Versatile, Smart Office Lighting at Maipr

Start-up companies, extravagant bars, urban graffiti art: Berlin’s Kreuzberg district has become an attraction for young, creative people from all over the world. The communications agency maipr is located in the somewhat labyrinthine rear courtyard of an old building so typical in Berlin. The team of architects, urban planners, and media experts deals with topics related to architecture, building, and design. It's therefore a logical consequence that the company has rigorous standards concerning the company's own work spaces. As a result, the century-old loft, with its high ceilings and generously dimensioned windows, has been linked to a smart and flexible lighting concept from ERCO to meet the diverse requirements of Matthias Mai’s agency.

For a long time, wide-distribution fluorescent lamps were the economically attractive but extremely unsatisfactory lighting solution in the agency's offices. The new lighting solution from ERCO with LED technology combines horizontal general lighting and wallwashing with a perception-oriented lighting concept. General lighting provides sufficient light at the workplaces, enables good visual comfort, and achieves pleasant facial illumination. Illuminated vertical surfaces ensure a bright spatial impression and balanced contrast conditions for work on screens. 

The concept was implemented with Jilly downlights for track (13W) with extra-wide flood light distribution and Optec spotlights (12W) with wallwash distribution. Jilly downlights for track represent a completely new type of luminaire, combining the flexibility of spotlights with the high visual comfort of downlights. The view into the Jilly from the side is almost magical; thanks to excellent glare control, it gives the impression that the luminaire is not switched on at all. The light becomes appealingly perceptible upon horizontal surfaces such as desks and shelves. The neutral white light colour of 4,000 Kelvin has a stimulating effect and forms the counterpart to natural daylight. Lucy task lights also ensure sufficient brightness on the work surface, particularly for concentrated work in the evening hours.

Flexibility and adaptability determine the everyday life of communications agencies, and owner Matthias Mai expected such characteristics from the new lighting solution for his agency. With ERCO track as the infrastructure, the luminaire installation is not only quick and easy but can also easily be adapted to the office layout. The Jilly downlights can be repositioned and fixed in the track in just a few simple steps according to the orientation of the workstations in the room. Even retroactive changes are no problem and can be carried out without prior knowledge, as demonstrated by the recent conversion of the office. Further workstations, a communicative standing area, and a changed seating arrangement made new demands on the lighting. The furniture arrangement did not have to change according to the lighting; instead the luminaires were simply repositioned to meet the changed use — no need for tools or new cabling. And if the company moves to other premises, all the lighting can simply be taken along. In this way, Jilly fulfils the complete set of requirements placed on an economical and sustainable lighting solution for flexible working environments.

Berlin’s maipr is representative of many other companies with a need for a scalable lighting solution. This example shows how smart infrastructures enable a contemporary use of space. Additionally, each employee can determine the lighting level at their own workstation: ERCO's lighting solution can be intuitively controlled by smartphone or tablet via Casambi Bluetooth. In addition to control via daylight sensors and presence detectors, pre-programmed light scenes can be called up and individual luminaires addressed. These scenes are valuable especially for the various visual tasks in team meetings, concentrated text work, or research. The light can be controlled via the free Casambi app for iOS and Android mobile devices. For seamless communication and intuitive operation, ERCO has integrated the Casambi Chip into the control gear of its luminaires. At the end of a working day, the luminaires can of course also be switched off "classically" via a Bluetooth-capable wall switch.