Light: fourth dimension of architecture

Erco Lighting specializes in architectural lighting. The family-owned company manufactures its products in Germany, but has offices in 55 different countries worldwide. Like no other, Erco knows how to tell a story with lighting; how the right light affects the atmosphere of a room and the well-being of its visitors.

Commercial manager for Erco Netherlands, Ruud Schellings: "There is an increasing demand for quality office lighting. That is what Erco has developed Iku for. Iku downlights and wallwashers are the right luminaires for anyone for whom Human Centric Lighting means more than just tunable white. Iku combines ERCO's philosophy of perception-based lighting with very high efficiency. Visual comfort, dimmability, vertical lighting and yes, tunable white as well make Iku the right choice. Iku Work downlights meet the requirements for lighting of office workplaces in accordance with standard EN12464."

Efficient visual comfort as a strategy in office lighting

ERCO sees light as the fourth dimension in architecture. "Our mission is to make a positive contribution to society and architecture. We do this by ensuring that our lighting solutions create a high-quality, visual comfort-oriented working environment while meeting the highest requirements for low power consumption while respecting natural resources. The basis for this is efficient visual comfort (EVC). Our strategy with which we seamlessly merge sustainable planning principles and innovative product technologies. We have formulated five quality characteristics to implement this demanding task."

Quality lighting planning

"The fact that current office planning puts the employee with his specific tasks and individual needs at the center requires a new starting point for qualitative lighting planning. For more than half a century, ERCO has been working with this idea: by dividing the room into zones by well-shielded lighting, purposefully aligned to individual task areas, this principle comes into its own. At the same time, all requirements for low power consumption are met in this way." 

Vertical lighting

"Vertical surfaces to 80% determine human spatial perception - and therefore shape our interpretation of luminance much more strongly than light on horizontal surfaces. In the office workplace environment, vertical lighting significantly increases visual comfort by compensating for contrasts between backlit monitors and the visual environment, thus preventing eye fatigue. In the representative areas of an office building, it provides an inviting, generous look to the space." 

Effective lighting technology

"Efficient and precise optical systems only enable lighting that is divided into zones. In order to illuminate only those areas that humans need for perception, ERCO offers specialized light distributions within a luminaire family. Even for recessed ceiling luminaires, this allows designers to choose from up to five different characteristics. As a result, lighting with ERCO is highly effective and efficient." 

Intelligent control

"ERCO offers interfaces for various control technologies, for example DALI, with self-developed operating devices. In the office, this enables the use of motion detectors to dim or switch off lights in unused rooms. To call up light scenes depending on available daylight, twilight switches or daylight sensors can be integrated."