“Enlightened” Exposition Spaces

By Francesco Pagliari - 8 January 2010

As well as exhibiting production, the Zumtobel Staff Light Forum in Dornbirn in the Austrian region of Vorarlberg also investigates the links between light and architecture.
Seminars on project application, technology updates and architectural exhibitions provide invaluable insights for designers and other practitioners. Sited next door to the company headquarters, Light Forum gives visitors an in-depth overview of the most advanced architectural projects and their use of light.
A full range of lighting functions and luminaires illustrate how light is integral to architecture. Environments are transformed by different lighting choices, their volumes perceived differently as a result; shapes become sculptural, transparencies are highlighted.
Designed as a cube, Light Forum gives centre stage to the creative and technological components that make up modern lighting projects. Starting with the circulation route through the exhibition itself: the staircase is a transparent, weightless “luminous body”; the various display booths seem to expand or shrink depending on the lighting effects.
The central exhibition area is reserved for celebrity names associated with Zumtobel Staff: Zaha Hadid’s “Vortexx” is a fascinating insight into her use of light as a dynamic architectural component.

Francesco Pagliari