On Thursday 18 May, 2017 Lutron officially opened its first Experience Centre outside of North America in London, UK. HiddenWires attended the launch to find out more.
Approximately two years in the making with architects and design teams, Lutron’s newest 6,300-square-foot foot (585 m2) facility sits in the heart of London near Clerkenwell.
Showcasing a variety of lighting and blind control products offered by the manufacturer for the residential space, in addition to commercial and hospitality settings, the experience centre will also host a busy calendar of training events.
A dedicated residential set-up incorporating a dining area and bedroom (with an adjoining bathroom) shows clientele first-hand how HomeWorks QS system can be of benefit of them – showcasing how to use scenes, blind control, dimming, pathways and Alexa integration in their home. Clients, installers and designers can also see the different style options on offer among its keypad range.
“So many people just have simple on/off light switches in their space. So many people think about a one-to-one relationship between a light switch that’s either all or nothing and a single zone of lighting,” said Sam Woodward, customer education leader for Europe and Africa at Lutron, at the opening.
“We can really expand their minds with the concept of scene-setting and how you can control a room by what you’re doing rather than just the specific zones that you might need to think about.”
Outside the rack area showing equipment for dimming, Dali, 0-10 V lighting control, DMX and processing and more working with the Lutron system is on display for customers and engineers. “Here we can explain everything needed in order to achieve everything that’s been seen so people can start understanding how much space is needed, or in the case of many homes how much space isn’t needed,” explains says Woodward.
He continues: “We can talk about where the mains come in, we can talk about cable types and help people plan for a project that’s going to work, and work well.”
Lutron noted that Europe is a key strategic and growing market for the company – evident in the multi-year lease agreed on the building and its daily education programme. “We have an increasing number of RIBA-accredited CPDs and for those who are members of CEDIA our course carry CEDIA units as well, so there’s lots of professional development opportunities to come.”
Lutron are inviting integrators, architects and electrical installers to plan a visit to the showroom with clients to plan lighting and shading in projects. “We want the design community to treat this as home,” concluded Woodward.