The “other” consultants
Mumbai, 27th January 2010
Ever seen a dynamic flash presentation from a structural consultant? I did today. To show the impact of wind forces on the building, the structural engineer showed a short movie on the sway of the building to illustrate the impact of wind. An otherwise “boring” subject suddenly became a more visual (and educational) experience!
I am attending a project design coordination workshop in Mumbai and as we are part of a team, understanding each other’s responsibilities is key to a successful end result. At first sight we have little to do with a structural engineer, but I give you to count the number of times a structural beam has been in the way of recessing a down light for instance! Let us not even talk about the mechanical and electrical services where we always seem to fight for the same locations in the ceiling. So creating the understanding and communicating each other’s needs are important right from the start of the project.
In a separate discussion I spoke with the helipad consultant as I was interested in the standards and regulations for helipad lighting. There is more to it then you think! It is not only about outlining the landing pad; there are approach flight path lights, passenger egress lights, etc! In this project we also have a specialist LEED consultant as this projects aims to achieve platinum LEED classification. We have further disciplines like traffic management, elevator consultants, kitchen equipment and signage consultants, the list goes on. We are generally aware of them, but do we (as lighting designers) know what services exactly they provide and how these may impact on our lighting design and vice versa?
With Foster & Partners being the lead architect in this high profile project, one can expect that coordination between all these services will be key. I look forward to tomorrow’s continuation of the design workshops with my fellow “other” consultants.
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