Missing the boat…

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Singapore, 16^th May 2014

I don’t often come into a place where I think someone has really totally missed the boat in regards to lighting. Last night I went for a site assessment of the current lighting with the aim to make a proposal to redo the lighting. The site review was requested by the current owner/operator. As you will see from the pictures below there is hardly any definition of space. It is really hard to get any sense of what the space has to offer, it looked totally dead. It appears the garden is open till 9pm to the public but an event space adjacent to the space that has a direct view to the garden is rented out often for private and corporate functions, as was the case during our site walk. As a result the colour changing spots and blaring sound system was totally overpowering the otherwise supposedly tranquil garden.

Of course I cannot criticise the lighting designer who was involved in the original project, as we never know the circumstances nor the directions or budget under which this design was executed, so as far as I am concerned it is the way it is and there are lot’s of improvements that can be made. Some are really simple, some are a bit more sophisticated. The obvious one is to convert to more energy saving lights (yes probably LED), as a good part of the current lighting is done with halogen lighting, which also produce heat in the process, something not really desirable as many of the lights are in direct reach of the public. The usual issues of poor installation (lights being unseated by landscape maintenance, insufficient brightness to make a dent, etc), were clear for all to see.

A bit less obvious was that the lighting layout and lighting distribution (effects), did not consider the architectural space at all. One of the critical tasks of a good lighting design is that is should validate the space, give a sense of direction and give a sense of proportion. This makes people feel comfortable ad gives them a feeling safety that you would expect when walking around at night. I drafted out a whole list of further issues which for obvious reasons I cannot share with you right now until such time we secure the job, but suffice to say that lighting definitely is the one and only tool that will bring this place to life, even though it may be a “slow boat to China” if I may borrow that famous song line, to get things actually implemented the way we see it…have a great weekend!

Light Watch 5-82: Impressions…