For Mark Korten, designer with Mighton Engineering, the office space lighting plan was an interesting challenge the second he was briefed. “For this office space, the design team at Dfy Studio had this idea of having a floating black T-bar grid, but without the ceiling tile. This grid was going to be the focal point of the room, so we had to figure out how to get light in there.”

If Korten lit the space from above, he was going to get shadows. Then he thought some kind of light that replaced the T-bar could work. But the downside was that, unless he got one with a black lens, the light would look strange when it was off. The black lens would also tear down the efficacy.

“This space has a decent amount of skylights, so the lights don’t always need to be turned on. So in a nutshell, we wanted a solution where the lights, when on, created a geometric pattern, but when they were off, we didn’t want to see them.” 

Korten recalled being introduced to the T-LED product by the team at Lightspec. “T-LED was the perfect solution for this application. It blended in beautifully: when the lights are off, you don’t see them unless you’re specifically looking for them. They really do disappear.”

According to Darryl Kalloo, Territorial Sales Representative at Lightspec, Magic Lite’s T-LED was a natural choice for this type of project.  “It’s an out-of-the-box type product,” says Kalloo.  “Suspended fixtures or drop fixtures, used to be done as a 2×2 or 2×4 with fluorescent lamps in a suspended troffer.”

“T-LED gives you a bit of a different design element, but with the same light output and similar distribution. The nice thing is that the fixture, because it is a perimeter-lit fixture, still allows you to see the open ceiling and gives you that spatial feeling.”

Kalloo adds that one of the advantages of the T-LED fixture is that it can be hung independently and placed within a ceiling tile. “T-LED is much more flexible than other systems and provides more of an aesthetic design rather than something that’s just clipped on to the T-bars of a grid type suspended ceiling.”

For Korten, this flexibility was key to achieving the visual balance both he and the Dfy Studio team aimed to achieve.  “It’s always a balance between designer and engineer to weigh aesthetics versus light levels,” admits Korten.

“Often, when I’m going with more fancy light fixtures, I run into light output issues. Most of the T-bar lights I’ve seen in the past are typically about half as bright as this T-LED. For this to give the 4,000 lumens in a 2×2 was just a fantastic thing. I could spread them out a bit more.”

“In this case, I think the T-LED brought the space together – whether they’re on or off.”

If you would like more information about Magic Lite’s versatile and cost effective T-LED Edge Light – or are interested in placing an order for your next commercial project, contact their local Sales Agents or Customer Service team who will be happy to help.

In business since 1985,Magic Lite is proud to provide top-quality architectural and specialty lighting products for the Canadian market – backed by unparalleled customer service. Connect with Magic Lite on Linkedin.