Daylight, engaging the architect
Perth, 2nd April 2010
For once I am not away when it comes to public holidays. Somehow I am always working somewhere else when a country has its public holidays, I am sure some of you can relate to this…anyhow this weekend in many “western” countries is the Good Friday and Easter Holiday long weekend, with most businesses closed till Monday. For a change I am around and look forward to spend some time with my kids. For those of you, who enjoy the Easter break, enjoy your time with your family and friends.
I have spoken about day-lighting before as it is fast becoming an integral part of our lighting design thinking. However it is an area that is as much linked to lighting design as it is linked to architecture. So the integration of daylight in a design requires a far higher degree of engagement with the architect. Not only to understand the day light impact obviously but also the reversed situation at night as with increased levels of daylight intake comes an increased potential for light pollution. The way light comes into the building pretty much offers the same route back for (artificial) lighting to leave the building. For buildings chasing compliance with a LEED classification that is a big challenge. How do you maximise day light-in versus minimize artificial light-out?
Architectural building elements, such as windows, skylights, glass blocks, light shelves and reflectors, light pipes, fiber optic embedded concrete, etc, offer great opportunities to transfer light deeper into the building, but what is the impact at night?
As always in life there is positive and negative, in and out, yin and yang. We cannot just look at how to solve the daylight intake without consideration for the effects on our environment through potential artificial lighting waste.
Where daylight is pretty much directed by the architect, the artificial lighting at night is directed by us, so we need to engage, now more then ever…
April Fool’s Day
Perth, 1st April 2010
Today is April Fool’s Day, traditionally a day when people play pranks on each other. Newspapers and media, such as radio and TV, normally carry at least one news story that is guaranteed an April Fool’s joke. They are not always easy to spot though…
I think it is important to create some fun in your life and to me laughter is definitely one of the ingredients of a good working environment. Look around and see how serious people look most of the time! Is it so hard to smile? If you smile to someone in the street you are almost guaranteed to get a smile back…at least people’s faces light up if you greet them with a smile. In my office I like my team to smile and enjoy…they know I always look at the bright side of life and like to poke some fun. Our job is serious but we have to be able to have some fun while doing so and enjoy our work with a smile on our face.
The best April Fool’s Day lighting prank I remember, must be the one about the melting ice. I was working in the Philips’ Lighting Design Centre and some colleagues decided to play a prank on one of the junior staff. At the time he was working on the lighting design for a skating arena, I believe in the Middle East. We did not have computers at the time (yes it was a long time ago…) and all communication happened via telex machines. A fake telex message was created and delivered to his desk, which said something like: “Urgent! We have a big problem because the ice is melting. We believe it is caused by your lighting design. What should we do? Please advise.”
Needles to say his facial expression, being one of total panic, was priceless…and good fun in the office.
Pre- Frankfurt rush
Perth, 31st March 2010
Less than 2 weeks before the World Light Fair in Frankfurt (11-16th April) and for those who are regular visitors there is always this “pre Frankfurt rush” in preparing to go there. Not only making sure you can be away from the office, arranging your accomodation, but also your meetings and discussions, to maximise your time amongst the biggest gathering of lighting specialists in the world. It is one of those occasions where all people, from lighting designers to lighting manufacturers converge together to share the latest in lighting.
I have been coming to the Light Fair since the early 80’s, at that time still in Hanover. Who cannot remember the rowdy gatherings at the Munchener Halle after an intensive day at the Fair! A bit of nostalgia there….
My meetings have nearly all been arranged and I look forward to discuss my lighting needs with the various manufacturers. The meetings are a mix of project requirements and general discussions about the latest technological developments in lighting…we need to know what’s cooking in the kitchen, don’t we, so we can better advise our clients… Then of course there is the overall “tour” amongst the lighting stands to look for the newest lighting products. Here we are often directed by the people we meet who guide us to stands where they have seen something special, because the Light Fair is also a social event were we meet our colleagues and friends in the business. There is an ample choice of “after-events”. Two key events should be highlighted; the Luminale event with buildings throughout Frankfurt lit specially in conjunction with the fair and the PLDA Celebration of Light night on the 13th April.
For those who have been regular readers and supporters of my blog and will be in Frankfurt, I look forward to meet you at the fair . I will drop by at the PLDA stand regularly during my stay and for those who wish to contact or meet me, you can leave me a message there.
A happy contractor
Perth, 30th March 2010
The success of our lighting designs is generally measured by the level of satisfaction from our clients. We look at the end result and assess how well the lighting is doing justice to our original design concept. We generally don’t care too much about the contractors who had to install the lighting. Whether he had a hard time installing the lighting isn’t really our problem, is it? We can actually be quite tough on them as contractors are notorious for complaining anyhow…
So it was a nice surprise today to hear the feedback from a very happy contractor on one of our sports projects here in Australia. The contractor called in very happy as instead of the 6 days he had scheduled to install the 6 poles he had managed t install all in one day! Likewise the pre-aiming of the lights took a fraction of the time he had been used to in other installations. Maybe it tells something about the quality standards he was used to, but my point is that we made him a happy man through our considerate specifications of the lighting equipment.
So my thought for the day is really about thinking further than just making the client happy with the end result. Considering the ease of installation, the ease of maintenance is as important as the end visual result. In fact if installation and maintenance are not a considered thought the project should not really be classified as successful.
A happy contractor is also likely to be more accommodating and committed in getting the end result right then one who is made to suffer during installation.
Doing “business” in Asia
Perth, 29th March 2010
Today 4 executives from Rio Tinto (an Australian mining company) have been convicted in China to hefty jail terms and penalties for taking bribes and stealing “trade secrets”. While the court hearings about the bribes were public, the hearings on the trade secrets were done behind close doors, giving little away on what is considered as a trade secret. The foreign executive (Stern Hu) admitted taking bribes close to U$ 1 million.
The trials have been closely watched by the international business community active in China as many foreign companies are confronted with similar issues. When doing business in Asia, often “project brokers” get involved, wanting a fee for introducing and recommending you to new business clients, sometimes evenpromising you they will get you the project! It is a fine line between professional business development services and paying “bribes” to get your business. (PS: While Asia is renowned for “under table” practices, I have no illusion that it is happening throughout the world). Doing business in Asia as a lighting designer is therefore tantamount to exposing yourself to these practices and it is not easy to reject the prospect of a new project at good fees knowing it just means paying of a “deal maker”.
Taking it a step further; is wining and dining considered a bribe or just bonding with your new potential client? While cash payments are more clear cut, entertaining or providing “gifts” may be a vaguer territory, certainly if the people involved are friends. But then.. how do you define friends? Do real friends in business…exist?
It is a very sensitive issue hardly ever spoken about in public, but hard to deny it is not happening, with the Rio Tinto court case being a point in case.
Earth Hour
Singapore, 28th March 2010
It would be hard to ignore Earth Hour, which was held around the world last night from 8.30 to 9.30pm local time. Started 4 years ago by an environmental group in Sydney, Australia, this event now spans around the globe with some 4000 cities and 120 countries involved, according to news sources. Earth Hour started with the idea to switch off lights for one hour to draw attention to the impact of climate change by reducing energy consumption. It started last night in New Zealand and Australia with famous landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House switching off all decorative and non essential lights and continued around the globe.
In Singapore even the airport went practically dark when the terminal buildings switched off decorative and dimmed up to 80% non critical operation lights. It was reported this morning that the one hour switch off at the airport had yielded an energy saving enough to power a typical 4 bedroom apartment for about 3 months! Now that is a considerable saving!
While light is the most visible component of energy use, there are many other applications that can save even more energy. I was interested to read in a related news article that an outdoor concert held in one of Singapore’s parks at the occasion of Earth Hour was generator-powered by environmentally friendly bio-fuel, which was converted from used cooking oil collected from restaurants. In fact there are now clean energy companies that apparently do nothing else than collecting organic waste to convert it into bio-diesel, bio-gas or compost.
Earth Hour is a great initiative which fully deserves the support it is getting around the world. It should inspire us to be even more explorative in finding ways in our lighting designs to further reduce energy consumption.
Photography
Singapore, 27th March 2010
With the weekend arrived I took time out to run some errands and dropped into Page One, a bookshop well known for its large collection of architectural design books. I chanced on a new issue of hotel designs in Asia. It was nice to see three of our projects in there as well. But what struck me most was how “nice” the photo’s where (having seen some of the installations in real life)…someone had obviously gone through quite some extend to touch up the photo’s.
Which brings me to today’s topic…it is very rare that a photo (of a lighting installation) truly represents the reality. Two things generally happen, either the picture looks much worse than the reality, or it looks much better than the reality. In the first case it is probably the result of bad photo taking or inexperience in photographing night time lighting installations. In the second case it is likely that efforts have been made to touch up the photo. It may initially been the same picture as the first, but with today’s computer technology we can crop, add, erase and touch up any element in a picture. Selective viewing angles are a well known photographic “trick”. We all know the beautiful resort or home pictures from the travel or real estate agents…need I say more.
It is safe to state that today we never know whether the picture represents the reality or even whether it is actually real or not. The latest 3D rendering software is capable of producing the most astonishing virtual reality. But somehow there is still that stigma that if it is printed it must be real! We all use it in our presentations to our clients, on our website, in our company brochures.
Who wants to show pictures saying…oh sorry it is just a bad picture, the reality is really good! 🙂
“Back of House”
Mumbai, 26th March 2010
As lighting designers we are generally involved with public areas only, those areas where the public goes, whereas service areas (the so called “Back of House”) are mostly functional and left in the care of the mechanical/electrical consultant. Part of our meeting discussions today focused on the planning and design of the back of house areas that relate to and support the public areas. “Back of house” are areas like kitchens, mechanical rooms, maintenance areas, delivery, loading docks and so on. While our discussions today particularly related to a hotel project it is valid to all type of project applications.
The reason I got involved is that there are many such areas that may not be accessible to the public, but can be seen by the public as part of their visual field of view. While we take much care and diligence to make sure the human eye is well treated in the actual public areas, if left in the care of the electrical consultant (with all due respect) the visible back of house areas often end up with incompatible light colours, bright “glary” lights, etc.
Now that is speaking from experiencing the public areas from its interiors. At times an even bigger issue is the way a building is perceived from its exteriors. While “back of house” areas can be controlled by screens, doors, etc, the external view into a building can be much more unforgiving. Direct view into light fittings in the ceiling, different light colours, brightness contrasts, etc, part of which can actually be classified as “light pollution” and thus waste of energy.
Hence I would ventured to say that control of the public visual environment is probably a more appropriate description of the lighting designers responsibility then just subdividing the lighting design responsibility in front of house and back of house.
Repetition
Mumbai, 25th March 2010
Travelled to India today to attend to some design coordination meetings. India, like China has that big buzz of things going on…A huge growing economy with obviously many opportunities for lighting designers. The lighting community here is growing fast with many new homegrown talented lighting designers, some of whom I have met.
In today’s blog I want to talk about repetition. With so many new projects seeing the daylight, many project developments are competing in nature (hotels, commercial developments, etc) there is a risk of design repetition. Repetition in design is something that creeps up on you without us realising it. Sometimes driven by deadlines and unrealistic clients we “rush” through the design studies and in the process fall back into using previous concepts. If it worked before why re-invent the wheel, right? It is quite common in architecture…haven’t we all not seen a building design that looks just like one you have seen in another city or country? Lighting design isn’t any different.
Because lighting results can vary enormously due to ever different architectural finishes and many other variables, we do fall back on previous designs we know work. But that is part of our experience as a designer, isn’t it? That is often the proven experience and expertise that clients hire us for. We sometimes even get specific requests from our clients to reproduce concepts that they have seen somewhere else. Don’t we all use our own library of project images or Google (sorry not in China anymore .. :)) (*) images of relevant lighting effects to illustrate our designs?
I subscribe to the idea that there are very few real innovative designs and that most of the “new” designs are taking existing concepts and use them in a modified way or in a different environment.
(*) For those not aware, Google has pulled out of the China market yesterday, reportedly as it does not want to subject its site to censorship of its search engine…
Minimal design
Shanghai, 24th March 2010
Posting my blog early today, as I have some heavy travelling ahead over the next few days. Putting myself to the task to post a blog everyday means I need to plan ahead because with my meeting and travel schedule I may not be close to an internet connection when I need to. As I am flying off later today I better get it posted now…
Last night I met with a client for dinner and during our conversations the issue of good design came up. The client (architecturally trained) stated that to become a good designer you need to go through a process he called basic “minimal” design. During his training as architect he had gone through an exercise to design a space as small, basic and minimalistic as possible. He said that if you are able to design to absolute minimal standards (in his case in terms of dimensions, comfort, etc) only then would you be able to understand what it takes to do a good design. I thought about it and must say it does make a lot of sense. How many designers (me included!) over-design our lighting and when you ask them whether it is too bright the standard reply is”…oh don’t worry we have a dimming control system.”
In a way the tough new energy requirements (LEED, etc) are forcing us to revisit our lighting design strategies continuously, very much towards this basic minimal design approach. It is often said that the best designs are the simplest ones. However it takes a lot of knowledge and understanding with a lot of “sweat” to finally arrive at a simple design.
The KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid!) Principle very much applies to lighting…
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