Tecton Continuous Row Lighting

Grimshaw asked Billings Jackson Design to work with Zumtobel to develop a new lighting system. The brief was to design a high volume, low cost, adaptable product suitable for use in a wide variety of environments, which would overcome the shortcomings of established continuous-row florescent lighting systems and take advantage of the new T16 lamp technology.

The design evolved as an aesthetically clean and flexible system based on innovative ‘11-pole’ circuitry, which can accommodate all electronically controlled lighting solutions from lighting management to emergency lighting without the need for additional wiring. It also has the capacity to handle data transfer, for example to link with point-of-sale terminals.

Despite this electronic complexity, it is a snap-together system, requiring no tools to assemble on site. The slender trunking is nonetheless rigid enough to allow long spans between hangers.
Access to power and data cables is possible throughout the entire track length allowing luminaires to be placed at literally any point, even across track joints, while an option for an overlapping lamp arrangement (‘Tetris’) eliminates dark spots in the continuous run of lighting.

Functionality is expressed, as in the way that end caps and other fittings are made of clear plastic. This gives a clue to the interior workings and also allows emergency lighting LEDs to be incorporated neatly within the system. The injection mouldings and the sprung metal components, though simple in use, required the most painstaking and intricate design, having to satisfy the dual demands of ease of manufacture and of assembly.

Designed to be rolled out by the kilometre as an excellent basic product, Tecton can be used with all lighting control systems currently available and is compatible with the new generation DALI integrated control systems expected over the next five years.