Certification
Singapore, 23rd April 2014
One of the things we do as lighting designers and expert consultants is to verify and certify a design to standard compliance. This is specifically the case when it concerns highly sensitive projects which have high risk factors such as where (public or staff) safety and security are extremely important or performance tasks are critical; think of public transport, the mining and oil industry for instance. We are involved in one such project, very confidential in nature which requires the design to be delivered to full compliance of the applicable safety and security country standards. While the standard to which we have to design covers all aspects of relevant design, including air and temperature management, sound and noise control, chemical safety issues it also has a good part dedicated to lighting which we have to follow.
Because it is a specialised industry, the design standards are also fairly specific to the application and no doubt build on years of experience in the field. The challenge we have (and were given in this project) is to look past the technical standards and apply our experience in developing “human” spaces with the lighting. A far more challenging exercise than we thought. Not because it is difficult to apply, but because we are dealing with engineers who have no idea what we are talking about. Everything in this project is engineered to the detail and practically no-one understands what we mean when we talk about the 3-dimensional effects of lighting and how light interacts with colours and materials, let alone when we talk about mood lighting. We want the lighting to be harmoniously integrated in the architecture/ interior design, but we talk to engineers with no sense of creativity whatsoever.
We are used to work with plans, sections and elevations from interior designers and architects that give us a clear understanding of the space, here we deal with engineering drawings and because of confidentiality most drawings are unreferenced and undated…Trying to certify lighting levels and other lighting parameters when you hardly understand how the lighting has been integrated is a challenge by itself…at least for us in this project!
Light Watch 5-66: Lighting on industrial sites such as mines and oil rigs are generally purely practical and functional, with the main focus on providing safety and security for the tasks to be performed, with generally no attention to architectural integration, finesse, mood or ambiance. In some instances through attention to sustainability and most lately environment / natural habitat friendly lighting solutions.
Make a wish
Singapore, 22nd April 2014
We receive cold calls for lighting assistance all the time. Sometimes it comes through reference, sometimes through one of the internet links such as our website, LinkedIn, Facebook or even my blog. Quite often there are “charity” requests where our help is asked for a good cause but FOC of course. While I do help out from time to time and certainly help out some friends I generally shun away from it, not because I do not want to give to charity or support the needy, but more because I want be in control of the what, who and when. Once you start responding to these requests, you seem to end up on some “good-doer-list” and they keep chasing and calling you.
Last week I got a call from the Make-a-Wish foundation who have associated themselves with the Tall Ship (The Royal Albatross), one of the few if not only operational 4 mast sailing ships in the world. The association aims to high light the success of the make a wishes, which expects it’s thousands wish sometimes in the coming months. To celebrate the milestone the MaW foundation intents to illuminate the Royal Albatros, moured of Resorts World Sentosa’s Sea Aquarium in the days leading up to the milestone wish. As an exception to my own rules I went to have a look this morning together with my friend the “balloon man” to see how we could help achieve that. We will put our thinking hats on and see what we can come up with…
Light Watch 5-65: The ship is currently docked behind RWS aquarium at the pier facing mainland Singapore. The ship has great attention to details in all aspects including the lighting! LED technology has been used throughout including colourful scene sets and the light up of the sails. It apparently took 4 years to renovate the ship and at full capacity it can accommodate about 150 people. There are a couple of cabins and the captain and a few key crew actually live on board…here is a peek inside.
Love my tender
Singapore, 21th April 2014
In a pun on Elvis’ song “Love me tender” I reflect today on tender interviews that we conducted today for a major renovation. The thing with tenders is that it can be very messy and most of all very time consuming, specifically when you allow tenderers to quote alternatives to your base specifications. In this case we are allowing the tenderers to quote for alternatives as long as they submit a complete base tender as per specs. Why do I love this tender is because we are running out of time. The schedule for the renovation is so tight (What’s new?…!) that we basically have to decide and award today if we have to make the deadlines for commissioning the project. This renovation project is regarding a ballroom with international (!) functions already planned for a week after the commission deadline which is end of August. In other words we will need to award as soon as possible in consideration of lead delivery times for critical product items. Not only for lighting by the way.
With today’s round of questions and clarifications, the tenderers have been sent back to fill in the blanks for the final resubmission in a week’s time. We then have a couple of days to assess all the submissions and make out final recommendations for award. But the time is so tight for everyone involved, not only the contractor and suppliers who are tendering, but even the project team for assessing the submission and recommending award, that it is likely that there will be hardly any time available to prepare (tenderers) let alone review any alternative bids (project team). I therefore anticipate that this project will be as per specifications which means that we just need to make sure that the tenderers have comprehended all that is required (which we did today) and then review the final submission for our recommendation. Assuming that all will be as per specification it will come down to the bid price as well as the contractor/ suppliers experience to deliver the project within the deadlines requested…
Light Watch 5-64: Since we talk about time keeping, clock towers are famous around the world…some of them illuminated at night like the Bell Towers in Perth and of course the Big Ben in London…
Thousand and one litte things
Singapore, 17th April 2014
As we are about to start a long Easter Weekend with Good Friday tomorrow, I reflect on a day in which I have done a thousand and one things without really having the satisfied feeling of having accomplished or completed a lot. The contrary is probably true as it is exactly these thousand and one things that I had to do that have been nagging me over the last week or so since returning from Europe. Because they are small little things you tend to push them aside for later but in the end they all pile up and become a real obsession to do. There is never a better time then now is one of my motto’s when it comes to making a decision to do things and while I had been pushing it forward for days today turned out to be the day to clear (most of) them.
I won’t bother you with the details, but perhaps my blog can help you reflect on your own day and think about all the “little” things (lighting or not) that you managed to clear out of the way today. The thing with being busy with seemingly nothing is that the big thinks remain on your desk. It is not that I did not want to work on them but just that all these little things seemed to take over in terms of sudden priority…phone calls, meetings, urgent administrative paperwork and project emails, unexpected meetings and so on… and for once, with the long weekend ahead, I am planning NOT to work as I usually do during these weekends, so I imposed a sort of virtual deadline to myself to get some stuff out of the way before tomorrow. On Monday a long day of tender interviews awaits me…better enjoy the long weekend while I can 🙂
Light Watch 5-63: Whatever you will be doing this long weekend, a dinner or other, have fun and just while you are at it, look at the lighting…perhaps you will find something inspiring …
Blood Moon
Singapore, 16th April 2014
Many parts of the world, from America via Singapore to Australia, were able to experience the so called Blood Moon, a celestial event that happens rarely. It happens when the full moon travels through Earth’s shadow turning it a reddish orange. Light from the sun that reaches the moon passes through Earth’s atmosphere and as the scientists explain the colour of the moon is determined by the amount of volcanic ash and other aerosols present in the atmosphere. This phenomenon has given rise to many prophecies over time, specifically biblical meanings mostly in terms of indicating the end of the world…but, many blood moons later, the world is still here with clear scientific explanations on how it happens.
What is interesting from a lighting point of view is that it shows that lighting and its resulting effect can be affected by the medium it travels through. In this case the particles in the air influence the path of light and its refraction through the air. In other cases it is light when it travels through water. Well known is the breaking of light through a prism, an image famously used on Pink Floyd’s album “the Other Side of the Moon”, which title in this context is rather appropriate…
While we generally design light as being a pure form we always have to realise that light travels through air, through water, through translucent materials and what is more reflect from objects and materials with different reflection properties varying from smooth polished to matt diffuse surfaces which can each have different colours. Understanding these “natural” effects are important and part of the way we manipulate light to create the desired lighting effect in our designs.
Light Watch 5-62: The Blood Moon as we saw it…
Supplier specifications sensitivity
Singapore, 15th April 2014
This is and always shall be a sensitive subject. We all reach a stage in our design process where we have to actually specify the light fittings for our project. Today is such day where I am combing through some lighting specifications that we are about to submit for one of our projects. The selection process of light fittings is driven by many factors.
First some of the light fittings or systems are a given right from the start; we design around them because of their appeal, their specific performance, physical appearance or lighting effect. They are a feature by themselves and we therefore introduce the fixture already in the concept stages and develop its use and application along the way. The specification is then a given because it’s an integral part of the concept and alternatives are unlikely to have the same impact.
Then there are the light fittings, generally architectural and technical, that are generic at the time of concept but which at some point in the process needs to be converted into an actual product specification. We have our range of preferred and proven brands and product suppliers with whom we have worked in the past and which we know deliver the quality in both product and services. I note that we apply equal importance to the quality of a product as to the (local) supplier’s ability to service both product and client. In our opinion the product is as good as the people who service it.
However in our world of lighting design there is a perception that if you insist (too) strongly on a specific brand and/or supplier in your specifications you must be in with the supplier or manufacturer. As a professional lighting designer we cannot have our specifications or judgements clouded by such alliance. While we pride ourselves on our excellent relationships with the suppliers and manufacturers we work with, we make sure that our specifications are open and professional.
Light Watch 5-61: While we are working our brains on the final light fitting selections, work on site just keeps going. With today’s mobile phone on board camera’s and the internet, you can update the whole project team on the site progress in virtual reality. We just received some of the pics below from one of our projects, we can actually see the power point provisions for our lighting…
Tailoring our deliverables
Singapore, 14th April 2014
The risk we have as a small practice with multiple projects is that you can easily fall into repetition. Deadlines are here to stay so when under time pressure there is always that recourse to “cut and paste” from previous projects with near similar requirements. I have been submerged into some tender documentation for one of our projects, but while it bears a lot of resemblance to another recent project I needed to meticulously comb through the document bit by bit to make sure the contents was project specific and certain technical requirements were properly tailored to the demands of this project.
When you are in a rush, you easily fall in complacency and it wouldn’t be the first time we refer to requirements, conditions or standards that relate to say India while the document is actually meant for a project in Malaysia or Australia for the matter. The interesting part is that you may read sections several times and still when you re-read it much later on (often after you have already sent it to your client) you still see blatant errors! It seems that we are at times visually impaired even with full brain presence!
As it happened over the weekend I read an article that claimed that what you see is probably what you saw up to 15 seconds ago! Researchers from the Concordia University in Montreal published their study in an online forum called Nature Neuroscience. It seems that our brain performs “visual smoothing” to create a more stable view of our environment. Our eyes are bombarded continuously with a cacophony of visual information. Millions of colours, shapes and ever changing motions, yet you can easily absorb and “see” things. What the brain apparently does is taking a snapshot averaged over a certain time, which according to the researchers can add up to about 15 seconds! This means is that what you actually see is a time-averaged composition of the past and now, sacrificing some accuracy in the process. I am quite sure that we miss certain things this way on top of the fact that we at times psychologically condition ourselves not to see things. How can it be there if we believe it isn’t…I heard that it is one of the reasons proof readers are taught to read backwards… 🙂
Light Watch 5-60: Probably the most dominant laws of perception are the Gestalt Laws developed in the Bauhaus period in Germany…we make use of it in our lighting design on a daily basis!
The Ante room…
Singapore, 11th April 2014
Today we are presenting to the big bosses of one of our hotel projects. It’s D-day so to speak and a long row of consultants will be presenting their design progress one after another during the day. In the meanwhile we are waiting for our turn in the “ante room”. It is nearly like a tender interview…you are wondering what awaits you, what the ambience will be like. While a timing has been set you never know how well people stick to it and most of the time the actual time slots are overrun. For someone like me who does not like waiting, it is kind of excruciating as you want to make yourself useful while waiting but at the same time you want to remain alert for your turn when it comes.
Presentation is all about presence of mind and focus. Tune in to the mood of the meeting and adjust your presentation to what you feel they want or need. Yes I have my presentation ready and am confident about our progress and direction of work, however meetings have a tendency to run their own course so I need to be ready to improvise and adjust to the mood and clients needs of the moment. We are about to go in shortly…the mind is going thousand and one directions…let’s see how it works out, what mood they are in after the previous presenter!
In the end it was a walk in the park…the client, already tired from a whole morning of presentations, wanted it to be done and over with in the shortest of time. What the client really wanted was a re-assurances that all is progressing well and that all their needs and wants are being addressed, something I have learned to integrate in my presentations. Make it easy to follow, outline the situation, describe the direction you are taking the lighting design and then show how the design concept addresses all their requirements (and more!). Don’t loose your self into details…I had the impression our presentation was experienced as a breath of fresh air, short, concise while clearly outlaying any issues on which we had concerns and that needed (and received) immediate feedback. We were out of the meeting room in no time with satisfied faces all around…another day at the office 🙂
Light Watch 5-59: We have done quite some hotels over the years, here are some of the hotel lobbies we did where waiting is also common practice…have a great weekend.
Back to reality…
Singapore, 10th April 2014
After having taken a few days of to spend some time with my parents in Holland after L+B, I am now back in our office in Singapore and back to the reality of the day. Project deadlines and deliverable works, travel planning for site visits and just catching up with everything! I have been out of the office for practically 2 weeks and the world of projects (lighting design) does not stop and wait for you to come back! So my first action this morning was to call the team together and go through all projects and administrative issues that had backed up during our absence. Not to forget that we have now signed off on a new office lease, which will see us move to a nice new office (bigger and better, to serve you better as they say) in two weeks’ time, so you can imagine the extra pressure there as well…It is only when you move that you realise how much “stuff” there is, physically and also organisation wise, but it seems that part is well under control.
Project wise we are reaching a time in the year that many clients want us to come to site to wrap up project issues before the first half of the year is over, which comes hand in hand with heaps of deliverables all to be completed and submitted over the next couple of weeks…a happy problem I guess, because most the time deliverables mean that we can invoice! It means good planning and most of all good communication, internally between the team (we all help each other) and externally towards the project team and client; managing expectations as I often refer to.
For me it means that I hit the ground running straight from stepping out of the plane this morning…never mind the jetlag 🙂
Light Watch 5-58: When you fly you see things from a different perspective, a different angle and mostly in different colours and surroundings. It is good to do that with work as well…step out and look at it from above…a more total view…it helps to get a different perspective on life/ work and things in general! Holland from the sky…
Light & Build, the aftermath (Italy)…
Italy, 4th April 2014
On the back of our L+B visit we flew to Venice, Italy, for a workshop/visit to Linea Light, one of the lighting manufacturers that we have started to work with but had till now not much knowledge off. In our line of work we deem it necessary to really understand the people and the philosophy behind the products and hence the visit. We took the opportunity to visit the factory and most of all understand the level of quality control that is being applied to assure the durability of the products. The reliability is not only important for us but also for the manufacturer themselves as it gives them strength and back up in providing their warranty to the client, something we feel is critical in this day and age of LED lighting.
The factory and head office is close to Treviso and Castelfranco, which has some old historic buildings from centuries ago. While the direct discussions were meaningful for our current projects, the Italian countryside and cultural history certainly helped in our motivation. I always find it amazing how a small company that started at one point of time from a farmer’s shed in a rural country setting manages to grow to a world force with products used by lighting designers around the world. And while they inevitably have developed their component supply chains from countries like China (to remain competitive) they still manage to stay true to their origin with the headoffice still strongly entrenched in rural Italy, with nearby Venice (Italy’s 3rd airport) and Genoa as their gateway to the world and the snow-topped Alps visible in the back ground. I am told it is a little under 2 hours to ski-able slopes in the Alps and little under 1 hour to the Mediterranean beach. All that nestled in mostly agricultural land that produces the famous bubbly Prosecco wine…while we had some really good meetings and discussions, all that did not go without the obligatory pizza’s, pasta’s, Mozzarella’s, Parma ham and cheeses and the Prosecco…as the finale to our L+B trip we will visit Venice (bucket list destination 🙂 ) tomorrow before the team will be returning back to the office to attend to our projects with renewed knowledge and inspiration…to our clients; thanks for your patience!
Light Watch 5-57: Impressions from our day in Italy…
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