Think Fest
Goa – Mumbai 3rd – 4th November 2011
It is obvious that I am a bit behind with my blogging…I arrived back in Mumbai on Thursday afternoon (yesterday) from Goa after finishing up my business in Goa. On arrival I was plunged directly into the Acetech welcome night and only arrived back (late) in my hotel. As I needed to put a last hand to my presentation for today (I always shuffle my presentations around a bit the night before adjusting to my feelings and instincts of the moment) I could not find the energy to write my blog afterwards. I treasure my
blog but I have a responsibility to deliver a good presentation to my host and the sponsor that made my guest speaking possible. More about Acetech over the weekend.
As I was leaving the Grand Hyatt in Goa yesterday the preparations for the Think Fest (see http://goathinkfest.com, a ground breaking event to inspire thought, start dialogues and inspire youth with international luminaries like architect Frank Ghery, Thomas Friedman and local bollywood celebrities and leading indian thinkers ) were in full swing and what I took from that was something quite interesting that I would like to share. Hospitality lighting design is one of our core activities at KLD and we
generally design accoriding to the hotel standards and our own creative insights on how to turn the design brief and overall design intent into a signature lighting design project. While we made all efforts to create a “picture perfect” lighting design, the reality of these mega events (more then 1000 participants are expected over 3 days this weekend) is that the hotel only serves as a backdrop. The amount of mobile (lighting) equipment, props and other materials brought in to create that magic experience was astonishing. Nothing was left from my ballroom, a complete new stage was built with back drops and litterally hundreds of moving heads, PARcans and other stagelighting effects were brought in. The landscape was also shwered with additional Parcans to lightup the trees (already lit!) with some additional effect lights. Stage gantries built over the reflectove pond with moving heads projecting images on the roof…additional bars build around the pooldeck…If anyone has time to go have a look, admission is free I understand and should be quite a creative spectacle.
Light Watch 195: Think Fest Goa, preparations and set up
Day and night
Goa 2nd November 2011
Yesterday I had a lot of “situations” to share, really no disrespect to the site team, but just typical issues I am sure happen in many
other projects. This just happens to be a reasonably big size project (I don’t how many kilometers I have walked today, but I am surely loosing weight when on site, yeah!) and hence the number of issues popping up are just amplified when you start putting them together. Today I want to share some day and night pictures, to show that the team really is doing a great job in getting it right.
So another Light Talk and Light Watch combined 🙂
Arrival at the resort
Main lobby atrium with their feature pendants
Lower level lobby lounge
All Day Dining private area
All Day Dining Outdoor Terrace
View on the main building
Unfortunately the roof lighting was cut out of the budget…notice
the difference at night? A different building, right?
There is a ruin of an old chapel in the landscape, great for outdoor
function background.
There is much more, but enough for today, its well past 1 am in the morning, the guys are still fixing some electrical issues, so we can complete the final programming tomorrow.
Light Watch 195: Day and night
A day on site
Goa 1st November 2011
Can you believe it? 1st November already, where has this year gone! Today I would like my pictures do most of the talking. I
have spent most of the day on site aiming, focussing, programming and rectifying site problems or inventarising lighting issues to be resolved. I thought it would be nice for a change to share some of the site issues or just site observations I have encountered today.I do wish to give credit to the site team. All these pictures below are just to show the bag of issues faced on site, but not meant to blame anyone. A lot is inexperience or the result of so many other factors, like budget, coordination and so on.
So this is Light Talk and Light Watch combined 🙂
-programming and focussing, many people only 1 or 2 actually doing something!
Problems with recessing uplights, not enough depth, and oh, what do we do with the gear? Yes the housing maybe IP65 but the wiring into the housing??
Fire alarm to add some punch to the artwork. Uplights could not be recessed,so we build a base. Why put the vase next to the base, probably nicer to have the vase ON the base!
Dimmer racks…still a total and utter mess! How can we expect things to actually work! At least on the right we are making progress with cleaning up.
Typical sloppy installation …or not. Left supposed to have a proper concrete base…what is this with the base plate being bigger then the concrete base? What about the wires…armoured in a conduit? Ha-ha… Right watere feature uplight…oh well its just laying there aimed to nowhere…
Visit to the store on site….wow so many lights still un-installed…this is worrying…
Cove problems everywhere. T5 as well as LED linear cove lights. Here we are testing the wiring of the LED. On the left clearly to be
seen the LED cove lighting is producing next to zero output.
Problems with power supplies…so I find some “temporary” fixing of the problem. No further comments.
Giving directions about location sometimes gets lost in translation. The uplights are so far out they miss most of the tree when we
switch on the lights
What is this? Ok they could not get the light in the pot, but cant we get it concealed behind?
Finally not so much lighting, but those damn security machines spoiling all the great arrival experiences. Do note the floor lamp in front of the Hotel sign, who decided that?
Light Watch 194: A day on site
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Goa 31st October 2011
Back in Goa for another round of fine tuning, problem solving and creative thinking. The Grand Hyatt Goa is looking splendid for the fresh tourist who arrives without knowing anything about the projects history. The general raeaction is one of wow! with guests admiring the grandeur of the hotel and their first impressions when checking in. How different is it for us designers who have been on the job for nearly 4 years and know every knook and cranny, know how it should have been, what the design intent was and see every little mistake, imperfection. I was here last in late July for the soft opening and left behind a long list of defects and issues to resolve and take care of. Now, nearly 4 months later the hotel is in full operation and I am here to take stock of the progress and support the hotel and remaining site team to put the dots on the -i- as they say. Programming, focussing, tweaking, the usual stuff.
The challenge is that only few of the original site team are left, there is little or no budget for any corective work so we have to make do with what is there. Time has also passed for any blame games…there has been too much water under the bridge in this project anyhow, but there is a place for determination and decisive action as otherwise it is never going to happen. That is my task for the coming days. I don’t want to hear: “it cant be done”, so often the easy way out for the contractor. I am kind of the meat in the sandwhich with on one hand my client and paymaster to satisfy and on the other the hotel operator Hyatt with whom I do other projects. Then to top it up there are my own standards to uphold. The solution will have to be a 3-way compromise on what can be achieved to best possible satisfaction, the final beauty of the project will be in the eye of the beholder.
In Light Watch one of the latest Philips innovation concepts just released, the microbial home, a concept based on an innovative and sustainable approach to energy, waste, lighting, food preservation, cleaning and human waste management. It describes a “Bio-light” using different biological technologies to create ambient light effects. The concept explores the use of bioluminescent bacteria, which are fed with methane and composted material. Alternatively the cellular light array can be filled with fluorescent
proteins that emit different frequencies of light. Hmmm… interesting, check out http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/article/Futuristic-design-concepts-as-Philips-launches-Microbial-Home/532337.aspx
Light Watch 193: Microbial home.
Marketing integrated technologies
Singapore 28th October 2011
Last night we went to attend a product introduction, the Alucobond /Traxon intergated façade pannel and wall cladding solution, pictures of which I shared a bout 2 weeks ago in Light watch when the event was announced. The marketing on their website and introduction I guess was well done with sleek pictures creating great expectations. I was not surprised to see many of my local lightig colleagues in attendance. As lighting designers we are all on the look out for new innovations and solutions that can make our life easier or can produce that extra edge and wow factor that some of our clients crave for. What was interesting was the fact that most of the attendees were lighting designers rather then architects, builders or structural engineers. Now that says a lot of the importance that lighting is taking in the future development of this integration of architectural building components and
lighting. Lighting seems to be the leading element in this integration process.
I felt however that the solution provider (Alucobond featuring Traxon lighting products) was more driven by its technical cladding
expertise, rather then by lighting needs. Obviously marketing such product with potentially multiple specifiers is more challenging then to a specific target group. In this case the product must appeal to architects, structural and cladding engineers as well as lighting experts like ourselves. While I could not really judge whether the product is satisfying architectural builders needs (I guess it does considering Alucobond are one of the world leaders in these products) it seemed not to be in touch with the reality of budgets and practical lighting needs.
What struck me most is that only a 3 years warranty was given, which seemed in stark contras with the 10 to 15 years I understand is standard practice for architectural facades. When queried about the cost a panel with light was a bout 10 times more expensive than one without lighting. Considering the fact that the LED pitch is of relatively low resolution it seems the price is on the high side. Other issues such a replacement and maintenance, integration of PV cells as well as return on investment were asked but in the end what was clear is that many of these questions remain unanswered, mainly because the product is new and therefore basically untested. However I think we all agree that it is the way to go and we have to start somewhere!
In Light Watch some more form the night and product info
Light Watch 190: Alucobond media facade
Being Van Gogh
Singapore 27th October 2011
The National Museum in Singapore has just opened its door to an exhibition of the great impressionist painters of the past century with many master pieces on display from masters like Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Degas, Gaugin and Van Gogh . The famous paintings are on show here from their original home in the famed Musee D’Orsay in Paris, France.
Not many painters painted the stars at night and Van Gogh’s The Starry Night and Starry Night over the Rhone paintings are probably two of the most famous ones. The inspirational paintings have been the subject of many poets and storytellers and most notably Don McLeans’ hit song: “Starry, Starry Night!
Now I don’t claim to be a Van Gogh (though we are both Dutch :)) but I think as lighting designers we all have a bit of Van Gogh in us. Lighting designers have often been described as painters with light and I kind of like that description. We take a light source and start painting the space with its light beams. The architectural envelope is our canvas and we paint with light to create dreams, moods and ambiance. That is why to me a lighting designer cannot really be an engineer. Lighting design is creation and imagination …it is said that Van Gogh painted the starry nights from memory, hence the paintings are also representing his (mental) state of mind, his feelings and imagination. This is an important thing as besides creativity we as lighting designers are also driven in our lighting solutions by our mental state, call it mood or even stress…
In Light Watch Van Gogh’s starry night paintings. The first is known as Starry Nights, the second as Starry Night over the Rhone.
Light Watch 191: Van Gogh’s Starry Nights
A day in Jakarta
Jakarta 26th October 2011
04.45 am my alarm goes off…time to get showered and ready for my day trip to Jakarta. It’s just a daytrip so no packing required, only my carry on with my laptop and project files. I did book a taxi last night, as I am never sure to find one at this early hour. 05.20 am: the taxi company calls me to let me know my taxi has arrived. 05.45 I get my boarding pass from the check-in counter and make my way to the lounge for my first coffee. 06.30 I board the plane and find my seat 34C, nicely in front, courtesy of my frequent flyer status. The flight leaves with a slight delay shortly before 7am.
Smooth flight, breakfast served on board, we land on time at around 7.30am local time (Jakarta is 1 hr behind Singapore). I flew in together with the project’s interior designer and we take the ride down town for the project coordination meeting together with Galih my local business partner. There is heavy traffic (as usual in the morning) but we manage to reach the site well before 10am. The rest of the project team drips in by bits and pieces due to the unpredictable traffic. 10.30am We are finally on our way with our meeting in the site office, project status review, updates, consultant’s inputs, etc. 11.30 Someone has managed to organise coffee from Starbucks…finally! The meeting progresses, we have a conference call with the operator on operational requirements for the project. 1pm Big Mac meals are brought in…I guess that is our working lunch! A bit later we meet with the big boss who needs to be briefed on the progress. He gives some valuable feedback and comments, everyone is happy. The meeting comes to an end 3.15pm…I still have time to meet another client on my way to the airport.
What is normally a 15 min ride for some reason takes 1 ½ hour today , we reach destination finally at 4.50pm! Wow, I really don’t know how people organise their lives here. The client is expecting us and knows I have only half an hour max to spare, if I don’t want to miss the last flight out. The good news is that we are now officially confirmed as LD on this new project, kick off meeting next week…I will be away in India but my partner Galih will be in attendance for us. As I write the blog I am painfully slow moving towards the airport. Prediction another 2 hrs, should just make my 8.30pm flight back to Singapore…. By the time I will be back in Singapore I will have spent about 11 hours in taxi’s, cars, airline lounges and airplanes for meetings that totalled little more then 6
hours!…A day in Jakarta….
In Light Watch some amazing sights I witnessed on my way back from Madrid…sunrise from the plane….
Light Watch 190: Madrid – Amsterdam 7am (last pic the famous Dutch Greenhouses)
PLDC aftermath…
Singapore 25th October 2011
Travelling around the world to attend PLDC and being away from the office for a week becomes easier as you become more established as you have a team behind you that can support and “cover” for you. But what you can’t delegate is your personal recovery from jetlag and travel fatigue. I arrived back in Singapore after missing a complete night’s sleep (I pretty much went straight from the gala dinner to the airport in Madrid to catch my return flight from Amsterdam to Singapore. Basically another night without much quality sleep! When I arrived in Singapore at 6 am the next day I just managed to have breakfast with Alex
before she went off for her trip to China! I then caught up with my staff at 9 only to get so tired to spent the rest of the morning fast asleep, that really helped, as I had a conference call with one of my clients in China in the afternoon. That turned out to be a near 3 hour affair! Did not manage to do much after that and basically hit my bed again straight after dinner, only to wake up in the middle of the night…
I could not help thinking of the perfect circadian day…can somebody please regulate my circadian rhythm system! It was not too bad though, but I suspect that as I get a bit older my recovery speed from intercontinental time travel takes a bit longer. Today I was much better and have managed to log in a full day of work including another teleconference call and an outside design coordination meeting. I will not make it late tonight as tomorrow I am hit with another early wake to catch a 6.45 am flight out to Jakarta. On top of that I realise it is a public holiday in Singapore tomorrow! Everybody else has a day off but I somehow managed to con myself into a business trip to Indonesia!
In Light Watch some pictures from Madrid not from me but from another globetrotter. Paula Rainha won the Philips World Tour competition that sees her now tour the world in I believe 3 months or so in which see visits cities and places around the world and blogs about what inspirational lighting she sees. I wish her a safe and enlighted tour! Pictures from www.lightworldtour.com and www.flickr.com/lightworldtour.
Light Watch 189: Light World tour, Madrid, Hotel Puerta, Rio, Matadero
PLDC Day 3
Madrid 22nd October 2011
It is approaching 3am in the morning and I have just returned to my hotel to pack and go to the airport for my 6am flight back to Amsterdam and on to Singapore. Not much sleep between now and then! The gala dinner and awards night that concluded the PLDC event was held in the Matadero Madrid, a former slaughterhouse converted in a great night spot. I was told over 600 people
attended the evening. See pics in Light Watch below!
The 3rd day started with a key note from Professor Brian Cody whose talk centred around maximising energy efficiency in buildings. While the subject is on everybody’s mind I felt his presentation could have been simplified for better interest. The next speaker I listened to was Douglas Leonard from Chile who had a passionate presentation of his experience dealing with clients and contractors sharing his “out of the box” -thinking to achieve the desired end result. Nothing really new (am I getting old, seen it all, done it all sort of thing?) but he managed to bring the message in an excellent presentation. I stayed in the same room to follow Charles Thomson on the tactile quality of lighting (the seeing is believing approach) and Emrah Baki’s lighting-designer’s-against-the-evil-forces-of-consumerism talk, a great and entertaining presentation in which he drew parallels between consumer behaviour levels of daily life and the lighting design process. He later won an award at night but I missed what it was for…cudos anyway!
The afternoon keynote was from Professor Alan Dilani from the International Academy of Design and Health who shared his research work pointing out how lighting plays an important role in this. The subsequent speaker, Peter Denhof had much
of the same. Interesting subjects both, but again I felt the subject presentation was too general with little depth, with some lsides having unreadable over-information . I think as designers we have a lot of base knowledge and what we really want is more in depth knowledge. Some of the presenters treat us like first grade students. I think next PLDC the organisers need to set a higher standard, or create a student section of sorts for basics. The final presentation of the day for me was from James Benya and Deborah Burnett, they definitely saved the best for last. To me their presentation was probably the highlight of the event. Deborah had already earned my appreciation at PLDC Berlin and she did not disappoint. Their presentation (the Perfect Circadian
Day) was the sort of stuff we are dying to hear. How the quality of lighting is directly linked to human health, disease and well- being. We are aware of this, but their research has made big progress and the presentation was clear, informational and emotional. I caught myself sitting on the edge of my seat not wanting to miss a word! I am eagerly awaiting her 30 page report that she will
sent to the requesting participants.
My few little comments on the event: Many subjects looked great on paper but drowned in fairly average presentations. Presentations are as good as the quality and skills of the presenter. I felt the quality in Berlin was of higher standards then this year, but that could very well be due to the presentations I attended. I can’t comment on those I did not see. On the Architects Forum, it was a shame so little people attended. Next time it should be organised like the key note addresses, without simultaneous competing talks, to maximise the impact and attendance.
Finally the big news of the night: PLDC 2013, themed “A point of no return”, will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark. Vamos Madrid! Thanks for a great event!
In Light Watch some street views of the venue and more pictures from the 3rd day and the gala dinner
Light Watch 188: PLDC Day 3
PLDC Day 2
Madrid 21st October 2011
On my walk to the venue we walk straight into the rising sun. It is cold and chilly but it is compensated by the warm rays of the sun and a magical play of light and (long) shadows. Day two started with a key note address from Dr Alexander Rieck, one of the founding members of exciting architectural company LAVA (Laboratory for Visionary Architecture). Together with architect
Philippe Rahm’s keynote address in the afternoon they were easily the most exciting and thought-provoking talks of the day. Striking that the most interesting talks about lighting were delivered by non-lighting designers! Both architects showed great understanding of the role of lighting in the drive to create sustainable eco-environment. This was reinforced in the architect’s forum at the end of the day, where both agreed that for them the role of the lighting designer in their sustainable architectural approach is to bring something new to the table, not just providing down lights and engineered lux levels. I can’t agree more … that is where experience will be the key, understanding the limitations and opportunities of the latest lighting technologies and being able to think out of the box… creativity is the magic word here. A real shame that the forum with these top architects was attended by so little people!
It is always hard to predict the popularity and attraction of subjects and speakers and there was clearly some incompatibility in the process with some very popular talks held in the smaller venues on level 5 while the large crowd venues on levels 2 and 4 were at times nearly deserted. I wanted to attend Roger Narboni’s presentation on his Jerusalem city master plan but couldn’t even get in the door, so I moved to Craig Bernecker’s presentation on commissioning lighting with dynamic range photography. Unfortunately I felt he lost his way into too much theory (which like me I assume most of us already knew), with really the tail end of his presentation of real interest. Presentation is an art! The next speaker I attended was Kristin Bredal from Norway with an educational insight in a world little of us know, life above the arctic circle were the suns does not come up for 6 months in the winter ( and likewise does not go down for 6 months in the summer). Instead of developing a city lighting plan for the traditional 10-12 hour night, she had to develop a 24 hour scheme that simulated the various activities (and related brightness needs) during the “day”. Francesco Iannone’s Ascona project, where video capture of the climatic changes in the immediate environment of his lighting installation are used to drive the dynamic lighting of the trees, closed out the morning for me.
I listened partly to both Louis Clair’s and Florence Lam’s presentations in the afternoon, one on heritage lighting, the other on the
lighting of the new Acropolis Museum in Athens but found nothing of spectacular interest, nor were the presentations exciting. Colin Ball with his talk on the darkness of the unconscious at least was an interesting and unconventional detour of explaining light through the centuries by looking at the psychological responses and the meaning that humanity attaches to lighting. As usual many parties are going on at night organised by the various manufacturers.
In Light Watch some more pictures of the event snapped with my Iphone, reporter style, including some OLED’s from Philips.
Light Watch 187: PLDC Day 2
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