The Glowing Track: lighting as an architectural element
Flos’ latest lighting system represents a complete fusion between design and architecture, where light is considered an integral part of a spatial experience.
Flos Architectural has introduced the Glowing Track, a modular lighting system that merges ambient and accent illumination in a compact profile. Designed with contemporary architecture in mind, the product’s goal is to create a system that can truly be a fundamental part of an interior, rather than just serving it. With multiple modular options, the system can adapt to any space and create any scenario, shaping architecture through light.
Since its establishment in 1962, Flos has been one of the main characters in the lighting design category, building its reputation by collaborating with great designers such as the Castiglioni brothers, Patricia Urquiola and Michael Anastassiades. The company operates with two main headquarters, one in Brescia, Italy, and another in Valencia, Spain, with distinct divisions for decorative, architectural, outdoor, and custom lighting solutions.
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Their latest lighting system, the Glowing Track, is built through a compact 47 mm diameter profile, available in three standard lengths: 1200, 1800, and 2400 mm, enabling modular configurations. The product is an ideal solution for architectural projects that require scalable systems, without sacrificing aesthetics or quality.
The modules are developed in suspended or surface-mounted versions, which allow flexibility and adaptability. They are also conceived for vertical installations, which can redefine the aesthetics of an interior, playing with heights and layering for an immersive effect. The collection also features accent modules that can be fully recessed into the tracks, a seamless integration that allows for continuous and homogenous lighting. For maximum versatility, the profiles are available in four finishes: white, black, brushed bronze, and brushed steel.
The light diffuser has a multi-ribbed pattern, creating multiple refractive surfaces that soften shadows, minimise glare, and distribute the light evenly in the room. The collection offers a 360-degree variant, where light is distributed uniformly across the radius of the cylinder. This use of lighting is particularly valuable in spaces that lack a clear directionality and need homogenous light, like lobbies, atriums, or open-plan environments. The effect is volumetric illumination rather than surface lighting, where the focus is on the general space of the interior rather than on an object.
Another variant is the blind option, where the profile is just a metal tube with no light source. Having this option allows architects to configure a coordinated system even in areas where full lighting is not required. This option can be integrated with spotlights or accent lights, providing surface lighting instead. For example, this system would be great for an art gallery, where perhaps ambient lighting could be used for physical and immersive installations, and surface lighting could be used for paintings or smaller focus areas. Flos has designed the light to also be dimmed to create different scenarios, creating flexible solutions even after installation.
More than a simple light design, the Glowing Track is an architectural project, collapsing ambient and accent functionalities into a coordinated modular system. The transitions between profile types along a continuous run show that the product’s goal is to follow a spatial narrative instead of a uniform solution, providing architects with more freedom of expression in designing each space. In this sense, while lighting is often added after a space is done, Flos has created an articulated design language that can be used to design the space itself, rather than being a simple add-on.
