Lighting up the imagination

Architects are always searching for new ideas and inspiration, new shapes, colours, textures or materials. The Trespa Perspectives concept shows architects and designers how Trespa panels can be adapted, changed, moulded and fixed in different ways. The purpose is to create aesthetically different facades without altering the fundamental characteristics and performance of the product. Changing the appearance so that it becomes three-dimensional adds greater interest, depth and movement.

Light is an art form. The ever changing play of sunlight and shadow over a building accents and alters the façade. Now, Trespa has introduced the new concept of combining Meteon panels with Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). The Trespa Perspectives Light concept, developed in consultation with a professional lighting partner, is being launched at several major building exhibitions during 2007.

Combining LEDs and Trespa Meteon cladding panels is a cost effective and environmentally friendly method of changing the character of a façade in a simple and extremely dramatic way. The LEDs are easy to fix and, like Meteon, are highly durable and weatherproof. By using artificial light to accentuate curves, joints and colours, to give shape to shadows and character to spaces and surfaces, interesting new dimensions and effects can be achieved. All the elements combine to create many different interplays between light and cladding.

This means that the building, stunning by day, can have an equally stunning but quite different character at night.

LEDs can be concealed within the curved or flat panels or hidden behind translucent polycarbonate to complement the solid areas. They have unique properties, such as bright colours, compact size and low power consumption. The lights are UV and infrared free, are easy to use and control, emit little heat and can last for approx 50,000 hours. Single colour LEDs offer warm white, white, blue, green, yellow and red while RGB LEDs offer all the colours in the spectrum.

The LED strips are the only elements of the system that are concealed on the exterior. Because only 12volts are required outside, no special regulations about exterior lighting or local government legislation needs to be taken into account. The strips, up to l metre long, can be easily extended by interlinking them with the integral connectors.