Header: Art Gray
Designed by Visiolite LLC in collaboration with Minarc Architects, the lighting system at Alpice Living brings together custom luminaires, a low-voltage power infrastructure, and wireless systems to reduce energy use and prolong the system’s life. For this and more, the lighting design received recognition at the LIT Lighting Design Awards, winning in the Energy Saving Lighting Systems category.
Custom built
The designers modified the DRD2 downlights from DMF Lighting, adapting them to operate without an internal driver. By removing the internal power supply, the fixtures generate less heat, avoid high-frequency electrical noise, and don’t need to be exchanged as fast. This absence of background noise helps create quieter interiors and improve the overall acoustic experience, even though it is often imperceptible in typical environments until the noise ceases.
In entertainment areas, the lighting design incorporates several LED tape lights from Visiolite, including the Visiolite Vibrance LED strip. This fixture uses a seven-channel colour mixing system, allowing for a broader and more precise colour output than standard RGBW light sources. This is important since, throughout the home, all general lighting fixtures were specifically chosen for their high colour rendering performance. This choice not only enhances colour accuracy but also minimises the presence of excess blue light, which can interfere with melatonin levels and disrupt natural sleep cycles.
All lighting controls are managed through a system based on Casambi, a wireless product developed in Finland that does not rely on an internet connection or central gateway. The installation includes more than 110 wireless control points, such as switches and luminaires, which can be accessed through phones, computers, or wall-mounted tablets for local control.
Sustainability
The lighting infrastructure is built on LVDC, specifically using a system called X-PoE, which distributes power from a centralised source to all interior and exterior lighting elements. This supports higher energy efficiency, reduces the amount of wiring and similar materials, and allows for a reduced carbon footprint. It also enables future scalability toward off-grid operation since the LVDC/X-PoE system reaches over 95% power conversion efficiency when paired with solar energy. In addition, it significantly extends the expected system lifespan—up to 30 years—compared to the typical 5–7 years of standard LED drivers.
