Chasing shadows
Sydney, 23rd December 2009
That’s it. If you are on the northern hemisphere the days have started to get longer. In the southern hemisphere, its only “down hill” from now in terms of the length of the days. According to those in the know 21-22 December is either the longest (northern hemisphere) or shortest night (southern hemisphere) depending where you are in this world. The sun, during the day, is at either its highest or lowest position in the sky. For me, being in Australia, it was the shortest night with sun rising around 5+ am in the morning and setting after 8 pm with darkness only reached an hour later. With temperatures in the high 20’s, a delicious night with a nice breeze, perfect for an evening walk.
What comes along with the changing length of the day is the length of the shadows. We don’t realize this as the process is so slow and gradual, but as the earth moves around the sun shadows in our daily life become longer or shorter as well. With the sun now at its most southern latitude of about 23 degrees above the southern hemisphere, the shadows here are the shortest of the year. In the northern hemisphere the shadows are at their longest as the sun stands at its lowest above the horizon. This interplay between light and shadow is what brings spice to our daily visual scenery.
Lighting design is as much about creating light as it is about creating shadows. The challenge as lighting designer is not always about what to light, but even more about what not to light!
Wooden poles
Sydney, 22nd December 2009
For many of us the sight of wooden poles with street lights is still somewhat unique. We forget that in many countries there is no such thing as specially designed aluminum street lighting poles and natural resources are used to provide in the needs. Here street lights are fixed to any existing structure “close” to the road. Most of the time that means the wooden poles used to carry the electricity cables (which is handy for the lighting’s power supply :)… ). Even sports grounds at times are using wooden poles for the sports lights. I have seen some wacky installations in Australia. It was one of the eye openers when I first came to this continent. Besides the city centers where most cabling is now underground, the suburbs and rural towns all still have above ground electricity supply and use the wooden poles for street lighting.
History tells us that obviously trees where handy everywhere and a much easier and cheaper proposition then to get them manufactured and imported from overseas. So as the street lighting is generally fixed to the electricity supply poles, the lighting layout is not really tailored to the actual streets. We do regular lighting audits for city councils and in rural Australia and sometimes find the “street” light more than 10m away from the curb simply because the electricity lines run there. The lighting management is generally done by the local electricity provider and standard streetlights (often Mercury Vapor or Sodium types) provide levels of only 2-3 lux just around the pole.
While standards require a better uniformity and higher lighting levels, it is easy to see that in rural areas the lighting is not first priority. In fact we found that the main need for lighting would not be for traffic safety but for prevention of crime and anti social behavior! Interesting…
Sunset
Sydney, 21st December 2009
What is it that makes sunsets so fascinating and romantic? Why are we always so in awe and stop doing what we are doing to watch a sunset? A “beautiful” sunset can go through the full spectrum of light colours and if you watch carefully you can see the red light of the sun all the way to the dark blue of the night. It is sort of magic to see the sun gradually become all red before disappearing behind the horizon. Sometimes you can see a short green after image if you have focused on the sun intensely just before its disappearance. Then the sky can go through a color palette from deep orange to purple blues! Magical… I think it is the power of nature that makes us watch in awe. We wonder how it all is possible. How do these colours come about? There is of course a scientific way to explain how light breaks through the atmosphere depending its angle of incidence, but in general we just look and enjoy as it feels good and it appeases our senses.
These colours should be the inspiration for some of our lighting projects. Not the senseless chase and mix of colours that we sometime see “created” by LED colour changing installations. That is a computer figuring out what colours to project, probably random. But I believe more in the “natural” touch, using natural schemes that we come across in nature and that feel good to us. Next time you are working on a colour scheme try and see how nature can inspire you.
Remote control lighting design
Sydney, 20th December 2009
Finally back in Australia! Time for my Xmas break and spend some time with my family and friends. It may be a more difficult to keep my mind focused on lighting over the next few days as I am trying to relax and actually get my mind off lighting! So bear with me 🙂
An apt subject today will be remote controlled lighting design. How to keep in touch with your team and clients in regards to lighting design while being at another place in time. As consultants only very little projects are actually in our back garden so to speak. We may have fellow consultants like architects and interior designers in town where our office is, but most of the time the projects and meetings are a few hours’ flights away. Just last Friday I spend the day in Hong Kong meeting the clients’ project team for a presentation to the “big boss”. So managing a project remote controlled is some sort of a challenge and requires some skills to make sure all information is shared and explained properly. Though, with the economy still in recovery, teleconferencing has become a great and efficient tool to communicate, nothing beats a one on one personal meeting. And being on site to actually see the site issues and being able to talk to the contractors also beats pictures taken on site with comments.
But the reality is that we cannot be everywhere at the same time and hence we need to learn the skills of what I call remote controlled lighting design. It takes some getting used to but once you master the art of remote control it can be very helpful… I will need my skills over the next two weeks!
LED Xmas presents
Singapore-Sydney, 19th December 2009
With Xmas just ahead you may start thinking about presents to give to your family and friends? With LED being so small and compact only imagination seems to be the limitation to the application of LEDs that can be found in many gadgets. I have taken the liberty to list a few for your consideration 🙂
– What about a motorized pepper shaker with a build in LED light? The faster you “shake” the brighter the light! Nice gadget to entertain your guests. Any pepper, anyone?
– Then there are the colourful LED pressure coasters that light up when you put a glass of wine or beer on it.
– LED candles will help create a Xmas ambience without the danger of real fire.
– For the readers amongst us there is the LED book reading light that allows you to read at night without disturbing anyone. Should you wish to write some notes then there is also the pen with a build in LED light.
– What about fitting out your bathroom water tap with a blue coloured LED light for effect. Or having a showerhead with an LED light so you can take a coloured shower.
– Want to be a stand out at the disco? There are now clothes with LED patterns stitched in that can dynamically light up in chasing colours.
– The traditional miners head set had a make over with LED’s allowing you to bike or walk at night with your own head light.
– Kids are not left out with shoes that light up at every step.
– But the topper amongst LED lighting gadgets must be the baby pacifier with build in LED colour changing lights. You can’t start young enough if you want your little one to become a lighting designer!
Happy Xmas shopping…
LED it snow…?
Hong Kong, 18th December 2009
Last night I got an excited call from my daughter in Paris…it was snowing! She left Holland when she was 2 years old and never has really experienced snow as she lived most of her life in the tropics! So seeing the first snow of her life was obviously an experience. Today I read a Dutch newspaper (I have to keep up with some “home” news once in a while) to read indeed about the cold snap and that the first canals had frozen up with skating on natural ice expected soon.
What caught my attention on the front page of the country’s leading morning paper was an advertisement by Holland’s biggest lighting manufacturer promoting LED’s under the title:…Let it snow, let it snow…, LED it glow!.....obviously inspired on the Xmas song.
Which brings me to the point….how far should we go to sell the green message? Xmas songs? I am not so sure about this. Ok, there are many LED based Xmas lights and the Xmas tree is generally green… but that is as far as I see the relationship…Did I miss something? How does this message educate the public about good usage of light? LED is not necessarily the solution to all greenhouse gas emission woes. I would like to urge the manufacturers to advertise wisely and with the aim to educate the public in the process. That would help applying LED there where we really need them !
Lighting below ground
Singapore, 17th December 2009
There are significantly different speeds at which it becomes time to renovate existing spaces. The highest renovation speeds can be found in retail where commercial interests dictate that shop interiors for instance, will be renovated or updated to the latest trendy look at least every 3-5 year. In the hospitality industry it will probably be more like 8-10 years and in urban public environments more towards the 10-20 years. Singapore right now is in the process of renovating the stations of its original first subway line which opened way back in the late 80’s.
Driving forces are the integrated retail outlets that are becoming more and more part of life below ground! In major world cities you can spend the whole way below ground going from your home to your office and back shopping for all your needs and having your meals in the process! With general appreciation for good quality lighting becoming increasingly accepted, more and more emphasis is being put on the lighting design for these underground worlds.
What stood out in the briefing we received for the lighting is that there is a requirement to create more interesting visual sceneries and to integrate dynamic media facades into the design. Gone are the days of boring underground corridors… 🙂 While “mood setting” is making a modest entry, lighting levels and quality have of course to comply with all applicable safety standards. But at the same time the renovation aims to obtain green marks for being environment friendly…So while all these new and additional lighting requirements are wanted, the allowable energy consumption is reducing as we speak, creating a big challenge for lighting designers to manage the watts /square meter. Again the L(ED) word keeps coming up in all discussions about lighting.
It is interesting to note that when I recently traveled the Paris subway, many of the stations were still pretty much the way I remember them when I travelled them as a little kid! So I guess a different “train” of thoughts there!
Good old floodlighting
Singapore, 16th December 2009
In my early days as a lighting designer, there was no such thing as LED, color changing, and dynamic media systems. When we were designing the lighting for a building façade it was generally just straight forward floodlighting. Have we lost the touch of applying these techniques? Is today’s new generation of lighting designers actually considering flood lighting as a viable way of lighting up a building?
In this morning’s meeting with the architect we were discussing the options of lighting up the façade of a tall building and it seemed all I could hear was the word “LED”. Ok, fair enough, the building architecture is modern with some sophisticated material applications, but that does not mean that LED is the magic solution to everything! On top of that the budget is limited and intricate LED based lighting effects would surely blow the budget. So in this case we indeed decided to opt for a simple flood light solution. Though LED will never be far away as we are slowly moving into territory in which LED floodlights will be the new in-thing. Right now however I am still on metal halide for this near 100m tall façade.
While modern building architecture is often designed nowadays with curtain wall integrated LED lighting effects, there are still heaps of buildings designed along traditional and classical architectural lines. Good old traditional floodlighting using conventional white light (!) can still be one of the best solutions….classical look, energy efficient and budget friendly!
Xmas ligt ups…ho-ho-ho
China, 15th December 2009
It is that time of the year again! Most cities in the world are out-doing themselves with Xmas light ups to bring everyone in the “mood”. While the spirit is of course Xmas celebration and the importance of family and friends, the underlying commercial tone cannot be denied. In the end it is still about dollar and cents. Shopping malls are pulling out all the stops to attract people, some having complete Xmas choirs singing “Jingle Bells” in the atrium. All of course next to the big and beautifully lit Xmas tree set up for the occasion. Cities are decorating the streets and their urban landmarks to attract visitors. But in general I like the tradition and it sorts of creates a time of reflection and introspection. Most of us are lucky to live the life we live!
The Xmas feel is best experienced at night when all the lights go on. I just visited an Asian website (http://www.relax.com.sg/relax/media/292788/Christmas_lights_around_the_world.html) that has a collection of photo’s of Xmas light ups around the world. You will note by the way that more then one claim is made about being the tallest illuminated Xmas tree in the world. But I think we Dutch are the winners with the Lopik TV Tower Xmas tree. 🙂
Xmas light ups come in many shapes and forms and many Cities often have competitions for the best decorated (read illuminated) building. There is the commercial section where shops and malls participate and there is the residential section. It is specifically the last section that interests me always as this shows what ordinary people (not shopping malls with big budgets) can do with little money and some original thinking. Back in Australia over Xmas I will go do the rounds to check them out again. Hope you enjoy the Xmas lights wherever you are in the world.
SPAre me!
China, 14th December 2009
Another project, another spa. I know it is the trend, but is it not being carried a bit too far? I notice that practically every single project we do has some form of “spa” integrated in the overall concept. Spa here just being a generic word for all things holistic and relaxing from simple massage to every imaginable body treatment. Let’s see. Hotel and resorts…bingo, spa! Commercial shopping malls and retail developments…bingo, spa! Airports and terminal buildings…bingo, spa! Residential and serviced apartments…bingo, spa! The list goes on….
If that is not enough the latest spa invention is called “medi-spa”. We are involved in one such project right now. Crudely said a medi-spa is a marriage between plastic surgery with traditional spa treatments. In this case predominantly corrective laser surgery if I understand the concept correctly. There are “real” doctors involved! But dont worry, relax…you are in a holistic environment, not a hospital!
Obviously the ones we get involved with as lighting designers want to out-do the competition by being even more “unique” then what was done before. From grotto type concepts to “being-one-with-nature” environments.
In itself I have no issue with the concept, on the contrary, I love a good massage and body treatment once in a while. But I feel it should be destination, something you plan to go to. Do we really need a spa on every corner of the street? SPAre me! 🙂
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