Injury
Shanghai 21st July 2010
Lighting designers are prone to injuries and sickness just like everybody else. I count myself lucky to have a good health and resistant body and despite my frequent travel, exposure to different climates, different foods (…including airline foods… 🙂 ) and visits to construction sites, I can count on one hand the occasional day I was not feeling well enough to work.
Last Sunday I woke up with back aches which sometimes happens, but when it did not go away during the day I went for a massage…it helped a bit but the pains still persisted. The next morning I left for Hainan but struggled with my back, some sort of hernia possibly. Once on site I had to ask my client to get me some medicine as the pain was growing. They managed to find me some painkillers and a spray similar as what sports people use to get you back on your feet during a match. It helped a bit and I was able to complete the site meetings and site inspections.
This morning back in Shanghai I could hardly get up let alone walk, so my colleagues managed to get me to a doctor who performed some acupuncture ( I am in China….) and some massage. That really helped and together with some medicated plaster and other medicines I am at least able to sit behind my laptop to write this entry and do some work.
A long story to tell that injury and sickness is part and parcel of our work life as a designer. Evenif you have a company medical/ travel insurance to cover for eventualities that is just compensation and does not replace the lost time. As a company owner we work always, our responsibility never really stops…
I heard that one of my competitors once broke his leg during a site visit when he fell in a building pit. He was lucky to escape with just a broken leg…On one of my own projects in Australia, the dimming control contractor one night fell through a ceiling when installing the data cables. Lucky for him he fell on a sofa in a waiting room below and escaped with minor bruises and a mild concussion…
Keep healthy, keep vigilant…easy to say, not always easy to maintain…In my case I guess my body is telling me to slow down… 🙂
Aerodynamics in lighting
Hainan 20th July 2010
Continuing on my typhoon story yesterday, I forgot to mention that I saw several street lighting poles “up rooted” as well. I must say one of the poles was heavily loaded with banners, which probably explains why it succumbed to the typhoon winds. You seldom see the actual light fitting blown away, unless they are not properly fixed. The weak link seems to be the structure they are mounted on as good quality outdoor fittings are generally sturdy and resistant. Glass used is impact resistant and the fitting sealed off to its proper IP rating.
Except for some street lights, specifically those with indirect reflectors and solar panels on the top, which have big surfaces and as a result quite a number did not look so “healthy” anymore after the storm. I saw several blown off and deformed reflectors. This raises the question if exterior light fittings that will be exposed to the weather elements are actually designed aerodynamically. I know light fittings are tested for ingress of dust and water, electrical safety, etc, but are they ever tested in a wind tunnel for aerodynamics? To be honest I don’t really know, maybe someone can enlighten me on this? I do know that reputable manufacturers of floodlights provide wind load data, but I believe that is more an engineered calculation based on size etc.
Lights mounted on moving objects such as planes, trains and automobiles surely are part of the aerodynamics test of the vehicle itself, but by then the lights have been recessed in such a way that they are located behind a smooth and flush mounted outer cover glass of some sorts. The actual light fitting itself from my observation is far from being aerodynamic. So are there applications or situations that call for aerodynamically designed light fittings.
I think outdoor street lights and floodlights that are used in typhoon/ tornado/ heavy wind storm prone areas certainly merit the consideration.
Typhoon
Hainan 19th July 2010
I am in Sanya, a resort city in the south of the lovely island of Hainan, Southern China, to attend to some project meetings. Hainan can more or less be considered the Bali of China, different culture of course but fairly similar climate, with one big difference. Hainan is very exposed to typhoons, just like typhoon Colson who left a devastating trail last weekend. It was absolutely lovely weather today and hard to believe a typhoon ravaged through the area, if not for the many uprooted trees, damaged billboards, etc. We decided to have dinner at the newly opened InterContinental Hotel near our site to view its lighting…as you do as part of your job I guess. We always learn from looking around…..
We ended up at an open outdoor diner terrace at the seaside enjoying a nice sea breeze. With the typhoon impact in mind I was surprised to see the terrace in such good and clean condition including suspended ceiling fans, decorative light pendants, floor base lights, etc. How did they survive? Curious I asked the staff who explained that when made aware of the typhoon’s arrival all exposed fittings were dismantled and stored away. The day after the typhoon had passed it was re-installed. Which made me think ….I saw at least 30+ pendant lights in our restaurant alone, a similar quantity of fans, quite a number of floor lamps, etc. Considering they are all hard wired to power it means quite some work! Hence it may be an idea (maybe applied already) to have all wiring connected with so called quick plugs, that are fairly easy to connect and disconnect for this kind of situations rather than to use terminal blocks and screw drivers! Little things that make life in typhoon prone areas more bearable.
The other issue of course is the light fittings wind surface. Most reputable outdoor light fitting manufacturers provide the wind load data, but does anybody really use it? If anyone, probably pole manufacturers do when they have to figure out the structural strength of the pole. But we should certainly be mindful on where and how to mount light fittings that may potentially be exposed to extreme wind conditions.
You don’t really learn these things from behind your desk. Only actual presence and confrontation will help to build that practical experience so needed for a successful lighting design.
The Bund
Shanghai 18th July 2010
The Bund is one of the landmark places in Shanghai. The promenade along the Hangpu River is a spot where many tourist hang out for a walk, specifically at night to enjoy the sights and sounds of the river, the historic building on the Puxi side and the modern high rise buildings of the financial district on the Pudong side. Tonight I was invited at a dinner function in a building overlooking the river. It had a nice roof terrace allowing us to enjoy the cool evening breeze (its summer in Shanghai which is not always pleasant) and chat with friends against the backdrop of many, many illuminated buildings. On the way back I asked the taxi driver to drive me along the Bund so I could take in the illuminated buildings which during the World Expo are on in full glory every night.
I was specifically interested to have a good look at the seven buildings we designed the building façade lighting for few years ago now to see how they were holding up. It was good. I am still very proud of the design which is very traditional floodlighting but in my humble view totally validating the classical nature of the architecture. While metal halide floodlights were the key lighting systems used there is also a large number of un noticeable linear LED lights concealed in cornices and the like. Because we use white light it does not appear as being LED. This as great contrast to the Pudong side across the river with the flashy LED lights on the Pearl Tower, the full building height LED wall on the Aurora Tower and many more.
I am particularly proud as the lighting is an example of thoughtful application of light and energy. Contrary to many buildings along the Bund which use 2KW Sodium blasters (spilling most light into the sky in the process) our buildings use only 250W Metal Halide floodlights with dedicated optics at the most. I rate the efficiency of the lighting at more then 80%. In other words most light reaches the surfaces it is intended to lit with minimal light pollution and obviously minimal energy consumption. A perfect example of less is more!
Expect the unexpected
Shanghai 17th July 2010
Just as I was talking about losing track after more than 250 blogs, technology lost its track and for the first time let me down last night. Some technical glitch in the system, not sure exactly what, still figuring out. All this time I have diligently managed to upload my blogs every day, sometimes with some improvisation and not always with an internet station around. Last night I frantically tried to upload via other means sending my blog to Singapore to try from there but to no avail. After many tries I gave up and went to sleep, letting things be, but somehow feeling incomplete as it has become such a “have to do” routine every day.
This morning it still looks shaky, but somehow I think I managed to upload yesterday’s blog. Those who follow me daily, I keep writing daily and if for some reason the blog does not show on the day, have faith, I will upload them when I can. Would appreciate your feedback on how you receive my blogs, if there is any problem on your side?
So this blog is much about to be always prepared to expect the unexpected. We assume, have expectations and anticipations all the time but when it turns out different we do not always take it well. I read an article about “Earth Hour” in which the writer reported on studies that found that during “Earth Hour” actually more energy is spend than normally…why…because people have created an event around it and organize all kinds of functions, parties, etc which is more “un-green” than if life would have continued normally. The point the writer was making is why all this fuzz of switching of lights, etc, for an hour if people use it to feel good, making themselves look good and then just continue about their energy consuming, carbon emitting lifestyle as if nothing had happened. I can’t verify the story, but it is a bit of an unexpected view on this initiative, isn’t it?
In another totally lighting unrelated story a school in China started to impose $5 fines for parents who arrived late to pick up their kids after school, forcing the teachers to stay back minding the children. The fine had a totally unexpected result. Instead of parents being more punctual in picking up their children, there was a strong increase in late comers. Why? Where else can you find child minding services for $5? Now the parents felt less guilty for the teachers to stay back as they were paying for it!
As lighting designers we always have to be prepared to expect the unexpected…good things, bad things, life is unpredictable…
Conceptual lighting design
Shanghai 16th July 2010
I am reaching a stage where I am loosing track of subjects I have already blogged about, which, after more than 250 blogs, is understandable…But the driver of this blog is what happens in my daily life as a lighting designer so even though I am mindful to blog about something different every day, I am guided by my daily work and it is inevitable that some subjects resurface. It will be interesting to see if my thoughts about the subject change over time. Today I may feel different about it then some months ago. Lighting designers are creative people with unexpected mind swings. It is not always logic what guides us…
Today was one of those days I could really submerge myself in conceptual lighting design. Not too many distractions, lot of people out of the office and our Singapore office of the radar as they are moving. Some people like to divide this stage of the creative process into schematic and concept design, where schematic means to set out the basic frame work on which to build the conceptual design later on. Often these two stages are blurred together, certainly in this part of the world with tight deadlines. It’s a shame we do not get as much time as master planners, architects, and interior or landscape designers to develop the lighting design. This forces us to become practical designers rather than really creative designers.
A lighting concept generally needs to tie in with the architectural, interior or landscape concept. Lighting is the glue that brings all the elements together, it allows us to see, appreciate, understand and enjoy the space we are in or objects we are looking at. So the lighting concept needs to validate the overall concept (forms, shapes, materials, colors) and where possible bring added value, sometimes even a whole new dimension. You could say that lighting has magical powers as it stimulates our senses. But as we all have a different sense of appreciation a good lighting design concept is the one that somehow manages to cross and bridge all these divides… that is when people say “wow”…regardless of their cultural or personal background when they look at the final result that has been created from your lighting concept.
Moving
Shanghai 15th July 2010
We all go through this motion a number of times in our life time, some more than others. Very little people live their life in the same place. My parents moved only once during my life time and that was in the early sixties. Soon they will have lived in the same house for 50 years! That is what you call home! I have moved home (and countries) more than 15 times and still counting.… Add to that the number of office moves I have experienced (some overseas) and I would say I am pretty experienced in removals. But boy, it’s quite exhausting time and again…. It’s not really the packing, dismantling and moving that is the most tedious…it’s getting settled in the new place that is…for months (sometimes years) removal boxes remain part of the interior decoration…
Our Singapore office is moving this weekend to a new and bigger space in Katong after 5 years in Siglap. It has been a good stay with ups and downs, but our new office will surely give the team some new energy and moving into a new place always comes with some excitement for the future. It’s a time to throw away the old and welcome in the new. ..(the things we hold onto over the years!)
A lighting design office is not such a complicated removal, basically office furniture, computers and files. With the digital age of the computer and the internet I can tell you that moving files is not such as hassle as it was 20 years ago. When I moved my office in the early 90’s I had 100’s of kilo’s drawing, documents and storage cabinets to move. We did not have such things as CDrom’s and hard drives! Most of our office is nowadays virtual…
But for once I’ve got this move covered well…As you may notice I am in Shanghai and I am scheduled back in Singapore later next week, the move is this weekend… you do the math’s 🙂 ….. As they say in Madagascar: “We’ve got to move it, move it….we’ve got to move it, move it….. “
All the best with the move guys……
Cove lighting
Shanghai 14th July 2010
A bit of a techno blog today… As lighting designers we are all familiar with the cove lighting technique. A recess in the ceiling or in the wall concealing the generally linear lighting to create a fading or grazing light wash on to a ceiling or a decorative wall finish or artwork. Many interior designers and architect really do not understand the mechanics of lighting and generally leave us with impossible spaces (dimensions/ access) for our lights. I had a long discussion with my staff this afternoon discussing the “pitfalls” of cove lighting, following specific questions from the client and ID.
First of all interior designers generally provide the exterior dimensions and gap opening to a cove and rarely consider the crucial inner dimensions of a cove. By the time structural supports and finishes are applied a 100 mm outer cove section only has about 30 mm left on the inside. Too bad if your light fitting has a 50 mm sectional height. Uncoordinated progress of the design would result in a cove installation with lights clearly visible and protruding from the edge of the cove. I am sure you have seen those in real life, happens all the time.
The second pitfall is the continuous nature of our linear cove lighting. Contractors have a habit of not neatly finishing the inside of a cove as it is “out of sight”. But the result is a lot of dirt and construction rubbish with often lights hastily fixed inside the cove. The lighting effects follows suit…irregular light throws and brightness. Add to that the location of the light in relation to the edge as its distance away or proximity creates different cut off angles, with sharp shadows as possible result. It is rare that we find linear lights in a cove properly installed and aligned, regardless how much attention we put into the detail…nature of the beast…
Finally we find ourselves now in an interesting situation with the new LED technology. Conventional cove lighting with T5 fluorescent tubes or cold cathode typically require dimensions like 100×100 mm or thereabouts. With the new compact LED linear light strips we can now do with less than half. However with the performance (and the clients budget) not fully up there yet we have the dilemma of having to consider both options just in case …
Dimming or switching
Shanghai 13th July 2010
Today was site coordination day so I spent most of my day on site in Hangzhou, a city about 1 ½ hours by speed train from Shanghai. We have several projects there that are nearing design completion and going into site installation works, hence site coordination becomes crucial. It is always amazing to find out how many versions behind the site team is! Regardless how often and how up to date drawings you issue to them somehow they always seem to be several drawing issues behind when you discuss with the contractors on site!!
Anyhow clients always look at ways to save money (a good principle…) and one of the most frequent requests we get is whether we can do without the dimming system. The alternative being to have just basic on/off lighting controls. As in wall switches that is… Today’s client request centered on a luxurious club house, part of an up market service apartment complex. Whether we could do with ordinary switching and not specify any dimming equipment.
Now the thing with lighting is that it react and interacts very much with its environment. Spatial layout, material finishes and color schemes, daylight impact, amount of people, type of activities, etc. In a “fixed” environment such as an office space, public circulation areas, sports, roadways, etc, the amount of lighting is predictable and fairly constant with maybe only a different setting between day and night time or use and no use. But in many public spaces and social environments, activities and needs change constantly during a day, hence requiring various settings according to need. To me a clubhouse with hotel lobby like entrances, lounges and dining facilities is such multi functional area with varying needs throughout the day.
The question arises whether that can be achieved purely by switching arrangements. It takes a hell of a lighting designer (confidence and experience) to design to exactly the right quantity of light and lighting effects. It is not for nothing that most lighting designers resort to dimming controls, allowing fine tuning afterwards without having to worry upfront. It is my experience that most clients later regret not having installed dimming controls as it is a big step from light to no light. However once again I will take up the challenge and look into designing with no or minimal dimming…at least I shared my concerns with the client.
When does our responsibility end?
Shanghai, 12th July 2010
🙁 A sad day for Dutch soccer, but admittedly Spain in the end was the better team. Credit where credit is due, The Dutchies were brave and gave a spirited fight only to go down in the last few minutes of extra time. A worthy and just finale of an exciting world cup soccer tournament. With the result on the board, both teams (and the general public…) now have to prepare for life after Africa 2010. Though the coaches and players have different outcomes, both still have the professional responsibility to move on to represent their country in the future win or lose (unless they are sacked of course…).
We could compare the end of a project to that of a soccer match. It can be a great win or a disappointing outcome with either happy or unhappy clients. We can be on a long winning streak but may then suddenly be confronted with a bad result. Whatever the outcome, we have to deal with it in a professional manner. Some clients of course are more difficult then others and milk you for every cent, but regardless we have to maintain our professional integrity as much as we can even when the client is pushing us to the brink of utter frustration! I was once told that a happy client talks maybe to three people, but an unhappy client at least to ten! So showing goodwill to remedy a situation generally helps to contain a potentially nasty getting client…
Our contracts may vary depending client needs, but at times we remain involved throughout the defect and liability period of 12 months that normally follows the commissioning of a project. This means that we remain on standby for the client to administer and supervise any remedying of faults or incomplete installations. Projects invariably have start up problems and need fine tuning of the lighting to actual usage needs. Often this only becomes clear after several months of usage. Providing this “after sales” service is crucial for our long term client relationships. Knowing that we do not run away from our responsibilities is a re-comforting thought for a client as too often people are nowhere to be found after the official commissioning and handover (sometimes even before!). I think our responsibility as lighting designers remains for the life of a project…maybe not direct and personally but certainly morally.
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