Wanted
Singapore 11th July 2010
To think lighting designers are holy saints is an illusion. We don’t hear much about fraude or misbehavior in our profession but like in all trades there are always people somehow getting of the righteous path. But generally when we hear these things it is gossip or bad mouthing from competitors or suppliers being sore losers in a lighting supply tender. We take that in good stride as part of the competitive nature of our profession…a bit like politics where the opposition tries to paint the ruling party black…
I was therefore surprised to see an actual article written in a UK lighting magazine (Lighting) that was openly reporting on a case and asking anyone who may have had dealings with a certain lighting designer for his whereabouts. The report states that he is sought for alleged fraud by UK’s CID and Trading Standards…I guess it must be serious. Reporting this seems quite unique as we generally keep to ourselves and don’t really meddle in other people’s business. At least it is the first time I hear about a lighting designer being sought by police for criminal behavior, but maybe there has been more in the past I am not aware of…
Nobody is perfect and to say we are all holy saints is of course idealistic. I think we all at times may willingly or unwillingly cut corners, even though we all strive to be as “perfect” as possible in our work to uphold the lighting designer profession’s image in general as well as our own personal professionalism and integrity.
But it is well known that the lighting designers in general don’t make millions. As the profession is still relatively in its infancy, with many clients not really appreciating the importance that lighting designers can bring to the fore, I am aware that professional fees are much under pressure for those building their practice with many finding it hard to make ends meet. But resorting to criminal behavior can never be the solution….
Originals and DNA testing
Singapore 10th July 2010
As designers we rely on our suppliers to get the products of our specifications delivered properly to the project sites for installation. But this world is a big pond with many sharks and as a result we do not always get what we want, knowingly or unknowingly. I think we are always wary of copies and unwanted substitutions that are passed on as so called “as specified” or even as “original”.
In a site meeting yesterday, one of the contractors, responsible for the delivery and installation of all the timber works, told me that nowadays they have ways to make sure that the timber is original and from the specified country of origin. As a living material timber has its own DNA and as such imported timber can be DNA tested to assure the batch is indeed “original” by comparing its DNA with that of the specified country of origin…interesting isn’t it?
Our lighting products are not made of “living” materials, but I was wondering whether there was a way that manufactured lighting products and related materials could have their own “DNA” to prove their country of origin. In this part of the world we are bombarded with so many copies and replica’s that even professionals like ourselves at times have difficulties to spot it, certainly if the sample shown is the real original but the installed version is a copy.
When relevant we do request suppliers to provide certificates of origin but I imagine these can be tempered with as well. Some manufacturers stamp or stick their logo or brand name on trims and reflectors, easy to see and recognize. But this is also part of the corporate branding, similar to fashion labels on shirts and apparels. But in lighting we have components manufactured in one or more countries and the final fittings assembled in another country, making the definition of the country of origin rather difficult.
It looks like that DNA type testing for lighting products is a difficult proposition, but maybe electronic and digital technology will allow us in the future to provide lighting products and components with an authentic birth mark… 🙂
Solar power 2
Singapore, 9th July 2010
Today I read about a historic flight of the first fully solar powered airplane. The breakthrough event was not so much the fact that the plane, a glider type airplane design with a (solar) wing span of no less then 64m, managed to fly, but that it managed to fly 26 hours continuously making it the first flight ever to fly on solar power through the night! In other words it had managed to store enough energy during the daytime to maintain its engine power needs throughout the night! The information list the plane to have about 12,000 solar cells and batteries weighing 400kg, about ¼ of the plane’s total weight. The electric engines draw about 6KW, which apparently is about the same that the Wright brothers used when they made their first powered flight early last century.
It has not much to do with lighting but it highlights the progress being made in solar technology which is of course of great interest to us. I remember Philips being involved in solar power three decades ago when I had just joined the company. The solar collectors at the time were big and bulky, with a relative short life time and an extremely long pay-back period, besides being very expensive. The crucial part has always been the battery storage technology and capacity. But over the years all that has improved tremendously and we are gradually reaching stage were renewable solar energy is becoming a financially viable option. Certainly for those who want to contribute to the green movement.
The main trend that interests me as a lighting designer is the ever decreasing size and increasing performance of the PV (Photo Voltaics) which means first and foremost that we need less space to incorporate them in our designs (read building envelopes), or in other words that we can increase the energy capacity so we can power more lights. This coupled with the ever increasing performance and efficiency in the LED lighting technology and you can see the excitement and potential for the future of lighting! As I said before, “zero” energy lighting installations for common lighting applications are not far away if not already here….
City beautification
Singapore 8th July 2010
Back from Mumbai in Singapore for a few days before jetting off to China for a tightly scheduled “round the country” trip to visit some of our project sites and coordinate progress with our clients. I think most of us who have visited countries like India are always sad to witness the poverty and living circumstances of many. While the slums of Mumbai were made popular by the movie Slumdog Millionaire, the reality of life in the streets make us humble and appreciate everything we have got!
It is with pleasure therefore that I am negotiating the lighting design for a project in Mumbai that will turn dirty and unused road and seaside land into a beautiful landscaped park with many themed features that will be free and open to the public and give them a nice environment to relax and enjoy life away from the “streets”. Lighting will obviously be crucial to make it a safe and enjoyable place to be at night. I don’t know whether I will eventually get to do the job but I do like the intent behind the project and it is good to see Mumbai moving this way. Many big developers are forced by the government to spent part of their profits back into the country as part of obtaining building approvals for their commercial and money making developments and city beautification is the way it is being implemented.
In Australia for instance, the program is called “percentage for the arts” program, where developers are to spend a certain percentage of their budget in providing art, sculptural public installations or other to help beautify the city.
Many cities around the world have embarked on similar schemes and more and more of them start to include lighting as an integral part of the scheme. The end results are generally win-win for everyone. The city wins as its image is getting a boost, the inhabitants win as they get better facilities and a city they can be proud of!
Bird shit!
Mumbai, 7th July 2010
What has birdshit to do with lighting design?…A bit of a provocative title to my blog today, but one certainly relevant to lighting when you design for exterior installations. In discussions with architect and client yesterday one of our design options for the façade lighting was rejected as it would create spots for birds to sit ….and shit….Mumbai has a humongous bird population and creating perches for them to sit on effectively is a recipe for a lot of “shit”. Ever parked your car under a tree?…
It is a design consideration most people do not include in the creative thinking process, whether architects or ourselves, but it is a very practical and relevant issue…. Pigeons, crows, seagulls, are notorious and therefore the design of the lighting installation should really consider this potential issue. In our case we resorted to changing the horizontal aligned brackets for the façade lighting in vertically mounted linear lights an so providing no opportunity for birds to perch.
There are quite some other lighting solutions that need similar considerations, mainly pole mounted structures in the outdoors like street lights or sports lighting poles and associated head frames. Seaside street lights and poles are much sought after resting places for sea gulls and it is for this reason that you will see cities resorting to mount spikes on top of the luminaires to deter birds from perching there.
It just goes to show that lighting design is more than just creating beautiful lighting effects. Thoughts about possible side effects of our lighting design proposals are not necessarily our prime concern and I bet you that many of us do not design with potential issues such as “bird shit” in our minds… 🙂
Subjectivity in lighting assessments
Mumbai , 6th July 2010
Another day, another city, another country… I woke up in Mumbai, India, this morning after having flown in late last night from Singapore to review (for the umptiest time) the revised mock up room of one of our hotel projects. Revision number 10, would you believe! Sometimes the project team gets it right in one or two attempts; sometimes (like in this project) it seems like a badly orchestrated dance, one step forward, two steps backwards…
The assessment of the lighting effects tends to be very subjective and depended on which people attend the review. If only it were the principal designers (interior/ lighting) and the operator’s and client’s main decision makers. Each with their core expertise and knowledge, so quick assessments and decisions can be made. In this project there is a lot of “noise” with too many people wanting to put in their little worth of comments.
But by far the worse thing is doing assessments when the installation is not completed and even worse not as specified! Cutting cost and value engineering before the intended lighting effects can be assessed properly defeats the purpose of having a mock up room, isn’t it? Most people do not have the experience or capability to imagine how it should be and throw their subjective on the moment comments in the mix. Managing this ad-hoc subjectivity in the lighting assessment is not easy and takes a great deal of project experience to handle. You need to be really confident about what it is that you are going to achieve with the lighting and be very authoritative to dispel potential “harmful” comments. We started out with a design concept and design intend and random subjective comments (..I like red better…isn’t that too bright?…etc) often result in deviating from it if we are not careful.
Of course there are relevant and meaningful comments, but experience learns that these generally come from the key persons mentioned above.
Lighting and the economy 4
Singapore 5th July 2010
Now here is something really interesting! We all know China as being the factory of the world. Cheap labor has over the years drawn thousands of companies to start up manufacturing facilities in the main land to then re-export their products for a “healthier” profit margin back into the rest of the world. At first many western companies doing so did not want you to know it was produced in China as people would shun the products fearing quality failure. In fact many china made products were still labeled made in “Europe”. It is well known that many European lighting manufactures have the majority their light fittings produced in China or other parts of Asia. More recently this has become a strategic advantage as many clients wish to purchase “locally” giving the European companies with production facilities in China an edge over overseas import. The perceived local availability and service support playing a role as well.
Today I read under the headline “Chinese companies outsourcing in France” that the Chinese are setting up a Chinese Business District in the French city of Chateauroux, just south of Paris. Coined as “reversed outsourcing” the Chinese have signed a deal for about 30-50 electronic and light manufacturing companies to start assembling their final products in France. There are a number of good reasons for the Chinese to do so. First of all the rising Chinese currency, the Yuan, is slowly eroding the advantages of the low cost labor. Secondly by locating the final assembly of the products inside the European end market it can also circumvent rising protectionism. Last but not least it can now slap a label “Made in France” or “Made in Europe” on their products adding a valuable quality perception to their products!
Globalisation in full action… In China we have foreign owners, Chinese workers. Now in France we have Chinese owners and French workers…How that will affect the lighting manufacturing industry I don’t know, but it is safe to say that the world is now a global platform with players from everywhere manufacturing and assembling anywhere…
Better City, Better Life
Singapore 4th July 2010
This is the slogan used for the World Expo in Shanghai: “ Better City, Better Life”. It was made even more relevant by today’s news announcement that by 2015 China expect to have a population of 1.4 billion (!) people of which 700,000 will live in the city. For the first time city dwellers will then surpass the number of people living in the country side. A scary thought in many ways…
People living in the country side are basically people living in a “natural” way, in other words their life is more or less directed by daylight, seasons and mostly natural resources such as food and other produce. City dwellers largely live an artificial life. They at times hardly even see actual daylight! They leave their home before sunrise, take the train or underground to go to work, then use underground link ways to reach their offices and spend the whole day in an artificially lit environment. By the time they get home it is about dark already.
But humans really need exposure to the full spectrum of light as in daylight. That is how we are build and how we function best. Many researchers have now found this to be true and critical to a healthy physical and emotional life. In other words daylight in all its forms from cool morning sunrise via bright mid day lighting levels to warm and soft light during sunset physically and emotionally impacts on our body, our body clock, our body metabolism, our moods. Most developers do not realize that and create artificial environments that are not really suitable for human living. It is not really surprising that many people take “sickies”, do not feel motivated, are prone to moodiness and generally have a bad health.
I am just making a point here, but with so many people today living in cities (and thus mostly in artificial environments) the slogan better cities, better life needs to seriously engage the issue of good lighting as key in future success for city living. Unfortunately most issues part of the better city life concepts are comfort and luxury issues…lighting for the well being of humans is only scarcely part of the thinking process.
The Great Singapore Sale
Singapore, 3rd July 2010
There is somehow always a sale going on in Singapore, whether they call it “End of the year sale”, “Stock clearance sale” or “The Great Singapore Sale”, which is now on. With so many new shopping malls and retail space added in Singapore over the last few years, one can understand that there is a continuous need to promote the city’s huge retail opportunities. With the weekend upon us we took some time out today for some well deserved retail therapy after a week of many late hours of work.
I hadn’t been to Orchard Road shopping for quite some time and it was quite interesting to see how much the overall feel of Singapore’s main shopping street has transformed itself. Besides the new malls like Orchard Ion, Orchard Cental, Somerset, etc, many also have been renovated and without fail all of the have dynamic colour changing LED façade lighting and multi media walls. The once fairly quit (in lighting as well as sound terms) Orchard Road is now a cacophony of lights and sounds at night, as besides the dynamic façade lighting each shopping mall seems to be trying to attract people by playing loud stumping music as if a party is going on inside.
The public spaces inside the mall are not much better, but the level of sophistication inside many of the shops has definitely gone up several notches. High quality interior design with multiple lighting systems forms part of the much applied visual merchandising concepts to attract customers to buy. Lighting is a very clear tool in validating the merchandise on sale. Shop lighting has come a long way from the early days of simple general fluorescent lighting with some incandescent spots, with new generation metal halide lamps and dedicated LED lighting leading the way.
Before I go I have to share my elation about the Dutch progressing into the semi finals at the World Cup soccer, finally we managed to beat Brasil! It took a bit of luck, lots of courage and great fighting spirit…On to the finals now! 🙂
Travel
Singapore, 2nd July 2010
Today has been a day in the sign of “travel”. First I travelled back from Perth to Singapore to attend meetings, then I spend time to confirm and reconfirm the travel arrangements and bookings for my travel to India next week. I have to thank Trevor from our Singapore office for his countless hours coordinating with our travel agent and the clients to get my trips organized. It sounds simple but it is not, as my travel plans change practically every day. Not because I want to but because of the ever changing conditions.
Next week’s trip for instance is to go review a hotel mock up room and present our concepts for the building exteriors and public interior areas. The original trip was confirmed several weeks ago, but sudden “unavailability” from operator and key interior designer has prompted last minute changes in the dates. This creates a domino effect for many as flights have to be rebooked (mine was on waitlist, but finally got confirmed just earlier today) and at the same time affects the meeting and travel plans for the days afterwards. Especially in this part of the world clients have a habit of calling meetings at the last minute and then expect you to hop on the next available plane out…like we are waiting for their call and have nothing else to do! In general I request client confirmations with at least 3-4 weeks advance notice for travel related meetings, but in practice it does not really work out that way!
But would you believe that there are clients that call you to come out for meetings and then manage to be not available themselves! I had such encounter not long ago where the complete consultant team flew out for a design coordination meeting with the “big boss” (to Mumbai also). However at the start of the meeting it was announced that the boss (for whom we had all come to present our designs) had gone to Delhi for some urgent meetings…
There is an expression that says “he who travels far knows much”. I would like to create a new one: “he who travels often has to be prepared for the unexpected”… 🙂
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