Everest trek inspires sustainability concept
A trek to Everest base camp by the founder of lighting technology firm Prolojik and a leading Scottish architect has inspired an ambitious environmental concept.
Project Next explores the environmental principles that Asela Rodrigo, pictured, and Hamish Angus McAndrew encountered during their recent expedition through the Sagarmatha region of Nepal.
It draws insightful parallels between the construction industry and practices in the developing world.
This HAM x Prolojik collaboration focuses on revolutionising construction practices through sustainability and the use of organic materials to achieve sustainable architecture.
This concept Rodrigo and McAndrew first met during their trek, where they experienced the remote villages and challenges of construction in such extreme environments.
This highlighted the urgent need for sustainable solutions in the face of adversity.
They gained valuable insights from the journey, including Sagarmatha.
Project Next is an initiative exploring how to extend the lifecycle of materials and repurpose waste into valuable resources.
This innovative concept aims to rethink construction methods in disaster-prone regions while reducing our environmental footprint. In terms of lighting, it focuses on DC networks specifically.
Prolojik has been a pioneer in the use of DC Power-over-Ethernet networks in advanced buildings.
At the £90 million head office of semiconductor giant Arm in Cambridge, the company deployed over 1,000 of its Proxima Bluetooth LBS (Location-Based Services) multi-sensors, networked through 30 Bluetooth hubs.
The installation is also believed to be the UK’s biggest lighting installation based on Power-over-Ethernet topology.
In all, some 6,000 luminaires are energised and controlled using Cat6 cables at the 19,000 square-metre HQ, which currently houses 1,000 staff but has capacity for 2.500.
The control protocol is DALI-2 and, as it’s all phase dimmed from a single infrastructure, it gave the lighting designers flexibility in the selection of light sources.
The sensors, switches and scene panels enable optimised occupation, illuminance and scene control with an equivalent performance to any sophisticated DALI system.
The luminaires are run at 56V, daisy-chained together and connected back to 3 KW PoE switches from Prolojik.
* Rodrigo and McAndrew will unveil the technical concepts behind the project and also discuss the inspiration behind it at a special session at the flagship Circular Lighting Live 2025 conference in London on Thursday 25 September at the Minster Building in the City of London. Free to specifiers, Circular Lighting Live 2025 will feature leading experts, specifiers and policy makers who will share their insights into forthcoming standards and legislation, emerging technologies and new business models. More info: www.circularlighting.live
