Philips Lumiblade 2012 from Dezeen on Vimeo.
During the day, we usually turn our lights off, or perhaps keep it to a minimum while opening the blinds and windows to allow the sunlight in. The distinction between sunlight and the lights used in our homes have typically been very clear, although Philips might be hoping to blur the lines with the Lumiblade. The Lumiblade is basically an extremely thin OLED panel, and unlike normal lights that illuminate at one point only, the entire surface of an OLED panel can be lighted up, which means that people don’t need to figure out how to spread the light about, i.e. bouncing it off the ceiling, reflectors and etc.
Instead what Philip’s Dietar Thomas has suggested and demonstrated in the video above, is that these OLED panels can in fact replace windows to a certain extent. For example during the day the OLED panels will be off, allowing the sunlight to shine through, but come night time, all the user would have to do is flick the switch and suddenly your windows become your source of light. The installation of these panels are not limited to just windows and can even be installed on walls or even doors.
It’s a pretty interesting concept and according to Thomas, materials required to replicate what you see in the video are all commercially available, although its price point might put some off. However Thomas remains optimistic that these prices are expected to drop in the next five years or so to the point where you can even drop by IKEA and pick them up for yourself. In any case if you have a couple of minutes to spare, you should definitely check out the video above. What do you guys think? Could this be the future of home lighting?
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