The Lighting Controls Association (LCA) blog has an interesting profile of a lighting installation in the lobby of a Rhode Island architecture firm that won an Award of Merit in the Lighting Control Innovation Award that is part of the Illuminating Engineering Society's Illumination Awards program, which the LCA sponsors. Lighting Control Innovation Award recognizes projects that exemplify the effective use of lighting controls in nonresidential applications.
The lobby at LLB Architects, Pawtucket, R.I., features a creative application of advanced lighting controls that create a visual representation of the primary characteristics of the weather at the present moment. The wall has four translucent acrylic panels with a control system that changes the panels' colors depending on the conditions outside.
Every hour, the computer accesses publicly available weather data for the local area from the National Weather Service and parses out the values for the four characteristics the wall represents; wind speed, air pressure, relative humidity and temperature. For each weather characteristic, an independent color gradient was established and programmed into the controller. For example, the temperature gradient runs from blue for cooler temperatures to red for warmer temperatures.
Lighting control design was done by Katherine Abernathy LC, IALD and Jason Rainone IALD, LEED AP BD+C, lighting designers, Abernathy Lighting Design. Lighting and controls used were by Lumenpulse and LANBox.
The full article has more detail on the systems involved and how they work. Read "LLB Architects Lobby Wall Wins IES Lighting Control Innovation Award Of Merit"