Light & Build, Thursday
Frankfurt, 3rd April 2014
As I wait for one of the few flights out of Frankfurt on this day were I understand that nearly 1000 Lufthansa flights are cancelled, I reflect back on this year’s L+B. The lounge is practically empty, there is hardly any activity at the airport and some TV media crew are hanging around on standby to provide their network a feedback should anything happen.
L+B 2014 will probably go down as the year where LED’s are reaching maturity. Outputs have reach passed the 100 lm/W, with colour consistency and quality probably one of the key factors on which the main manufacturers are competing amongst each other. In terms of applications there are probably two directions; the one that consolidates the LED qualities in terms of performances and reliability within the conventional architectural lighting systems and the other where manufacturers are trying to be more adventurous in design and creation by exploring the actual qualities of LED in terms of its compactness and beam control abilities, that of course in combination with its RGB capacities. IGuzzini’s latest innovation (Trick) uses LED light sandwiched between two discs creating a s60 degree beam of light. A truly innovative design with many opportunities to create something special in any architectural environment.
My quest for conventional systems expanded to the other Hall’s today, notable the decorative and urban lighting systems. Not surprisingly, most urban lighting systems have now fully converted to LED technology, one bigger, brighter and better than the other. It is however in the decorative fixtures that you will still find conventional halogen lamps, mostly with G-base type lamp bases rather then E-base types. But here also LED is penetrating at rapid pace with LED filament lamps making some waves now.
Overall I am leaving the fair with some mixed feelings. I am impressed by the enormous developments and progress in the LED technology and basically there is now a LED solution for any application. What does scare and worry me is that it seems to come with an unnecessary complication and complexity. It feels like manufacturers in order to justify the (still) high costs of LED technology by making the technology complex and complicated to use by offering so many options and alternatives that you need an MBA degree to understand what LED is suitable for what. It is already difficult for the average Joe to get his/her head around LED lighting (in terms of comparative performance and qualities) by offering so many options and diversifications it makes you even more dependable on the “specialists”, in other words make us even more dependable on the manufacturers sales people to tell us what we “need”. I for one, with all my years of experience in lighting am not sure if I like this development…
Light Watch 5-56: On this final day at the fair I am sharing the more adventurous side of (O)LED…
Light & Build, Wednesday
Frankfurt, 2nd April 2014
The spectre of the Icelandic volcano outburst that grounded many of the fair-goers for days last time around is hanging over us again! This time it is the country wide strike of Lufthansa pilots, resulting at more than 4000 flights cancelled over the coming days. People that rely on Lufthansa, which are many, are now scrambling to find alternative ways for transport. I am due on a (Lufthansa) flight to Venice tomorrow and our flight has been cancelled… L. We are now rerouting the trip and hopefully it will all work out tomorrow…
Today at the fair was “me-day”. I had two short project meetings in the morning but after 11 I decided to take the rest of the day “off” and actually visit the fair…boy, do I feel it…my feet are definitely not smiling! Before I give you a run down through my fair snapshots, I do wish to update you on my pursuit, because I did find some companies (including Osram) who still openly promote new generation conventional lighting mostly fluorescent and gas discharge. Wevre & Ducre also have actual fixtures for filament lamps! In Hall 4 I found a number of stands still promoting the professional theatre stage lighting lamps. What was new to me were a number of companies now offering LED filament lamps! In other words the same good old incandescent design with visible filaments, only difference being these filaments are actually LED wire technology! If you cant beat them join them, they must have thought…so my conclusion is that most leading lighting companies are to afraid to be seen promoting “old” technology, even though many of them still carry some conventional lighting in their catalogues…ok, if you insist we still have some. At the same time there seems to be a new trend towards re-creating the filament incandescent feel with LED filament lamps…is there hope? LED lighting is becoming so technical and complex (so created by the manufacturers, you now need a masters degree in technology to actually understand what you are doing!) that just simple incandescent (like) lighting would be a blessing.
Light Watch 5-55: Day 3 in images, they mostly speak for them selves…general shots, trends, conventional…
Light & Build, Tuesday
Frankfurt, 1st April 2014
My second day at the fair was a real interesting mixed bag of experiences. I continued my pursuit in search of NON-LED light fittings but basically the story continues to be the same…no-one really can’t be bothered showing any conventional lighting technology and if they do, it is only to show of how “good” the LED lighting is. At one of the major manufacturers lighting stand a metal halide high bay light was shown in promotion of its smaller but apparently much “better” LED brother. However the only thing that was highlighted was the little energy required (150W instead of 400W) to achieve similar lighting results. It was said the light output was the same (even though I felt that the metal halide was brighter. On my enquiry about cost difference and return on investment I drew a complete blank. The representative was so pre-programmed to sell the “advantages” of LED that she was incapable of replying to such basic questions. It was the only conventional light source on the whole stand which covers about 1/3 of Hall 1!
In the afternoon I attended with much anticipation the IALD/PLDA meeting and not surprisingly the emotions specifically from angry, frustrated and let-down PLDA members run high. The idea of the meeting really was to look ahead. PLDA is no more and looking back at the history on how it came to be really is water under the bridge, or as someone put it, you can’t make an omelette from scrambled eggs… The fact is that as professional designers we have a need to have a professional credibility and the IALD right now is the only organisation that provides that and assures that professional standards are adhered and referred to. I for one have no issue of converting my PLDA membership to the IALD. And if you feel that IALD is not providing the support or infra-structure that you like, the only way to change that is from the inside, not from the side lines. If in the future there are moves to recreate a Europe based lighting association perhaps out of the ashes of PLDA, I will give it my full support, but if we are ever to reach that point, lessons need to be learned from this failure to make sure we do not fall in the same situation again.
Light Watch 5-54: Day 2 at the fair…impressions and the inevitable after hour parties…I started with the Xicato party, always good for some fun and ended the night with the launch party of Coelux, a revolutionary daylighting technology company that has developed a lighting system that can recreate the day to the exact latitude or longitude conditions, from Santorini in Greece in the summer, to Alaska in the US in the winter…it felt amazingly real.
Light + Build, Monday
Frankfurt, 31st March 2014
On my first day on the fair I decided to set myself a task to follow during my visit to Light & Build. Over the last couple of years the development of LED has been so overwhelming, perhaps even frightening that it seems to me that many manufacturers have forgotten that just a few years ago we had some great lighting technologies. Now branded “old” or “conventional” (versus “new” and “sustainable”) what used to be our main stream lighting technology in lighting design, read incandescent, fluorescent and metal halide, seems to have vanished from the earth. It is now LED left, right and centre to the extent that you wonder did the “old” lighting technology ever exist.
Manufacturers seem to be afraid to show case any old technology fear of being seen as being behind the pack. While I certainly am curious to see how the LED technology is developing, my focus of interest will be to find new “old” technology products…As you know on a first day you mostly wander around to get a feel of this year’s fair, you meet old friends and you spent a lot of time caching up with them and what’s going on in the lighting business. Much of that today…
My catch phrase on entering a stand this year is: “Do you have any new NON-LED lighting products on show”?…so far I have mostly received blank faces on my question, some wondering whether I am for real…some confessing that they still have “old” technology products in their catalogues and even admitting there is still a big market for it, but just don’t see the point of showing it. Well my point is that there are indeed still heaps of projects and countries around the world were new generation “old” technology has a serious place and role to play. To solely focus on LED technology seem nearly socially irresponsible, certainly when you know at what sort of prices LED technology is being rammed down our throat! That together with all the blown up (and often unrealistic!) sales talk that has you believe that if you have not switched to LED yet you are well behind time… 🙁
Light Watch 5-53: Light + Build is often characterised by the events surrounding the fair, like the Luminale, the get-togethers, the after hours drinks… but the event of the day has to be IGuzzini’s unveiling of the new lighting of Frankfurt’s Haupt Bahnhof, Germany’s largest train station. The more than a century old façade got a lighting make over using; you guessed it …LED technology. The event was watched by a more then 300 strong crowd from the auditorium at level 31 of the DB Tower, the HQ of the Deutsche Bundesbahn. The unveiling of the lighting was preceded with an electric presentation about light and architecture by world renowned architect Daniel Liebeskind, the architect who won the competition to rebuild Ground Zero in New York where once the WTC Twin Towers stood until that fatal day now known as 9-11. His passionate talk impressed on us that light is not only a physical element but that it has heart, soul and emotion and that whenever we design with light we need to integrate this abstract aspect of lighting into the architecture that we set out to light up… we don’t often get to listen to masters…
Light & Build the preparations
Singapore, 27th March 2014
I am about to fly off to Europe tonight to attend Light & Build next week with a short stop in Holland first to visit my parents over the weekend, but before I can do so there are always heaps of things to do, last minute meetings, last minute project issues and last but nor least getting yourself ready to go! I have been attending the fair since the early 80’s so this must be about my 15th time going there. It is one of the few events I have religiously attended every single time (it’s every two years, hence the 15 times) and I always look out to the event. Not only because of the latest lighting technology on show but even more because of the social networking that happens around the fair. During the year we keep close taps with the manufacturers so we are more or less aware of what is coming in terms of the latest innovations, though some manufacturers keep their new products close to their chest so they can reveal them as a premiere in Frankfurt.
It is specifically the social functions, the after fair events that allow you to catch up with your peers and colleagues in the industry, some of them like me, who have come to the fair for over 30 years. It used to be in Hanover when I first went in the eighties before moving to Frankfurt at the turn of the century. It is the chats on the side lines with the colleagues in the lighting industry that often brings you up to speed with what’s happening in lighting land. Who left which company and joined where, who was doing well and who is in trouble, the latest gossip so to say. It is a small world after all, but in my opinion a very friendly world. In terms of colleagues in the business we are mostly friendly competitors, we meet at events, occasionally meet at project interviews when we happen to bid for the same project, but otherwise it’s all good and because there is plenty for all we don’t really compete cut-throat with each other…at least that is not my experience. And as to the manufacturers and suppliers, we all need each other and as we have an open door policy towards them they regularly come to our office to update or service us as needed, so meeting them in Frankfurt is generally happy affair.
Right now we are all about ready to go, we have our flight tickets, our hotel accommodation all organised and have scooped up the many entry tickets made available by the manufacturers to secure our entry to the fair. I will report back from the fair on Monday! For those who are going to Frankfurt, hope to see you there!
Light Watch 5-52: More information on the website including reports on the last event in 2012
http://light-building.messefrankfurt.com/frankfurt/en/besucher/willkommen.html
It’s all in the details
Singapore, 26th March 2014
I spent a good part of my day trying to make sense of the drawings and (so called) details that were sent to me as base information to develop my lighting design. The project is highly confidential and obtaining information despite signing NDA (non-disclosure agreements) has been a huge challenge for the last few months, yes months! We know what the project is supposed to be, but as we are only involved in a part of it we have not been issued overall drawings, just the specific location drawings. But for us to make sense of the space (it is non-existing and yet to be build) we need as much 3 dimensional info as possible. In other words we need the floor plans which indicates the space planning and its intended use ( we design for people, not for lux meters), the reflected ceiling plan so we have an idea of what’s in there and what the design intent is, then we need the elevations showing how the various interior design components integrate with the architectural envelope and finally any sectional details that tells us how lighting can be integrated in the proposed interior finishes.
But what we got where basically “single line” architectural drawings and plans. It shows the outline, but without any architectural or layout detail or content , not sure if you ever received these kind of drawings but they are absolutely useless. Worst of all when we explain what we need to progress our design we they look at us if we are asking for something impossible. It of course exist somewhere but what we suspect is happening is that because of the confidentiality of the project drawings are segregated and different departments develop different details so that no-one really sees everything and all together. Somewhere at the top someone must collate all this together to one cohesive plan and detailing but at the level we are dealing with somehow we just get piece meal information. We keep saying it’s in the details…. We will get there eventually 🙂
Light Watch 5-51: Architectural detailing can take many forms and can be very intriguing by itself…
Pick up the phone
Singapore, 25th March 2014
Picking up the phone can sometimes avoid a lot of problems and headaches. When we arrive at a point where tensions have developed in a project, sometimes about trivial issues, it is far better to pick up the phone and have a chat with the person in question. Written words have a tendency to live an own life and whoever reads them reads them through their own “tinted” glasses. We don’t read what is written, we translate what is written in terms of what we think it means and that is what we read or think we read. If someone says to you: “I am not coming”, it means I am not coming. It does not mean “I don’t like you” or “I don’t want to see you” or “did I do something wrong?” It could, but that is an assumption because we don’t really know. So as a principle “I am not coming” just means I am not coming.
But our mind has its own way of interpreting these things and when discussions and reactions heat up, my experience is to stay away from email writing and just pick up the phone to hear it from the horse’s mouth. It is amazing how much miss-conception exists when you start talking to each other as most of the time people always seem to explain statements and actions in a negative way.
I dealt with such issue today where in the end I decided to call the client after I felt that correspondences where spiralling out of control. The client in actual fact had tried to call as well. After we talked and listened to each other’s grieves we came to a sensible and professional resolve. In the end we each felt not acknowledged and appreciated, but in the end we all want the best for the project. We agreed that we should have picked up the phone and talked it through much earlier. By talking and listening to each other we also get to better understand where we may have missed a beat, as in these conflicts there is never one culprit. It takes two to tango, it takes two to resolve an issue. Just pick up the phone…
Light Watch 5-50: Positives and negatives are often an optical illusion…just the way we (want to) see it…
Something new, something old
Singapore, 24th March 2014
Some clients have really interesting philosophies and strategies when it comes to implementing a new design. I had a meeting today in regards to the renovation of a ballroom, one of the first stages of the complete hotel renovation we are involved with. As always the design process had started without any big restrictions, just go for it let us see what kind of ideas you can come up with to make this renovation look like we are really pulling out al the stops to create something new. As the process developed further some restrictions started to come in, mainly budget driven…Can we re-use this? Can we keep that? Today’s meeting was basically the culmination of all previous restrictions, telling us that there was no real budget to change much. Some new carpets, some new wall finishes some minor alterations here and there…
For lighting the message was fairly simple, we re-use the ceiling design as it is with some minor reconfigurations allowed, some repainting and new material finishes that’s it; basically a retro-fit job. Because the previous renovation dates back more than 10 years ago (I was the designer for that incidentally, so another of those jobs that comes full circle), the main challenge is to update the lighting technology to today’s requirements and standards. The original lighting design still holds its ground (of course, I designed it 🙂 ), I would still design it that way today, so it’s really a lighting technology upgrade.
Where we had big plans for something new were the chandeliers. A new intricate design was to have multiple colour options inside it’s crystals to allow the creation of different patterns. After the costing came in that whole idea was blown to smithereens and we were instructed to keep the old chandeliers. The only budget made available for this being the re-lamping (LED) and replacing the crystals with new crisp looking ones, perhaps some different shapes… but the look will be like the old…hmmm a shame really, but at the same time an interesting challenge to see what we can do with little… 🙂
Light Watch 5-49: Chandeliers are interesting creations. Here are some shots in close up of what I am dealing with…
The poodle meeting
Manila, 21st March 2014
You may wonder where this is going…This is actually about the project coordination meeting I had all day that involved all key consultants. A crucial meeting with the client, the QS, the project manager and all lead consultants to establish the status of the design, decide on major design issues and most of all lock in a time schedule of deliverables and agree on the overall budget. That seems easier said than done as it turned out to be a real tough cookie to resolve.
The design is still not frozen, though we have basically settled on all issues, but it will take another month or so before the whole team has followed through with the related design disciplines. In terms of budget the comparison with a previous project seems inadequate as the aim is to achieve a 100% LED lighting installation. Not only that many other lighting elements have been brought in, inclusive multi-media and interactive screens, to make the experience a special one to remember and by all means and purposes draw in the crowds. Let’s not forget in the end the bottom line of any retail space is to sell! Not only sell, but sell at profit! So there is due care and diligence required in assessing the extra costs to be made in relation to the extra sales and profits to be expected. In my view it appeared that the budget for all lighting (not only the ceiling based architectural lights) is about half what it should be, but we will be crunching some numbers over the coming week to see what the figures really are…could be less
Most of all the time line…Projects of this nature are all about time and money, certainly when you talk about refurbishing an currently operating retail store. Finding the right window and opening with minimal disruption to ongoing sales is crucial and hence the discussion about the time schedule (and completion date) was interesting too say the least, specifically as consideration was given that any month ending in -r- (September-December) is considered unproductive in the Philippines. Apparently Philippino’s get in the Xmas mood right from September and if this ng are not finished before then it won’t get don till the next year…they are really relaxed people!
Ah and about the poodle…as it turned out the big lady boss came in with her poodle which wandered around the meeting room all day, occasionally being grabbed in emergency by her minder to avoid any “deposits” being made in the meeting room. 🙂 Guess the poodle had a great time as we all kept feeding her biscuits and other food that was served during the day.
Light Watch 5-48: The meeting…plenty of people, plenty of food and drinks…sorry no picture of the poodle 🙂
Manila
Manila, 20th March 2014
Arrived in lovely Manila for project meetings over the next two days… I have been coming to Manila for the last twenty odd years or so, depending on project needs as well as for speaking engagements, but time and again I am struck by the friendliness of the people, the excitement of city life and the variety of the weather! The Philippino’s have a certain worry free way of living, pushing problems ahead and enjoying the present day. The result is of course that things don’t always get done which is something that we see in the slow pace of their economy and what I personally see in the pace and progress of projects. They all get their eventually but with no sense of urgency. Tomorrow is another day. Why do it today if we can do it tomorrow! 🙂
But regardless I do find it a pleasure to be here, the will is there, but the drive is missing, but that makes them such enjoyable people. They are also immensely talented and creative. You find Philippino’s in the design industry and in the music industry for instance. Many design colleagues I know are Philippino..
I generally stay in Makati which is the city’s oldest buzzing business and commercial district and over the last years lots of efforts have been put in revitalising the city centres not in the last place by adding more lighting to its buildings and urban fabric. We are engaged as the lighting designers for the refurbishment and the new development of a chain of leading department stores in the Philippines and it is encouraging to see how the client and the team are embracing the latest lighting technologies. They want to be one of the leading stores of the world…who would have thought that in the Philippines! I am looking forward to my meetings over the next few days.
Light Watch 5-47: Manila with its varying skies and city skylines…
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