Hugging the tree
Shanghai 3rd December 2009
Sometimes my subject maybe a bit “off the road”. But don’t worry I will always find a link to lighting…..I arrived back in Shanghai last night for my final days of the year with my China team. There is a lot of work to clear before the Xmas holidays. As always I went out this morning for my Daily Dose of Daylight (see one of my earlier blogs) in the park just next to our office. In the morning you will find people jogging, doing Ti-Chi and practicing martial arts, some practicing their vocal cords uttering interesting sounds and even people hugging trees!
The park is well maintained and this morning they were sweeping away leaves fallen from the trees to clear the foot paths. People in the northern hemisphere now will experience similar scenes as winter is eminent. Now I am all for the natural way and I actually don’t really mind walking through the fallen leaves, as it gives you a sense of connection with nature. But hey, it’s the city and with the World Expo around the corner all is done to build up a clean and well groomed image of Shanghai. What prompted my entry today is that I saw the park’s maintenance staff shaking the trees. Yes, shaking the trees until all “loose” leaves had fallen off! At first it kind of bothered me…why not let nature take its course? But then I realized these guys were just being practical. Maximize the result of their work, minimize their efforts. Why come back tomorrow and do the same thing again!
Where is the link to lighting you may ask? Well some people like to hug the tree, embrace the tree. Some people just shake the tree. If I draw the parallel to our lighting industry… some of us are passionate and embrace their work but some are ruthless,practical and just in it for the money…
The beautiful world of creation
Singapore, 2nd December 2009
Aren’t we not all at times in awe of beautiful creations? …As part of our lighting design activities I make it a point to be involved in the creation of customised items such as decorative chandeliers or illuminated artworks. I believe our knowledge and understanding of their contribution in terms of lighting to the overall appreciation of a space is crucial.
Today I met with one of the leading manufacturers of modern decorative fixtures for one of our hotel projects. These fixtures are often beyond imagination. I admire the creative team that is able to create something out of just a few conceptual images. Their knowledge of materials, structural possibilities and interaction with light is amazing at times. The conceptual design intent generally flows out of the interior concept and, or our lighting designers vision for the space. But the actual realisation into a physical and workable design comes from these amazing artists. I am obviously not talking about your standard candalabre chandeliers, but of artwork turned into an illuminated masterpiece. My role as a lighting designer is to assure the lighting effect is achieved and make sure operational aspects such as energy consumption and lamp maintenance are being properly addressed.
These illuminated artworks then become the signature identity of the space (often the main lobby, ballroom or restuarants). The measure of success and originality is when you look at them and say: “Wow…how did they do that!
The ideal lighting design office
Singapore, 1st december 2009
December already…how quick this year has gone by! This afternoon I had a design coordination meeting with one of our projects interior designer. His office happened to be in an old church! Now if you dont get spirited and inspired with ideas there, where will you! Then his Shanghai office is in a old converted factory. Somehow he has a knack for findng great office environments. I am envious at times when I meet people with such great office locations. It must be inspiring when you are a designer to have a special place to unleash your creativity! A building with character!
So today my entry is about the “ideal” lighting design office, if it exists? There are many components to an office, building character being only one. Its space planning, location to public transport and accesibility, car park if relevant, proximity to shops, food outlets, etc. As I am travelling a lot I have opted for a SOHO (small office/ home office) concept in a residential/ commercial neighbourhood. It suits me and my team. We like the homy feel and the intimicay it brings. And we have all the comfort of shops and F&B outlets at our door step. But as the teams grow bigger we may have to abandon this concept. While we have a meeting room, we lack a “workshop” space where we can experiment with lights. Something becoming more and more important to assure the quality and viability of our designs.
I would say that what is ideal for one may not be so for another. Each lighting design company has its own wants and needs. To me the ideal office space is the one that suits specifically the persons that occupy it. Company image may be important, but happy staff is the key!
Yesterday!
Singapore, 30th November 2009
Don’t you get unreasonable requests at time? In projects we always need to work along time schedules and the typical question to ask before starting the works is: “when do you need it? And the even more typical answer (certainly in this part of the world) is: “Yesterday!” At that moment , unlike the Beatles song, all your troubles are NOT far away…in fact they are just starting.
What triggered today’s entry is a call from one of my clients wo asked me when I could issue the construction drawings. Whether I could please issue by this Wednesday. That is not exactly yesterday but quite close! Now to put things in perspective you should know we received the updated DD (Design Development) drawings from the interior designer last Friday! Today is Monday and we just started to go through the drawings to assess the impact of the changes and related works ahead…To fast track the process we had scheduled a meeting with the interior designer in the afternoon. I told the client that he must be kidding, but he was serious. I then diplomatically tried to explain the works and subsequent time involved to complete our side of the works. He sputtered, but started to show some form of understanding. I told him I would get back to him with some more definite time schedules. After consultation with the interior designer and my design team we have just issued a schedule to the client showing a first part issue next week and further progressive issues until early January. Haven’t heard back yet but assume he may have fallen of his chair….
Challenging lighting projects
Singapore, 29th November 2009
Before I left Mumbai, the same person who asked me about the perfect project, yesterday asked me about the most difficult lighting projects I had done. This was triggered by a discussion we had about golf course lighting. Since we were on the subject I assumed he felt that golf course lighting was probably one of the more difficult lighting applications, but he was more thinking about airfield lighting. I had to disappoint him, as lighting for airports, though tough, is really quite standard “book” work. There is not much room for variation.
I started about golf course lighting with its complex challenge of balancing glare with lighting the golf ball’s flight path, etc, but after some further reflection I had to say… residential lighting. Because in residential lighting the objectivity of the lighting design generally vanishes as your design becomes subjected to the personal tastes and likes of the residents. In hotel and commercial applications your lighting design still follows some general norms, standards and requirements, but when it comes to residences your lighting design becomes more generic as aspects like colour, form and shapes become totally subjected to ( and dictated by) what the husband or wife likes. Which is not necessarily the same! The work can even involve going shopping with the wife to select the loose light fixtures such as chandeliers, table or floor lamps! Now that is challenging!
Material finishes: black or white
Pune 28th November 2009
Another day, another city…today I traveled to Pune, an emerging city nearly 200km away from Mumbai. Once you leave the Mumbai metropolis area, the road leads into the mountains on a rather scenic route. But as the road slopes up quite strongly the many trucks struggle to get up the hill slowing down traffic which resulted in a trip of well over 3 hours. There is not much high rise in Pune, and with a population of more then 4 million, it is a pretty vast city area! My client is building a hotel here. With 17 stories it will become the highest building in the city.
I reviewed the two mock-up rooms and the subject I wanted to post is about material finishes. Each mock up room was designed in a different style, same layouts, but different material finishes. To make it even more interesting, one predominantly in dark wood with semi glossy finishes and materials, the other in light mostly matt finishes. How better to prove that the same amount of light on a black surface does not result in the same brightness levels as on a white surface! In both cases the same lux level is measured, but as we see reflections dark looks dark! How often have I not heard a client telling me that there is not enough light! My point today is the importance of understanding (in the early stages of design!) the impact that material finishes have on the end result and appreciation of a space. And this I believe only experienced designers can tell. This is where it becomes crucial to be involved early in the design process with architects and interior designers and highlight the potential pitfalls of their material finishes. It does not mean we can not work with black or glossy surfaces, but it restricts our lighting options and calls for creative solutions to resolve the challenges that these material finishes poses us.
The perfect lighting designer
Goa, 27th November 2009
To continue on the subject of “perfect” started in my blog yesterday, is there a formula for the perfect lighting designer? Or should I say the ideal lighting designer? What attributes should a lighting designer possess to be a “perfect” lighting designer? Does he or she exist? Again I would say…NO! We have many different lighting designers… the creative or innovative designer, the diplomatic designer, the practical designer, the compromising designer, the politically correct designer, the high profile designer, etc, etc… One thing I believe all designers have in common … that is “Ego”. Some have small Ego’s, some have big Ego’s and some have very big Ego’s. It is part of your pesonality. Some are individualists, some are team players.
Personally I think lighting designers should have a bit of all. They have to be team players, they need diplomacy, they need creativity, thinking out of the box, they need to be practical, they need to be knowledgeable about the latest lighting technology, etc. But there are a few key ingredients that need to be there to make the difference between an average, good designer and an excellent (near perfect) designer. These are experience, professional attitude and integrity. And when I say experience I would say at least 10 years… projects take a long time (sometimes 3-5 years) to complete and unless you have gone through the whole cycle of concept to commissioning a few times, preferably in different lighting applications and different countries, you will not have encountered all the challenges of lighting design. Even after having been in lighting design for over 30 years, I still learn every day. Which leads me to believe that near perfection may only be attained by the time I retire …….
The perfect project
Goa, 26th November 2009
To place today in context..it is exactly one year ago that terrorists attacked major landmarks in Mumbai in which many people were brutally killed. During my last visit to Mumbai I visited the famous Leopold Café (of Shantaram fame) where the bullet holes can still be seen in the windows inside the café! Just a scary reminder of the crazy world we live (and work) in at times.
This morning at breakfast the project manager, having read my blog, asked me if I had ever done a perfect project…an obvious and burning question as in our world of design we always look out and crave to be involved in that perfect project. My answer was short…NO. I had a few very satisfying projects, but perfect…no. I guess as designers we are never satisfied. We always see things that could have been done better. They may not be obvious to the general public, but it is our job and most of all we know the history of the project…
What is the definition of perfect anyway? “Perfectly satisfying”? Or “perfectly complying to specifications”? For the company CFO it may be “perfectly realized within the budget”. Or does perfect mean you have a total free hand and “carte blanche” in designing and executing your project? Then there is the fact that specifications are only as good as the experience of the person specifying them. Specifying the lighting is one thing but knowing how these lighting specifications will work out in practice is really a matter of experience…a lot of experience. Visual mock ups will help but do we always have the opportunity to do that? Do we control step by step the process of procurement and installation? The reality is… no we don’t. I have had some very satisfying projects, with very happy clients and where the end result was very close to what I imagined when developing the concept. So I would like to venture that the perfect project does not exist…but satisfying projects do.
Creation…purpose or evolution
Goa, India 25th November 2009
It must be some sort of mini record… 4 airports in 3 days…I flew from Paris back to Singapore on Monday, then from Singapore to Mumbai on Tuesday and from Mumbai to Goa this morning. (Our Goa hotel resort project is really taking shape and site presence is crucial to make sure that all is going to plan and specifications!) Though I try to minimise travel and optimise my stays to the max, at times the travel can’t be helped.
Now that I write this blog it forces me to look around even more then we as lighting designers already do. I now look around with much more intend, assessing lighting situations, noticing specific aspects of lighting, etc. So for the airports…Paris Charles de Gaulle is old (at least 30 years if I am not wrong) and still has most of its original lighting based on exposed low pressure sodium flood lights and fluorescent tubes. This contrasts enormously with Singapore’s Changi which continously upgrades its terminals and has made it a point to integrate lighting as part of a total interior concept, highly commercial in all its aspects. The latest technologies are being used including LED and daylighting. Mumbai International airport is being upgraded as we speak, but the newly opened areas still predominantly use basic old technology (fluorescent) lighting systems. Goa airport, which officially isn’t even a commercial airport, is a countryside event. Somehow the lighting seem a non event here, as local ambiance and culture seem to reign over any commercial aspect. Very different indeed! I feel that culture and way of life (like I wrote in a previous blog) permiates strongly in a country’s airport (lighting) design and quality. In Singapore no stone is left unturned to have the latest and the best…in Goa there is no intent in any design.. it just happened over the years according to needs… at least that is how it feels. In other words purposedly created for use versus created as a result of use. Cold versus warm? Clean versus character? Purpose versus evolution…
PS: I want to acknowledge Heinrich Kramer to be the first to post a comment on the blog! I am sure more will follow which will make this blog project an interesting and exciting adventure. Thanks Heinrich!
Re-inventing Fiber Optic Lighting
Singapore – Mumbai, 24th November 2009
About a decade ago Fiber Optic Lighting (FOL) was one of the leading, energy saving, lighting technologies around. It was the trendy and innovative lighting solution of the nineties. LED lighting was still far beyond the horizon. Many players launched themselves into manufacturing FOL solutions for all types of applications with some obvious benefits such as in showcases, museum displays, etc. Each major manufacturer had to have FOL systems in their product range to compete in the lighting market. But the highly specialized nature of FOL in the end created a market with only a very few specialized manufacturers (*).
But now, 10 years on, what has happened to the FOL manufacturers? How is the fast growing LED technology affecting their business? I was pleased to see that one of the FOL manufacturers that visited me today in Singapore to update me on their latest product developments, has taken up the gauntlet and has dived seriously into the LED challenge. But what pleased me most was their understanding that key to success is assuring the quality of the lighting effects such as the colour qualities and the beam qualities of the lighting. Initiallly developing LED alternative lighting solutions to their FOL systems, they are now in full R&D developing LED driven FOL systems. It is obvious that the challenge will be how to control the LED light beam into the fiber optic harness. I can’t wait to see the results. Gone will be the days of colour wheels (like the colour filters have mostly gone from traditional stage lighting). There are already laser driven FOL systems so I can only assume LED/FOL is just around the corner. A great example of re-inventing a technology.
Note (*): I am deliberately not mentioning any manufacturers in order to keep the blog neutral. I believe my fellow lighting designers will know who they are anyhow. ..also I do not wish to be seen as favoring one over an another.
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