In 2019, lighting manufacturer TRILUX opened its new TRILUX Light Campus in Cologne-Ossendorf. In the glass building designed by architecture firm GRAFT, sculptural ceiling luminaires immerse expansive "smart workingscapes" in a range of lighting moods. GRAFT created a structure that embodies the theme of light as richly as it expresses a commitment to innovative design and forward-looking processes.
“We are drawn to dynamic, expressive architecture that resonates with the perceptual expectations of younger generations. We are also great admirers of the concept of "ambivalence": a fascination with complex, contradictory, and perhaps not yet fully resolved conditions.”
More and more, corporate buildings are transforming from interchangeable office or production sites into architectural statements. The architecture projects outward what the company stands for. GRAFT embraced the challenge of designing a "speaking" building for TRILUX’s new location in Cologne.
The glass facade, composed of sharply angled elements, presents a different face from every perspective. Its geometry draws inspiration from the microscopic structure of headlamp reflectors, translating it into contemporary architectural language. Aesthetic and technical concerns go hand in hand: between the slanted glass elements, vertical flaps allow for natural cross-ventilation.
Spanning approximately 2,700 square meters over four floors, the TRILUX Light Campus offers training rooms, exhibition spaces, and offices for around 120 employees whose departments have been consolidated on site. In front of the monolithic building, a year-round green plaza welcomes visitors and staff. The plaza extends into the building in the form of a double-height, light-flooded atrium with a gallery. Open-plan workspaces and the interplay of different lighting moods characterize the building throughout: not only the facade but also the "smart workingscapes" inside capture and celebrate natural light through expansive glass surfaces.
The furnishings at the TRILUX Light Campus—and especially the lighting—showcase what is possible today in terms of design and technology. A true office building of the future. A long, stepped wooden staircase rises along the glass facade of the atrium, serving not merely as a means of vertical circulation but also as an informal meeting place and an auditorium for in-house training events.
GRAFT regularly ventures into the field of product design. For the TRILUX Light Campus, they collaborated with the manufacturer to create custom ceiling luminaires. The bespoke lighting sculpture for the auditorium unfolds across a broad surface, curving dramatically above the staircase. Another luminaire explores a completely different effect: a prototype developed jointly by GRAFT and TRILUX, produced from renewable, biodegradable PLA. This bioplastic, derived from corn-based lactic acid, allows light fixtures to be 3D-printed. The lamp is currently undergoing operational testing at the TRILUX Light Campus.
For FSB, GRAFT has also designed an entirely new product family: a thoroughly democratic object intended to appeal to as many people as possible. The architects set out to create a lever handle whose small radii and expansive curvatures generate sculptural tension and striking contrasts. The result, the FSB 1246, is expressive in its aesthetics yet harmonizes effortlessly with a wide range of architectural environments.
