“Which “natural lamp” do we know other than a window? A lamp that is also a crossroads between our indoor space and the rest of the world. Screens, panels, and draperies have contributed – over the centuries and across civilizations – to control its use” quite so the designer Mario Bellini explains the concept of Night and Day, designed for Artemide.
Night and Day is a wall appliance made up of an aluminium lighting body and a textile curtain with excellent optical and sound-absorbing properties. The optical engine accommodates next-generation LEDs and the light beam is controlled by an injection-moulded lens, which produces a wall- washer effect outlining the textile surface. The curtain is unfolded and rolled up by means of an engine enclosed in two separate elements with well-known geometric forms (circle and triangle) of high aesthetic impact.
The lamp body is white, in contrast with the black controlled-glare optical blades that play a dual function: outline the profile of the curtain and reduce side glaring. At night, it gradually turns on to the extent that it fully substitutes day light, while ensuring privacy.
“The material used for the luminous curtain shows very interesting acoustic features, perfectly enhanced by its particular operational procedures. – explains Ing. Umberto Nicolao, Sound Engineering Consulting Services– The luminous curtain can be installed at some distance from a glass panel or a wall, while at the same time offering excellent sound absorbing features. More specifically, the frequencies that are the most important for understanding language and, particularly, consonant articulation fall within a range of 1,000 to 4,000 Hz. In relation to this, as much as 40% of the sound waves entering the curtain are absorbed by it, while preventing any enhancement of sound reverberation in space.
Its large size and its flexible installation requirements, no longer limited to an installation on glass, improve the efficacy of the product, while significantly increasing the acoustic performances of any space where the luminous curtain is installed.”