Niko

In Belgium, Niko switches are familiar to almost everyone. Their history goes back to 1919, when the De Backer brothers set up shop in Sint-Niklaas. In their factory, the brothers produced a whole range of standard products. With these, they quickly succeeded in conquering the market, becoming Belgian market leader in switches and sockets. Nowadays, the Niko range consists of switches, plugs and all kinds of electrical components, all produced at the Sint-Niklaas plant. Niko's office building did not stand the test of time, and urgently needed to be renovated. Niko enlisted the help of the architect Jo Crepain. He came up with a great design, one that took account of the period features of the building. Niko's brief was for a solution that had minimal energy consumption and a low environmental impact. The consultancy opted for a D30 square downlight, which combines high efficiency with maximum lighting comfort, thanks to its excellent luminance control. At Niko's request, the downlights have regulating electronic ballasts. These ballasts are installed in the Nikobus system. The Nikobus system automatically switches on the lights and dims the downlights according to the available daylight. A number of downlights have emergency units, which enable them also to be used as emergency lighting. For the signs, compact K9 LED emergency lighting luminaires were selected, with small icons.