KLD wins IES Lighting Design Award!
Perth, 17th October 2014
Tonight was the IES Lighting Awards night in Western Australia and our project, the Murdoch Art Wall was the proud recipient of a Lighting Design Award. I did not participate in Lighting Design awards for a long time but winning the award tonight gave me back that taste of participating in these events. We have a couple of other nice projects that we can put up for awards and I will follow up on that over the next few weeks. The IES of Australia and New Zealand, WA Chapter, organises the awards every two years. Our art wall project was a cooperation between Rick Vermey the artist and conceptualiser of the project and KLD as the lighting designers. While simple on the outset the project required quite a number of challenges to be overcome. The public lighting installation needed to be safe and done in such way to discourage any vandalism. The lighting had to be environment friendly, to minimise light spill and consume minimal energy which was achieved through the low energy LED fixtures and the clever integration into the artwork installation. This aspect is important for public perception that money is well spent and the installation built in a very considerate way.
Of great importance was also that the lighting effects were not distracting the traffic, hence any colour changing and effects were designed to coincide with traffic movement and of such inconspicuous nature with changes occurring very gradually. This obviously caught the eye of the judges in awarding the price to this project. Thanks also to Main Roads, the client, to putting in th extra dollars to make this happen as well as IGuzzini and Mondoluce for their great support in realising this project. As always good results are the fruit of great team work, thanks to all!
Light Watch 5-176: The award night at Perth’s Crown Casino tonight….
The process of lighting design
Perth, 16th October 2014
Most of my presentations are about specific subjects or lighting applications, my experiences etc. while in my earlier days I used to present more basic lighting issues, one of the most core subjects being the actual design process itself. Over the next 10 days I will have three presentations to do, two in Chongqing, China, and one in Hong Kong on different subjects. For one of them I have been asked to present my thoughts on the design process itself and quite frankly it is a subject that is crucial to the success of each and every process. We now do it with our eyes closed because we have gone through the process many, many times. It is like swimming or driving, once you have learned it you never forget. You hone your skills along the way and wile you keep learning and refining the process, the basic core process remains the same.
First of all there is no design process without a client and while the ideal client is one that gives you artistic freedom, is easy on the deadlines and pays you well, the reality is that they are hard to find, certainly when you just start your business. Once you are established you find that most projects come to you through referral as your name and track record is out there for everyone to see. So once you have found your project client, you need to put together the fee proposal which is the foundation of a successful relationship. Here again you learn over the years from the mistakes and the shortcomings in your proposal or contract. But once these are all signed, sealed and delivered you can finally start the process of designing.
The process of designing will take you through the various stages of work. First you will create the lighting design concept, your brainchild that hopefully will entice your client happiness and approval following which you can then develop the concept into details. This stage will require intense coordination and consultation with the rest of the team, culminating in technical documentation and specifications suitable to call tender for supply and install. Later as the works on site progress you will find yourself regularly on site to ensure your design is implemented properly and to specifications. The last but not least you supervise and direct the final testing and commissioning before handing over to your client.
Light Watch 5-175: The process of proposal, design and implementation…
Site inspection
Perth, 15th October 2014
Today I went to site to inspect progress of work. Not so much of the review I described yesterday, this was more to inspect and assess for myself how work is moving forward. This also to get a good feel of when the installation is going to be completed so I can plan my availability for the final testing and commissioning. The tender was recently awarded and now a few weeks later the light fittings have arrived and the actual installation has begun. We are currently working. Always good to pop in on site as there are always little details that need a tweak. Even though this is a relatively small and simple project (we are lighting up a rocky cliff face in Fremantle) I still found some small issues to correct. I spoke to the site installation contractor to let him know and then straight away popped in to speak to the city’s project manager to inform him of the rectification required. While fairly minor it has the potential to be very visible as it involves the orientation and location of lights that will affect the overall lighting coverage of the rock cliff.
Out of principle we always have to assume the worse being that the contractor just blindly follows drawings and specifications and that anything that logically does not seem to fit is not noticed by them. They are not paid to “think”, they are paid to execute and if the specifications says to install it straight, even if it looks wrong, they just do it. Not all contractors are like that and some of them will feedback to you that we may want to have a look at it as it looks wrong, but most of the time if you don’t come to site and highlight this they just follow the specifications, after all you are the expert, so you know what you are doing. Unfortunately we are human too and we specify to the best of our knowledge which may be 95% correct, but there is always this small percentage that needs adjustment to site conditions. As was the case today, a minor adjustment to execute, one that needed the lighting designer to notice and advise, but very important for the final end result.
Light Watch 5-174: The site installation in progress…
Site review
Perth, 14th October 2014
The thing with all these trips to project sites is that you need to report back to the team on what you saw, what you didn’t see (!) and what needs to be done. Site trips albeit to exotic locations such as Bali or Goa are not holiday trips, you are paid a fee as well as having your travel and accommodation reimbursed (in my case often business class travel) to provide professional feedback about the progress and quality of the lighting installation. Site installation contractors do their work as good as the briefing and documentation that you provide them, but language barriers and cultural differences may as well as a variation of different personal or corporate interests (to put it diplomatically) often result in different interpretations then what was intended. Hence regular site visits by the lead design consultants serves as a safeguard to assure that the end result is as close as possible to the approved design specifications.
Many things on site can go wrong. First of all we often discover that works on site are using an older version of your drawings, in other words the latest design changes have not yet trickled down to the workers on site. When it comes t lighting we also find that the contractor is using the interior design or architects drawings for the lighting and while they most of the time have integrated our design in their drawings, some of them don’t always go the length to actually update their drawings thinking that the site contractor will use our lighting drawings to assure themselves to get it right. This has often resulted in missing details and architectural lighting provisions. If we discover that to late getting it remedied is often an uphill task.
Checking the locations and provisions for the lighting before the lighting is installed are crucial too. While not easy you can see from the cabling and conduits laid that lighting points are being addressed. We checked it out for the landscaping and guestrooms in Goa. It was well planned and organised (a rarity in Asia). But we also discovered that some areas had been forgotten or not yet provided for. Our site visit allowed us to point this out and clarify the lighting intent for several areas.
The review of the mock up room for the guestrooms was extremely useful as we had one executed as specified and the other with alternatives. Mistakes, wrong installation and incorrect wiring were some of the issues we managed to. The overall lighting effect was close to expectation giving us good hopes of a great end result…for now we are preparing our site review report to assure proper follow up.
Light Watch 5-173: Some more pictures of the site and the mock up room…
In transit
Singapore, 13th October 2014
I made it back safely to Singapore yesterday and spent the morning in transit in the office before jetting off to Perth tonight. On my way back I was in transit in Mumbai and enjoyed its new airport that I believe has been in the making for the last 10 years or so it seems that there was construction going on forever and even now they are not finished yet. Airports are being renovated and build around the world to cater for the new demands of modern travel. Goa’s airport was also renewed even though it is clear to see that many do not have the proper budgets to finish it off to proper detail and workmanship like Changi Airport for instance. In Goa’s departure hall we are still looking at standard T5 fittings in the ceiling of which 20% wasn’t even working. But the pressures are great so airports (like the new one in Bali for instance) start operating regardless. In Bali they used the opportunity to increase the departure airport tax with more than 50%! Let’s not forget its still a business that needs to make money. Also most people in airports are in transit anyhow…most of them may not even have time to notice! In case of Mumbai the transformation is noticeable a huge improvement. But for some things they still don’t get it right. You still hhave to walk for miles and the signage is also everything but easy and clear. A pictogram depicting a plane crashing into the ground is not necessarily the most obvious sign to indicate where the arrival hall is!
Meanwhile why in Goa I did meet some suppliers as I am always eager to learn more from local suppliers and manufacturers. One of them I met is a new local start up Indian LED manufacturer (though admittedly some of his production is not surprisingly done in China) with above expectation type quality fixtures. Supported with IES files, test certificates, Dialux calculations and proper data cut sheets I was suitably impressed. This manufacturer also had developed wireless/ contactless LED units that can be popped in/out of their housing without the need for any connections. Based on induction technology the power is transmitted without contact points and combined with a full cover rubber seal skin, the products achieves IP68 without problem, making it very suitable specifically for under water fixtures. The housing can be popped into the architectural structure, being a pool or other water feature and at a later time, you just pop in the LED head without the need for any wiring…an excellent innovation.
Light Watch 5-172: Some pictures of the induction based LED light fixtures.
Site progress
Goa, 10th October 2014
Today, till Sunday (yes we do work over the weekend at times 🙂 ) we are on site to coordinate the progress of the site installation works. This is where design meets reality. This is where all the dreams from the past few years are turned into a physical reality. This is where we see how good our experience and anticipation has been, because really this is the moment where you find out whether you had a good understanding of the site and most of all where you find out whether the contractor understood your design intent and specifications. It generally is a fine moment because you have the concepts and plans all in your head and you start seeing it turn into a real 3 dimensional space.
We started the day with a site inspection, the landscaping with our landscape design colleagues which is being followed by architecture and interiors including a review of the mock up room. While no lights have been installed yet (except in the mock up room) the site inspection is to confirm that the site works follow the design as close as possible and to make sure that the quality of installation is up to par. A lot of the electrical work at a later stage is hidden from view making it hard for us to see how the cables are run, how the conduits are placed and how the lighting positions will work with lights later to be installed. For instance wall recessed lights will need a recess to fit, is it enough after finishes have been applied, when it comes to pool and water feature lights lighting and waterproofing is to be considered and so on. We also have a separate meeting with our electrical colleague to see how possibly we can simplify or regroup some of the lights for easier electrical looping and control. Our design is detailed as much as possibly can be foreseen but once you are on site you get the real feel of the “nuts and bolts”. Flexibility and adaptation skills are required at this point and that is also why now regular site visits will be crucial to pre-empt any site issues, avoid miss-installations and adapt to unforeseen site situations. This is very hard to do from behind your desk. As works are progressing fast we have already scheduled our next visit! Soon!
Light Watch 5-171: These site pictures give you a feel of the progress. Work is in full flight, most of all the quality of workmanship is surprisingly high and neat, certainly considering the speed of progress! But the usual site features (floodlight to a tree, loose electrical wires/fixes, tractor trailer with site generator) are all there of course. We checked…they are using our latest drawing. Enjoy the view as well! Have a great weekend.
Making it personal
Mumbai – Goa, 9th October 2014
The next few days I am in India (again). This morning I had a meeting with a new potential client, one of the biggest and most respected property developers in India. As the company is growing and their projects becoming more prestigious they feel that they need to assure themselves of a pool of international and experienced professional design consultants, lighting designers included. Hence my time spent in Mumbai this morning to introduce our company in a face to face meeting. We had communicated by mail till now but I felt that the personal meeting was important as in the future our cooperation if successful will very much depend on the direct personal support and relationship. This cannot be built from a distance behind a desk. The same will be the case should we be selected for one of their projects, we will need to proactively communicate and support the client and the project team.
Meanwhile I have arrived in Goa for a 3 day site visit, coordination with landscape and architect/interior design and review of the mock up room together with the hotel operator. We checked into a reasonable countryside hotel outside Panjim not to far from the project site. The rooms are spacious, but electricity and internet are intermittent with power dropping out once in a while…typical for this type of locations. Not even sure if I can upload my blog later as the internet is really slow (at least there is internet), but I will at least write the blog…see later. Meetings starts tomorrow but because of the limited flight options we decided to come in the day before so we are now relaxing and catching up on our emails, etc., perhaps a dip in the hotel pool later. This trip to Goa is also personal. We are here to meet the rest of the team. While we have been coordinating and communicating intensively over the last few months to progress the project as good as possible, the personal meeting is crucial to move this to the next level. Nothing beats the direct personal interaction.
Light Watch 5-170: Meanwhile I was reminded to the direct simplicity of light switching. This hotel does not have anything like upscale dimming panels. Just straight forward switches and manual rotator wall dimmers. The switch panel in the lobby is a piece of art…you dont see that so often anymore. But Led has made it here as well, with wall sconces converted into small LED spots for artwork and original E14 picture lights converted in to LED upgrades…somehow I find it refreshing…
LED lighting gets Nobel Prize!
Singapore, 7th October 2014
The big and unique news of today is that the 2014 Nobel Prize for Physics has been awarded to a trio of scientists in Japan and the US for the “invention of blue light emitting diodes”. Professors Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura discovered a way to create blue light emitting diodes (LEDs) in the 90’s, something that everyone else had failed to achieve. This enabled to create the new generation of white energy saving lights including LED screens and the like. The red and green LED’s had been around for much longer but the creation of blue light was essential for furthering the technology allowing to mix the colours for the creation of general lighting, TV screens, etc. The Nobel Price to awarded long after the actual invention, but the price was awarded to recognise usefulness and the enormous contribution it made as a benefit to mankind.
The interesting thing is that many big companies tried to develop the blue light but did not succeed. These guys kept trying and eventually found the way to do it. The key ingredient to create blue was gallium nitride. The report said that being able to grow big enough crystals was the key achieved by prof Akasaki and Amano when they worked at the Nagoya University. They did this by growing them on a specially designed scaffold made partly from sapphire. Not long thereafter Prof Nakamura made a similar breakthrough while working at Nichia (now one of the leading LED manufacturers). He achieved it by manipulating temperature to boost the growth of these important crystals.
One of the key parts of the citation explains how the use of LED in lighting potentially will help reduce the carbon footprint for lighting which currently accounts for about 20% of the world’s electricity to around 4% only,. Also LED lighting, because of their low energy demand, could potentially help more than 1.5 billion people who have no access to electricity grids to lighting by running the LED lamps on cheap local solar power.
To my knowledge it is the first time that a Nobel Prize has been awarded to a lighting related subject. I think the award to the inventors of the blue Led that subsequently made all our LED lighting possible certainly deserves this recognition…
Light Watch 5-169: The Nobel Prize winners as officially announced on the Nobel Prize website (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2014/press.html)
Also a link to the Sydney Morning Herald with a video of one of the award winning professors (http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/nobel-prize-for-physics-goes-to-inventors-of-lowenergy-led-light-20141007-10rm03.html)
Pictures from the website
Master planning ahead
Hainan-Singapore, 6th October 2014
As I am on my way back to Singapore after a few days in Hainan I look back on a couple of fruitful days. As usual I missed a public holiday (it was Hari Raya something in Singapore yesterday), but the joy was not less as I met a new client an spent some time taking in the new site earmarked for the project. It is still government land but my client has obtained the rights to develop it. It is always nice to be part of the birth of a project rather then come in after a few years. We always say to our client that it is never too early to appoint your lighting designer, well in this case it can’t be any earlier as no one has yet officially been appointed. The first to be appointed will be the project manager and he will be tasked to develop the master plan first with a key team of expert. I was present at his invitation as we had already been working on other projects together and we really trust and respect each other very much, hence his request for me to be part of the team from day one.
What is nice to get in at the very beginning is that you really get the feel of the site before anything is being developed. You may ask what it is to me as a lighting designer but knowing the site in its original and natural conditions, totally undeveloped with only the rural farmers and the undisturbed fauna and wildlife is quite special. I am a nature person and having seen the site will surely inspire me later on as we start developing the master plan and the concepts and design approaches for the project.
Light Watch 5-167: The site is in the hilly mountains not far away from Lingshui, north of Sanya, which coast is also known as the pearl coast of Hainan for its thriving pearl industry. From the pictures you will get a feel of this area, its still rough natural terrain and “wild life” but most of all its beautiful sights! I am looking forward to this project.
Putting a face to a name
Singapore 3rd October 2014
I think we all have this moment where we finally put a face to a name…In the world we work in we often start working on a project where we communicate with a name; be it the project manager, the interior designer, the architect or even the project administrator. But even in peripheral activities sideways connected to your project business like your banker, your accountant or your travel agent. Many times the first contact is through phone or email and actual face to face meetings do not happen to much further along the line if they do happen at all, specifically if you work on overseas projects. If I can I will check people out on LinkedIn (I’m not such a Facebook person) to get some visual as I am a very visual person. When you read someone’s email or you hear some one’s voice you immediately associate that with something; young or old, fat or not, long or short, fashionable or not, nice or difficult, etc. I guess we all reference that against our experiences and memories. I have certain memories and experiences with peoples first names, so whenever is encounter someone with such name it immediately flashes back to those experiences and somehow the brain thinks they must be the same. Nothing is less true of course and the person that you thought was fat and old turns out to be young and beautiful. Specifically someone’s voice can be quite deceiving…
Today I had two meetings with people I had spoken on the phone with over the past week and of course formed an opinion…it was nice and refreshing to meet them today in person and as to be expected I was totally wrong about nearly everything. They both however were bright and clever, something that I had picked up…in any case it was great to finally but a face to the name…
Light Watch 5-167: On the spur of the subject I went to google some beautiful faces which features really come out with good and special lighting. Beauty is a gift, lighting is an art…have a great weekend
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