stands for a specific product, such as lighting or security. ‘Predictive maintenance’ is also pioneering work. Thus, electronic installations in buildings can be monitored via the sophisticated use of sensors and software before any loss of efficiency or even the occurrence of a fault. The ‘digital twin – BIM’ has not only become a thematic interdisciplinary interface for all players involved in systems integration.
Nowadays, design is not used exclusively to mean the form or shape of the luminaires. The technical specification is no less important, especially when it comes to connectivity. At Light + Building 2020, the top theme of ‘Fascinating’ will spotlight important attributes of future-oriented lighting and luminaire design. ‘Functional aesthetics’ describes a mega trend that consciously does without ornamentation while concentrating on the lighting requirements of different situations. Meanwhile, ‘classic authenticity’ triggers emotions with regard to, inter alia, different epochs. A link between the past and the future is created by the ‘historical ascendency’ category, which revolves around modern citations of archetypical design in the past. Modern lifestyles and modes of operation are the subject of the ‘futuristic focus’ thematic block, which throws the right light on subjects such as the breakfast table or co working office – where flexible lighting concepts can be of great help.
The international product spectrum and top themes will be supplemented by the renowned, comprehensive complementary programme of events. Light + Building has much of interest to all trade-visitor groups, from architects, designers, retailers and artisans to the industry, engineers, interior architects and planners.
At the 2018 edition of the world’s leading trade fair for lighting and connected building-services technology, 2,719 exhibitors and 220,864 visitors came together to cultivate and establish contacts, discover the latest innovations and discuss perspectives. Around 70 percent of the products on show were presented by international companies while 52 percent of visitors came from outside Germany. The biggest visitor nations after Germany were China, Italy, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Belgium.
A shining example will also be set on the occasion of the anniversary of Light + Building by Luminale, the festival of light from 12 to 15 March. With around 250,000 visitors, it ranks among the biggest events held in the Rhine-Main region of Germany. Luminale was founded by Messe Frankfurt in 2002, which since then has also enjoyed comprehensive support from the City of Frankfurt. Luminale is the biennale for lighting art and urban design. Its aim: to generate an impulse for positioning the city as an attractive, future-oriented location and creative hub at the interface of art, technology and urbanity.
Light + Building 2020 will open from 8 to 13 March 2020.
