Products Report 2008
By Rita Catinella Orrell

A panel of top Architects and lighting designers select Vergeâ„¢ by Ledalite as one of the top products of the year. Architectural Record Lighting Magazine (Dec 2008; pg 203)

Once again we present a comprehensive look at some of the year's more remarkable building-product offerings selected by a discerning jury of your peers.

Each September, Architectural Record invites a jury of architects, lighting designers, and product specialists to convene for the day to help our editors select the most noteworthy building products of the year. It should come as no surprise that in the course of this year's meeting, which took place during a turbulent week on Wall Street and in the last throes of the presidential race that the parallel subjects of economy and energy were top of mind.

One repeated sentiment this year was the desire to find products strong both technically and aesthetically. Our jury felt a special appreciation for the submissions that accomplished both, and recognized that these days, products must work harder to earn space in their budgets and buildings. Explains juror Stephen Bernstein, who focused on the Electrical category, "You realize that now more than ever, you can't just select a fixture by the way it looks; the technical considerations of efficiency and sustainability are critical to the design-making process." Juror Peter Syrett, AIA, felt "some manufacturers could do more to help architects and designers find ways to save energy in their designs. In this period of rapid energy-cost escalation, I'm disappointed at the low number of alternative energy products that were submitted."

That's not to say the jury wasn't impressed with many of the products they reviewed, and we present more than 100 of their top picks alongside BuildingGreen's selections for the Top Ten Green Products of the year. Jury favorites this year include a concrete structural and panel product with integrated carbon fiber (Concrete), a recyclable tensile structural fabric made from a rapidly renewable resource (Special Construction), a rotating electrical outlet (Electrical), and a gypsum board that uses 85 percent less energy to produce than competing products (Finishes, which, according to one juror, "is the first time I have seen a manufacturer describe the embodied energy of its building product in terms of CO2 emissions reduction."

We look forward to seeing how manufacturers will push the (building) envelope in 2009 to help meet our readers' sustainable, economic, and design goals. Thanks to all the manufacturers that entered this year and to our jury, which included RECORD editors Linda C. Lentz and Josephine Minutillo.

2008 Product Reports Jury

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, Stephen Bernstein, IALD, IESNA, is one of the founders and principals of Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design. He has been recognized with several awards, including the IESNA N.Y. Section Brilliance Award, of which he was the first recipient.

Ivan Ilyashov, AIA, is a design principal at Cannon Design with 26 years of experience as a project leader with major architectural firms and government agencies. His current projects include a design for the NYU School of Medicine Life Sciences campus and master planning for a new Bed Tower at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut.

Anita Jorgensen, IESNA, IALD, founded Anita Jorgensen Lighting Design in 1995 and has practiced lighting design for over 20 years. Her firm is working on a number of large and small-scale projects, including museum galleries, corporate offices, trading floors, historic renovations, and medical research laboratories. She is currently an adjunct professor at Parsons the New School for Design.

An authority on library design, Alexander P. Lamis, AIA, is a partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects, where he manages the interiors and product design departments. His current architectural projects include the American Revolution Center at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas; and three buildings at Florida Southern College, a campus planned by Frank Lloyd Wright, in Lakeland, Florida.

Leni Schwendinger's firm, Leni Schwendinger Light Projects, works with state and municipal agencies, architectural and engineering firms, museums, and event planners. Recently completed projects include the Coney Island Parachute Jump Illumination in Brooklyn, New York, and Chroma Streams: Tide and Traffic, Kingston Bridge, Glasgow, Scotland.

Jane Stageberg, AIA, is a partner of Bade Stageberg Cox Architecture. In addition to residential projects in Manhattan and Long Island, BSC has worked for arts-related programs and institutions. Recently completed projects include the Art Cave, a private art gallery in Napa, California, and the newly renovated Chelsea art gallery Alexander and Bonin in New York City. Stageberg currently teaches construction technology at Parsons.

Peter Syrett, AIA, LEED AP, lectures regularly on green institutional design and is a recognized expert on green health-care and K-12 design. An associate principal at Perkins+Will, his projects include Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, California (goal, LEED-NC Gold certification), and the Mott Haven Charter School in Bronx, New York (goal, LEED-NC Platinum).

Dan Wood, AIA, LEED AP, cofounded WORKac with Amale Andraos in 2002 and has taught with her at Princeton University's School of Architecture since 2003. The firm's recent projects include Public Farm 1, the 2008 win ning competition entry for MoMA/PS 1's YAP program; a new headquarters building for Diane von Furstenberg Studio; and a major new public plaza and streetscape design for the BAM Cultural District, Brooklyn, New York.

Electrical

ColorReach Powercore, Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions (formerly Color Kinetics)
www.colorkinetics.com
360 Electrical Duplex, 360 Electrical
www.360electrical.com
BSL23C emergency LED driver, Bodine Company
www.bodine.com
SenzaFil, Nedap
www.nedap-lightcontrols.com
Solatube 750 DS optical dome, Solatube
www.solatube.com
Vergeâ„¢ with MesoOptics, Ledalite
www.ledalite.com
Accolade5 & Accolade3, Alight
www.alights.com
Ledra Uno/Ledra Duo/Ledra Quattro, Bruck Lighting Systems
www.brucklighting.com
TechZone-compatible fixtures, Zumtobel Lighting
www.zumtobel.us
ID downlight, Focal Point
www.focalpointlights.com
Alto II lamp, Philips Lighting Company
www.philips.com/alto2
Stacking Lamp, Leucos USA
www.leucos.com
La Baguette, Baldinger Architectural Lighting
www.baldinger.com
Little Inch2 Fluorescent, Alkco Lighting
www.alkco.com
8-LED Series, Alumen8 Corporation
www.alumen-8.com
SL-29 Trio, Allscape
www.allighting.com
Pole-mounted luminaire, Bega-US
www.bega-us.com
CX16 Series, Lighting Services Inc.
www.lightingservicesinc.com
Ninety, Luxo
www.luxous.com
Smartwall, Insight Lighting
www.insightlighting.com
Sonmi, Fontanaarte
www.fontanaarte.com
Hi-Lume LED Driver/Quantum 1.5 total light management system/Stanza hotel guestroom light control system, Lutron Electronics
www.lutron.com
Allegro, Foscarini
www.foscarini.com
ETC Unison Paradigm lighting control system, ETC
www.etcconnect.com