The week that was 23-27 May 2016

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The week that was 23-27 May 2016

Singapore – Hong Kong – Guilin – Yangshuo – Singapore, Weekend 28-29 May 2016

For the second time in a row back to China, this time to one of my favourite project sites, a resort hotel located on the banks of the famous Lijiang River in Yanghsuo. The project has probably another year to go before opening but is already shaping up as a great and unique project, thanks to a combination of heritage buildings (an old sugar cane factory to be converted in restaurants and public spaces) and some brand new buildings of award winning architectural quality that will be a feature by itself. The architect and interior designer are regarded as part of a new generation of inspirational designers in China. Before I set off to China on Tuesday I had a fairly hectic office day in Singapore with meetings and project discussions. Last but not least getting my new director of projects on an earlier start date with the team to help out in the commissioning of our Anji project that I visited last week as my current schedule does not allow me follow that up personally. Since most of the problems on site are not of our doing, our “forced” return to site will be subject to additional fees to which the client agreed…reluctantly… 🙂

Day and Night.
The most interesting part of this week’s trip to China is that it offers a textbook opportunity to experience the difference between a well-run and thought through project and one that has been running literally like a headless chicken. Last week’s project has no project manager, procurement decisions are made without consultation with the team and there is virtually no quality control on installation, just to name a few. As a result all the so called cost saving measures come back to haunt the owners with more money to be spent to rectify all short comings and for the operator unacceptable quality. As mentioned in my previous blog I had decided to hang in there to help the operator to get as good as a result as possible and hence I am now sending my director of projects, experienced in resolving lighting site issues. He will stay until the opening to assist contractor, client and operator. On Monday before I left to China I gave him an extensive brief and project update…good luck!

This project in Yangshuo is totally the opposite. Meetings are agreed weeks in advance to make sure all key consultants are available with their decision makers and design managers. The project has a site manager for which nothing is too much, you ask, he does it, always ready with a smile. Most of all if it cannot be done he will make sure he comes up with an alternative that works! I cannot explain enough how much such attitude makes a difference to the project. He would be the first to point out to you if there are any quality issues on site. These guys are worth their weight in gold…The client is keen in saving wherever they can but in a totally realistic and reasonable way. Most of all they respect their consultants and make sure they “consult” (isn’t that what they are supposed to do anyhow?) with you on important decisions. My fees are not high but the respect, trust and commitment from the client makes such projects worthwhile.

Due diligence and testing
Already we have had more visual mock ups and light tests the in the whole of last week’s project then at any time in Anji! In fact I cant even remember we did any, despite our may requests. It was all trial and error…No such thing here. The team is spending all the time and effort needed to get it right. The mock up room is in its 3^rd revision but at every time the improvement is visible and makes sense. The clients drive to get it right, stimulates everyone. In the course of all that we get full support to do visual mock ups which we had organised for this trip. We had purposely brought in lights from Singapore and had a local supplier come in with other samples so we could actually test the various critical lighting effects for confirmation. The site is along the river a couple of kilometres outside Yangshuo, surrounded by the landmark mountains for which the Guilin area is famous. The site is therefore very dark at night and hence making sure we get the proper balance between exterior and interior lighting is critical.

Lighting up the mountains
Our site is located right within the scenery that is part of the daily sound and light show that is held twice every night (7.45 and 9pm) and as a result banks of huge 7KW floodlights blast a flood of light on the surrounding mountains at several moments during the show. Since the mountains are a big feature of the site we will light up the mountains that closely surround our property for the guests to enjoy permanently during their stay. Our lighting is intended to be more a subtle paint brush effect focussing on the visible rocky parts rather then the green foliage, with additional lighting of feature trees at the ground level perimeter. We had brought floodlights to test this as we were not sure with today’s ever improving LED technology, how far the reach would be and what sort of beam would come out best. As it turned out our 60W 15 degree floodlight in 4000K was just the right choice with enough punch and enough coverage. At the end of the testing we invited the team to have a look and receive only positive feedback. As the show was going on at the same time we had the opportunity to experience the combination of both. It will bring an additional experience to the guests!

Bringing life to the building.
On the second night we tested lights in the interiors of the main circulation corridors that run along the main façade of the building. The façade is designed as an open brick structure allowing air to circulate. The main feature of this façade design is to let daylight in during the day. Reversely during the night it will breathe life by light radiating out the open architectural structure. For this purpose our lighting concept focusses on softly washing the interior walls opposite the façade. While producing the necessary circulation lighting it also produces the soft light accentuating the architectural design. Testing the right light distribution and brightness is therefore crucial and with the help of some linear lights from a local supplier (thanks for the support!) we had installed several samples to assess the impact both inside and outside. From the visual tests we learned that we could easily reduce the brightness to less then half (!) and that the warmer colours (2700K or even 2400K) would be just nice. We are using warm 2400K LED lights in the rooms and it gives a very nice warm feel. We intend to carry that through the whole project. With the mock up room now looking nice and inviting, I can only look forward to the successful completion of the project. I think we have a winner here!

Time to kill…
With the meetings and testing finished on Thursday night we had some time to kill on Friday before catching the afternoon flight back to Hong Kong and on to Singapore which we decided to fill with a “river cruise” to see our project from the river side. It led us past the show stands where the sound and light show is held each night and further down to our property…I have shared the pictures to give you a feel of Yangshuo and its famous Lijiang River.

Have a great weekend.