Renowned architect Art Gensler dies aged 85
(USA) – Art Gensler, the American architect, interior designer and founder of global architectural firm Gensler, has passed away at the age of 85 after a long illness.
Gensler, founder of the world’s largest architecture firm, died in his sleep at his family home in Mill Valley, Marin County, reported the San Francisco Chronicle.
Gensler founded his practice in San Francisco in 1965 alongside his late wife Drue, and James Follett. Today, the firm operates across 50 countries around the world, with an annual revenue of $1.5bn.
Diagnosed with lung disease 18 months ago, Gensler continued to work for his practice, with a full calendar of meetings scheduled when he died. His son, David Gensler, said: “My dad was a regular guy, respectful and friendly and never pompous. He loved serving clients through the power of design.”
Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1935, Gensler was the son of a phone company employee and a ceiling tiles salesman. He grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut and graduated from Cornell University’s College of Architecture in 1958.
Following university, he moved to California on the advice of his mentor, architecture critic Henry Hill, and worked for architect William Wurster, while establishing his own practice.
His eponymous firm got its start designing interiors for corporate offices in San Francisco skyscrapers. Early work included the 237-metre Bank of America Center (renamed 555 California Street) and the 121-metre Alcoa Building (now One Maritime Plaza).
The practice opened its first office at 555 Clay Street in San Francisco, before expanding around the US; its Houston office opened in 1972, followed by the New York office in 1979. The firm also expanded overseas with the opening of its London office in 1988, followed by studios in Japan and Hong Kong in 1993, while its first Chinese office opened in Shanghai in 2002.
Landmark projects for the studio include the 632-metre-high Shanghai Tower – the world’s second-tallest building, the long-term renovation of San Francisco International Airport, the renovation and expansion of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, offices for the New York Times, Washington Post, London Stock Exchange, and the interiors for the new US Embassy in London. Gensler also designed the first 100 Apple stores.
Gensler always put the success of his practice down to its business-mindedness, writing a book called Art’s Principles to mark the 50th anniversary of the firm. “When I started Gensler, there was a day when I woke up and realised that although I had 22 people working for me, I didn’t know what I was doing when it came to managing the business,” he said in an interview about the book. “So I went to business school at night, and I ended up hiring the professor of my class.
“We continually reinvest in our business, we offer competitive wages, reinvest in people, offer profit sharing – we incorporated all kinds of things that architects never thought about. I did this because I wanted to hire people and ask them to stay forever, not work on a project-to-project basis.”
Gensler stepped down as Chairman in 2010, but continued to serve as an advisor until his death. He is survived by his four sons and 10 grandchildren.
[d]arc awards 2020 online ceremony
The winners of the 2020 [d]arc awards were announced via a live video stream. Catch up on the awards presentation and find out who took home the top prizes this year.
The [d]arc awards is a unique concept utilising arc and darc magazines’ reputation as being the most widely read and respected lighting design publications in the world. In collaboration with creative consultants Light Collective, we have created a unique opportunity to get every practice involved in the awards process.
Anyone can enter (lighting designers, architects, interior designers or manufacturers) and once the shortlist has been chosen by an international jury of independent architectural lighting designers; lighting design practices, architects and interior designers are invited to vote on their favourite projects making this the only truly peer-to-peer lighting design awards in the world.
LIA appoints new CEO
(UK) –The Lighting Industry Association (LIA) has appointed Matt Sturgess to the position of CEO.
Sturgess took up the position on 12 April, replacing interim CEO Paul Crisp, who had been supporting the LIA team and its Members as they plan for the post-2020 era.
Sturgess started out professional life as an electronics graduate engineer, sponsored by a Thorn EMI business. Early on, he moved into sales and progressed into senior roles in different industries, with a passion for personal learning and development. Drawing from his experience supporting growth in blue chip global businesses and SMEs, along the way he gained an MBA.
More recently, he has worked within the lighting industry, having operated as the Commercial Director of Sylvania Lighting and also held the position of Managing Director at Simmonsigns. He has a passion for combining his technical heritage, a history of developing customer partnerships and helping individuals and businesses grow and develop.
Past President of SLL named new CIBSE President
(UK) – Kevin Kelly, Past President of the Society of Light and Lighting (SLL), has been named as the new President of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE).
Kelly, who served as President of the SLL in 2013/14, succeeds Stuart McPherson as CIBSE President, and will in turn be succeeded by Kevin Mitchell, Global Practice Leader – Building Services Engineering at Mott Macdonald.
In his Presidential Address, delivered online on 6 May, Kelly called for a more diverse profession to help “build resilience against future crises and better respond to the pandemic and climate change”.
He pointed to the “warning shots” of the SARS, MERS and Ebola outbreaks that should have spurred an international effort to prepare for a pandemic. Instead, lulled into a false sense of security by the containment of these warning shots, he felt the world was woefully unprepared to deal with the arrival of Covid-19.
Kelly used the analogy of a sleeping frog – a frog immersed in water that is being heated will sleep until it is boiled – to describe this behaviour, and speculated that climate change threatens to be the next, most significant sleeping frog of all.
Outlining the central role being taken by CIBSE experts in analysing and responding to the threats posed by Climate Change, he warned that the industry needs to take a lead in building the strongest possible defence.
In his view, this demands positive action to improve inclusivity and diversity within the field of building services engineering. Kelly outlined his own experience of combatting not just overt discrimination but unconscious bias and stated his commitment to using his presidential term to support positive change.
As a University Professor who started his career as an apprentice electrician, Kelly is well suited to encouraging diverse routes to qualification and entry into a Chartered profession. He warned that challenging the status quo will require a willingness “to have the awkward and difficult conversations ahead and lean into them in order to change our industry for the better by making it more inclusive and welcoming to all.”
Nichia to host webinar on luxury store lighting
(Online) – Nichia will host an expert panel discussion on luxury store lighting via an online webinar, held on Thursday 20 May at 1.30pm BST.
The webinar will discuss key aspects of lighting for store locations representing sophisticated retail brands. The focus will be given to the efficacy, quality, design and sustainability of the lighting scheme.
For high-end retail spaces, the webinar will provide guidelines on:
- Designs based on brand alignment
- Fixtures that work best
- Effective LED solutions
- Quality, efficiency and sustainability
The webinar will aim to represent the complete lighting supply chain, with an expert panel that includes:
Nicolas Martin, Sustainable Store Planning Manager, LVMH
Claudio Scaroni, Corporate Client Manager, FLI and FOLIO
Paolo Giovane, Senior Lighting Designer, Metis Lighting
Alessandro Afeltra, Lighting Division Manager, Nichia.
The webinar will also feature a live Q&A session, moderated by arc editor Matt Waring.
Registration for the webinar is open now. Full registration details can be found here.
TLS launches first ever lighting collection
(Canada) – Architectural lighting brand TLS has launched its first ever lighting collection, Carra.
The move comes as a response to market demand for a more simplified product offer, and marks a new step in the standardised product arena for the company, who has offered strictly bespoke lighting products to date.
Carra, the architecture-inspired collection, has clean and simple lines, providing uniform lighting in square and rectangular shapes. Montreal-based TLS embraced its French roots to name the collection after the word “carré”, which means square. The standardised yet versatile collection offers six light sizes that can be powered by four different lighting engines, to achieve different lighting effects. In addition, clients can choose from three different frame colours and four mounting options.
The idea of developing a collection came from the growing market demand for everyday products in surface-lighting. TLS originally grew by specialising in larger and more complex projects – a good fit for its tension LED system. The flexibility in terms of design demands and structure restrictions meant that the company won a lot of large-scale projects. However, the company recognised the growing demand for surface-lighting, and with Carra being an off-the-shelf option, the specification process is much simpler, and the lead time is shorter.
“Having high quality surface lighting as a commodity product is something we felt was needed amongst the designers,” said David Sella, Founder of TLS. “Our technology is really unique due to the patented system we developed, and making that more easily accessible was the smart next step for us.”
The design interest in WELL building practices also influenced TLS’s decision to move forward with the collection. Daniel Lemajic, Sales Manager for Europe, added: “More and more we are having these kinds of conversations with business partners and designers, about integrating circadian rhythm lighting in offices, or having stimulating lighting for a bit of “lightertainment” in break rooms.”
Alongside the launch of its first collection, TLS has decided to revisit its positioning and visual language, undergoing a full re-brand to reflect what the brand has become over the past 10 years. The messaging has become simplified and more geared towards the design community, while keeping its original technology and engineering DNA.
IALD Nordic to celebrate International Day of Light 2021 with special PechaKucha event
(Nordics) - To mark the UNESCO International Day of Light 2021 on 18th May, the Nordic chapter of the IALD is hosting a virtual PechaKucha and networking event, sponsored by Lutron.
Inspired by the meme series “What People Think I Do/What I Really Do”, which plays on the range of preconceptions associated with a particular field of expertise, the session will compare the varying impressions people have of the lighting industry. This will include opinions held by others, self-image, and how this compares to the reality of the job and will aim to raise awareness as to the importance of lighting design.
The event is a recognised 50:50 event supporting Women in Lighting, and will feature six speakers from across the lighting spectrum.
Keynote speaker Aleksandra Stratimirovic is a visual artist based in Stockholm, Sweden, and is active in the world of art and light, having created a number of permanent and temporary site-specific artworks both internationally and across Sweden. Her work has featured in hospitals, school campuses, railway stations, residential areas and light art festivals, and has also been included in exhibitions at Noor Riyadh; Guggenheim Museum New York; and various other institutions across 15 countries.
Other speakers taking part in the PechaKucha include:
Jesper Ravn, architect and lighting designer, Gottlieb Paludan Architects, Denmark
Jari Vuorinen, Founding Partner, lighting Design Collective, Finland
Ute Besenecker, Associate Professor, KTH, Sweden
Darío Núñez Salazar, lighting designer, Verkis, Iceland
Katia Valerie Banoun, Director, Lyskultur, Norway
The session will take place at 5.30PM CEST on 18th May. Registration for the event is now open. Participants can register here.
Lightfair to sponsor IES’s “Light for Life” Webinar Series
(USA) – Lightfair 2021 is supporting partner organisation the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) in facilitating a global conversation on the impact of light through its sponsorship of the “Light for Life” webinar series, taking place 10-13 May.
“With the postponement of the 2021 Lightfair conference until this October, sponsoring Light for Life allows us to continue to provide lighting professionals with educational opportunities this spring,” said Dan Darby, Lightfair Show Director. “By partnering with IES for Light for Life we are able to reach our global audience until we gather again.”
Brienne Musselman, IES Director of Education, added: “Light for Life was introduced in 2020 as a way to strengthen the connection among the global lighting community during a very uncertain time. Participation was so impressive, it was a natural progression to facilitate the series for a second year. We’re so excited about this year’s programme and are grateful to be able to partner with Lightfair to deliver this content to our community.”
Light for Life is a global series of webinars that explores the impact of light on the lives of humans, plants and animals. As hosts of this collaborative webinar series, IES will facilitate the presentations over three days in the week culminating in the International Day of Light (16 May). Last year’s Light for Life series reached nearly 4,000 attendees from 46 countries, and featured 17 sessions with 15 organisations and 20 presenters.
Partner organisations participating from around the world will each curate their own webinar in the series, shaping the discussion of “Light for Life” with their unique global perspectives. This year, at least three new countries are being added to the programme, with Japan, Brazil and Russia joining Australia, France, Germany, Guatemala, India, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK and the USA. Among the highlights of this year’s series will be live Q&A sessions with individuals from around the globe.
The Light for Life webinar series is free for all. More information can be found on the IES website.
Aldabra: Storm Collection
In a world where climate changes are constant, the Aldabra Storm collection was born and designed for perfect lighting even in extreme conditions.
The perfect union of steel or aluminium and professional electronics fused with nanopolymer resins, has allowed Aldabra to create products completely protected from environmental hazards and suitable to withstand the most extreme climatic changes.
Lucent Lighting: Vista
The Vista and Vista Mini are a range of sleek, matte black, IP65 exterior grade, fully adjustable spotlights in both 50mm and 30mm diameter. These are available in both spike and surface mounted options. The 50mm with four available beams for highlighting landscape features or pathway lighting and the 30mm diameter version is available in two beam options ideally suited to smaller niche planter, foliage and pathway situations.
Acropolis of Athens and Monuments awarded 2020 [d]arc awards ‘Best of the Best’
(Global) – 2020 [d]arc awards prove massive success with 1400 attendees registered to watch the online winners’ ceremony.
On the evening of Thursday 29 April 2021, the design community once again came out in force to support the only peer-to-peer lighting design awards in the world and find out which studios had won in this year’s prestigious [d]arc awards.
Sponsored by Applelec; Kingfisher Lighting; LEDFlex, Lumascape; Seoul Semiconductor; TLS; and Tryka, a massive 14,000 votes were received in total while 297 project entries and 108 product entries were submitted. The 2020 entries came from all over the world, with 40 countries represented this year.
Awarded the coveted [d]arc awards ‘Best of the Best’ for 2020, was Acropolis of Athens and Monuments by Eleftheria Deko & Associates Lighting Design, which won the Structures – High Budget category. This award is given to the project that received the most amount of votes out of all the project category winners.
The Acropolis of Athens is one of the most important monuments of world culture. A living symbol that has stood the test of time, and one of the most recognisable landmarks in the world.
Eleftheria Deko and Associates observed the characteristics of this unique place, its history, the forms and materials, the visibility from different places of the city and the significance of this important landmark. The team's philosophy was applied to the lighting of the Sacred Rock, the fortification walls, and the 17 monuments; including the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike, the Erechtheion, the Ancient Theatre of Dionysus, the Stoa of Eumenes, the Shrine of Dionysus, and Aphrodite’s Cave - some of them illuminated for the first time.
The design approach was to distinguish for the first time the sacred rock from the walls and the monuments through lighting, by the use of different colour temperature and intensity differentiations. Moreover, the team wanted to accentuate the three-dimensionality of the sculptures and columns to highlight all the details of the monuments and create depth of field to make the different volumes distinct from far away. Each bears the symbolism of its time and purpose and that inspired the designers to create those lighting layers.
Lighting suppliers specified for this stunning project included: Erco, Linea Light Group, and Griven.
Acropolis Lights – the Audiovisual Launch Event by Eleftheria Deko & Associates Lighting Design also won this year’s [d]arc awards Event category, making it a triple win for Eleftheria Deko & Associates.
Speaking with [d]arc media Managing Director Paul James, during the online awards ceremony, Lighting Designer Eleftheria Deko said of the win: “Oh wow! Thank you so much, I have to thank the voters and dedicate this award to my country and the Ancient Greeks. I need to thank my team, they are such great people and of course thank you to the Greek Ministry of Culture that trusted us and made it all possible. This is very moving, thank you!”
While the global pandemic saw the 2020 [d]arc awards move to an online stage for the first time, this didn’t stop the team making it a showstopper event. In the run up to the awards ceremony, registered attendees were given the added bonus of engaging once more with four days’ worth of online content from the 2020 [d]arc room: live stream on the Swapcard platform that took place in September.
[d]arc media Managing Director, Paul James couldn’t be happier with how this year’s event has gone, saying: “While it was very sad that we couldn’t have a [d]arc awards party, we were blown away by the response to the online awards. It was amazing to see so many people tuning in from the international design community and to see people connecting on the platform from all over the world. Fingers crossed we can all get together to celebrate the winners and see the partner installations at the [d]arc night party in September.”
For the first time in its five-year history, the 2020 [d]arc awards ceremony had to move away from [d]arc night, which has become the ‘must-attend’ party for the design community. A night full of entertainment, complementary food and drink, and light-art installations, as well as the awards presentation itself, [d]arc media has big plans for its return later in the year.
Covid restrictions permitting, [d]arc night will take place on 23 September 2021 at Magazine in London, as part of the Design London event – an opportunity to celebrate the amazing achievements of the lighting design community, complete with light installations and more. The installations will be displayed from 22-25 September 2021.
[d]arc awards 2020 winners
[d]arc awards ‘Best of the Best’: Acropolis of Athens and Monuments, Greece by Eleftheria Deko & Associates Lighting Design
Places – High Budget: Norwich Cathedral, UK by Speirs Major
Places – Low Budget: The Copenhagen Panorama, Denmark by fortheloveoflight
Spaces – High: Magical Shores at Siloso, Singapore by Lighting Planners Associates
Spaces – Low: Santa Marina Hotel Welcoming Tunnel, Greece by ASlight
Structures – High: Acropolis of Athens and Monuments, Greece by Eleftheria Deko & Associates Lighting Design
Structures – Low: The Iron Bridge, UK by LPA Lighting
Art – High: Grow, Netherlands by Studio Roosegaarde
Art – Low: Search of the Glow, Taiwan by Ling-Li, Serendipity Studio
Art – Bespoke: Carousel of Light, Italy by Preciosa Lighting
Event: Acropolis Lights - Audiovisual Launch Event by Eleftheria Deko & Associates Lighting Design
Kit – Architectural Interior: Nano Tini by DGA
Kit – Architectural Exterior: minimumMAXIMUM by LAM32 Experience designed by Francesco Lannone and Serena Tellini
Kit – Decorative: Coordinates by Flos designed by Michael Anastassiades
Kit – Technology: DALI Gateway by Casambi
Erco Jilly
High visual comfort meets maximum flexibility: Jilly linear downlights for track adapt to any furniture arrangement thanks to simple repositioning in the track.
Ideal for loft offices and co-working spaces with high ceilings of up to 5-metres: Jilly linear provides standard-compliant light for workstations and numerous options for individual control of the light.
The Erco individual service offers extensive options for individualising Jilly for track, including additional light colours and housing colours.
