Matt Waring

US Olympic & Paralympic Museum, USA

The recently opened US Olympic and Paralympic Museum has been expertly designed to showcase Team USA’s illustrious history in an inclusive and accessible manner. Lighting designed by Available Light and Tillotson Design Associates helps to create this inclusive atmosphere.

Situated at the base of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, the US Olympic and Paralympic Museum is a monumental tribute to the efforts of the United States’ Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

Spanning 60,000sqft, the inclusive, accessible site designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro Architects, with architectural lighting designed by Tillotson Design Associates, will act as an anchor for Colorado Springs’ new “City of Champions District”, forming a new axis bridging the city’s downtown district to the America the Beautiful Park.

Inspired by Team USA’s inclusive values, the museum is the first to be dedicated solely to the nation’s achievements in both Olympic and Paralympic Games, and has been designed with accessibility in mind - its dynamic, spiralling form allowing visitors to descend the galleries in one continuous path. This structure and form means that the museum ranks amongst the most accessible in the world, ensuring visitors with and without disabilities can share the same common experience.

This experience, with 20,0000sqft of museum exhibits designed by Gallagher & Associates - with lighting design by Available Light - looks to immerse visitors into the intensity of high-level competition through the lens of the athletes who have trained, competed and won. It is hoped by the exhibit design team that the experience will “forever change people’s perception and appreciation for the dedication, motivation, determination and sacrifice that all Olympians and Paralympians share”.

Externally, the museum is a glowing, angular structure comprised of more than 9,000 folded, anodised, diamond-shaped aluminium panels, each unique in shape and size. This aluminium “skin” wraps four overlapping, petal-like volumes that spiral around the internal structure. Each metallic panel is animated by the extraordinary light quality in Colorado Springs, producing gradients of colour and shade that give the building a sense of motion and dynamism.

This is complemented by an artificial lighting scheme created by Tillotson Design Associates, who were brought on board by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Megan Trimarchi, Senior Associate at Tillotson Design Associates, explained the design concept for the building’s striking exterior further: “The brief challenged the design team to create a connection to Vermijo Ave, the bridge, and the America the Beautiful Park as extensions of the museum site.

“After seeing the selected façade material and unique form of the building, we knew we wanted the building to have an overall soft glow at night. We also knew we wanted the building to have a subtle lighting effect, resulting in an iconic and recognisable nighttime presence while also being mindful of the relatively dark context around the site.”

The continuous ramp also doubled up as the egress path through the exterior site, which resulted in very specific light level requirements, as the lighting team sought to make the path seamlessly blend with others on the site – one of the main challenges that they faced.

“The architect also had a strong desire to maintain the view from Vermijo Ave, across the site and to the mountains beyond. This meant keeping certain areas clear of light poles, so pole locations and heights were constrained in an effort to make this happen.”

Closer to the building itself, the unique façade detailing lent itself to a soft illumination, as Trimarchi explained: “We found that the aluminium panel façade material captured light beautifully when softly floodlit from a distance, so we arranged LED floodlights mounted to high mast poles on each side of the museum to achieve this effect.

“The challenge was that the site boundaries and areas within key views limited our pole locations, so we had to get creative. In some cases, we even mounted façade floodlights to street lighting poles.”

 Trimarchi and the Tillotson design team worked very closely with the architect throughout the project, although they were given the freedom to come up with their own schemes that would complement such a striking piece of architecture. Trimarchi continued: “Our designs typically integrate light fixtures into architectural details whenever possible, so the emphasis is on the architecture rather than the light fixtures, so working closely together, particularly for detailing, is essential.”

Alongside the remarkable building exterior, Tillotson Design Associates worked on the lighting for the interior atrium. Trimarchi continued: “We wanted the atrium to be the heart of the project with brightly lit walls. Sculpturally this is where the spiralling architectural forms culminate to one central space, so we wanted our lighting to emphasise that.

“We also wanted to conceal fixtures so that when looking up, only the light on the wall was visible and not the fixture itself. This was particularly challenging technically, because the walls are sloping in two directions and the upper ceiling of the atrium walls are highly visible from the gallery floor viewing platforms overlooking the space.

“For this reason, we used individual wall washer track heads mounted on the clerestory windowsills so that we could aim straight down despite the sloping mounting surface. Tucking the fixtures up in this spot also helped minimise views into them while still allowing the light to spill down the walls. The effect is a truly magical space, and we are really proud of how it turned out.”

The atrium was also an area where Tillotson’s lighting design overlapped with that of Available Light, who developed the lighting for the museum’s exhibition spaces. Trimarchi explained further how the two studios worked together to create one cohesive lighting experience: “We had several discussions, mainly about the transition zones between public space and gallery space where our scopes meet. All of our lighting required a sensitivity to the adjacent exhibit spaces, which typically employ very low light levels. The architectural lighting required excellent low level dimming to achieve the required flexibility on site during programming.

“For a museum like this with such an extensive exhibit component, it is typical that there are different lighting practices working on different aspects – we always enjoy collaborating with other teams, and it was certainly a pleasure working with Available Light to bring this project to life.”

On entering the museum space, which stretches across three floors, visitors take an elevator to the atrium’s “peak”, where a spiralling sequence of galleries takes them through this history of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, while a number of interactive exhibits give visitors the chance to try their hand at the various training methods that Team USA athletes have gone through over the years.

Ted Mather, Principal of Available Light’s New York studio explained the lighting concept for the sprawling museum spaces: “Because of the very nature of the Paralympic movement, one overarching goal of the client was to create a world-class visitor experience presented with state-of-the-art inclusivity and accessibility techniques and guidelines. The US Olympic/Paralympic Committee was also interested in creating an environment that was uplifting, inspiring, and reflected the high energy and intensity common to the best athletes in the world.”

Available Light therefore hoped to design a lighting scheme that created “the appearance of clean, bright white light throughout – with its connotations of honesty, transparency, truth, height, etc, while using saturated colour in the periphery to emphasise passion, diversity, energy and excitement”.

Mather continued that this inclusive concept was brought to life, mainly through crisp and clean application of colour and angle. He explained: “Because many artefacts were light sensitive, we used a limited number of fixtures, at sharp angles and tight beam spreads; by creating contrast with the background, the impression of intense light, reflective of the power of sport, was made possible without causing undue damage to the artefacts.”

Accessibility was also a key parameter for the project as a whole, and as such extra measures were taken by the lighting designers to ensure that the lighting was tailored to a more inclusive, accessible environment. This was done, Mather said, by firstly being “aware of this critical point of view”.

“Objects and graphics always reflect light and cause glare when viewed from certain incident angles, consequently we are sensitive about where a fixture is located, so the resultant glare is directed away from where visitors’ eyes are likely to be. In this case, the point of view of someone at a lower level – in a wheelchair, for example – had to be regarded as a high priority.”

Throughout the project, Available Light worked closely with exhibit designers Gallagher & Associates, as well as Diller Scofidio + Renfro to create a scheme that was suitable for the exhibition spaces, while also remaining “highly integral” to the wider building design. “Diller Scofidio + Renfro had a strong interest in bringing daylight into the exhibit spaces and allowing for views to the outside and the extraordinary Colorado landscape,” Mather continued.

“The interiors were meant to be light, airy and uplifting. Creating an environment that gracefully transitioned from daylight to darker areas where video projection was used, or light sensitive artefacts were displayed, was complex and challenging, but was ultimately very successful.”

This challenge was complicated further by the building’s angular structure and constantly shifting angled ceiling planes. While Mather felt that such unique geometry made his job harder, he added: “But like a lot of great art, challenges demand your best effort, and force you to come up with very thoughtful solutions.

“It’s Occam’s Razor – find the simplest way to solve a complex problem, and you’ve probably done the right thing.”

Mather explained that Available Light worked with the building architects to create a lighting system that was flexible enough to accommodate the unfolding exhibit design, while they also collaborated with Gallagher & Associates on integrating lighting into exhibits where possible, particularly in instances where the geometry of the building infrastructure did not align with the exhibits. 

As Mather described, the museum space comprises a range of light sensitive artefacts, as well as areas with video projection. This can complicate matters for the general exhibit lighting, however, he explained how the design team was able to overcome this. “Control is key. It is about using a large number of small paint brushes of light instead of big washes. Those smaller strokes allow us to strategically avoid video projection surfaces, control light levels on artefacts, and direct focus to what is important,” he said. “This high level of lighting control brings a sense of drama and gravity to the moment.”

As with any project from the past 12 months, the US Olympic and Paralympic Museum was completed at a very unusual time in our history, with Covid-19 impacting on the way that all of us have been able to work and interact with each other.

This was certainly no different for Available Light and Tillotson Design Associates, who each had their own struggles in working through the pandemic.

“The impact we felt was mostly on executing the final on-site design work,” Mather said. “We worked in shifts from 2pm to midnight for focus to reduce overlap with other contractors. At the end of the day, we would take photos of our progress and email them to the client for comment, since they were not yet on site. That required Photoshopping about a hundred pictures a night, since the camera sees light very differently than your eye – I would adjust them to what it looks like in person, not the way a digital sensor sees light and colour.”

Trimarchi added: “Covid certainly complicated our final punch listing and focusing, which ended up being done remotely and condensing our work into fewer trips. It also greatly delayed the site and façade lighting portion of the project, which followed months after the interior was finished due to delivery delays.”

Despite these unforeseen constraints, both Tillotson Design Associates and Available Light were able to create a combined lighting scheme that showcases both the exhibits within the museum, and the building itself.

“While the detailing and execution of the lighting effects evolved over time, our initial objective of softly lighting the striking structure from the exterior and brightly lighting the central atrium as the genesis of the spiralling form carried through to the final design,” said Trimarchi. “The lighting emphasises the architectural form, both inside and out, which was our primary goal for this project.”

Mather added: “I think we were quite successful in creating a sense of drama and energy that effectively supported the content. The spaces flow well visually, but different galleries are distinct in character. The balance between artefacts, projection surfaces, graphics, and exhibit elements is refined and graceful.

“Necessity is the mother of invention – the architectural and exhibit design teams challenged us with innovative technologies and forward-thinking designs that brought all our skills and talents to bear. The coordination and cooperation required to execute the design truly honoured the Olympic spirit!”

www.availablelight.com
www.tillotsondesign.com

by Matt Waring

The Halfway House, UK

Fusing architectural lighting with theatre and public realm lighting, Satu Streatfield and her lighting team created an immersive, all-encompassing lighting scheme for the site-specific theatre piece, The Halfway House.

Although the link between theatre lighting and architectural lighting design is a well-worn path, with many in the architectural lighting design world starting their careers in stage lighting, it is rare that the two typologies overlap in one all-encompassing project.

This was the case for Satu Streatfield and her team when it came to illuminating The Halfway House, a site-specific, immersive theatre piece that was devised and staged in the old Central Saint Martin’s campus on Southampton Row in Holborn, London.

The piece was created by Persona Collective – a group of creatives led by theatre director Rocio Ayllon – who were invited by arts charity The Koppel Project to develop and stage a theatre show at their Koppel Project Campus, which was conceived as an experimental, cross-disciplinary education and arts facility in the former Central Saint Martin’s college.

Ayllon established Persona Collective in 2017 as a not-for-profit community interest company that would serve as a vehicle for creative practitioners from design, art, photography, film-making, music and theatre to collaborate on cross-disciplinary, site-specific theatre projects. The collective seeks to involve local communities, including both amateur and professional performers, in co-creating its shows, while also using buildings and spaces that are either overlooked or at risk of slipping from living memory.

Shows and performances are developed using ‘devised theatre’ techniques, while Ayllon also runs months of dance, improvisation, role-play workshops and theatre games with performers in situ to gradually develop their characters and the narratives. Research into the history of the site, its urban context, and past uses and users, heavily influences the role-plays and the narratives. This means that the story is tailored to, and emerges from, the building and its history. In the case of The Halfway House, Covid-19 inevitably drove much of the conceptual, physical and logistical aspects of the performance too.

The narrative for The Halfway House revolved around three storylines – The Porter, The Maids and The Resident – each unfolding in the titular Halfway House, a fictional hotel. The building and its residents are stuck between two worlds, paralysed by nostalgia and slipping into real and fabricated versions of their past, but equally seduced by and drawn into the absurdly ill-fitting and new reality of a ‘luxury’ hotel, which is in the process of being constructed but already feels extremely makeshift, seedy and tired.

The three storylines run concurrently, overlapping as audience members follow each story in and around the building.

Streatfield explained further how the lighting concept for such an immersive, interactive performance was created: “The piece was site-specific, so lighting-wise the first thing we did was spend a lot of time in the building, exploring inside and out, sketching, photographing and filming it at different times of the day and night. It’s a huge, labyrinthine place and, during our first couple of months there, it was almost completely empty,” she said.

“The lighting effects – both natural and man-made – that we found in some of the rooms and corridors were already beautiful. Other spaces had no lighting at all, or glary bulk-head lights that the construction company had introduced as part of their building works. But even those spaces were really inspiring because they were so jarring – the place was a real Frankenstein’s Monster of atmospheres, details and styles. We saw the building itself as a real character and major protagonist in the show.”

From here, Streatfield started to formulate rough ideas for the lighting, before the performers had even arrived ‘on set’. One of the key elements that she sought to incorporate was the combination of both interior and exterior lighting.

“There were really striking views from the building down onto the street that we really wanted to make use of, so we decided early on that the show should involve scenes both inside and outside, with views between exterior and interior, public and private realms. 

“One of the most inspiring existing effects on site was the light spilling into the historic Lethaby Building from Southampton Row. The light from streetlights pouring through windows and filtering in through trees, car headlights flashing past – these all formed really important inspirations and juxtapositions not only for the designed lighting effects but also for certain narratives that emerged through the workshops.”

In the early design process, Streatfield and the lighting team kept their ideas “pretty loose and minimal”, not getting too attached to any particular ideas in the knowledge that they could change as the stories and characters evolved. As such, Streatfield sat in on performance workshops to gauge the progression of the narrative and play around with basic effects of light and dark, colour and focus “to see if they felt right, or to see how the performers would respond”.

“It was a very fluid, iterative dialogue and really involved just playing and improvising with light as part of the workshops,” she recalled. “Rocio [Ayllon] and our photographer, Karolina Burlikowska, would feed us references from fine art, photography, music, architecture, and in particular cinema, to get us all in the same kind of mindset, atmosphere-wise, as the narratives started to take shape.”

Most of the real lighting design work, Streatfield continued, came towards the end of the workshop process, once the narratives had almost taken form. “At that stage, it was really about watching and following the performers through their scenes to develop and refine the lighting concepts, building upon those early ideas inspired by the existing architecture and context. The sound and lightscapes emerged in parallel, feeding off and supporting each other. It was a really inspiring and exciting way to work – listening to the soundtracks in situ, even without any performers, was a really powerful catalyst for envisaging the character of light that could emerge.”

Throughout the performance, the variety in scenes and storylines called for a broad range of lighting scenarios, some relatively natural, and others more abstract or ethereal. 

“Some scenes involved very little or no dialogue and were conceived as more overtly dreamlike spaces, with light creating an amorphous perception of space and evoking characters’ moods or echoing the movements,” Streatfield explained. “In others, we kept the lighting very naturalistic and still, putting all the focus on the performers’ subtlest expressions, movements and dialogue.

“In other rooms, we started with unremarkable-looking light from familiar sources, which would then be oddly juxtaposed or begin to distort somehow to give that sense that everything was a bit off-kilter and unstable. A makeshift hotel room was lit with floor-standing lamps, but these were supplemented with fill-light filtered through a fan, which we slowed down at points to give the light a subtly-nauseating, shuddering quality.”

The central focal point of the performance was the Storm Room, a stand-alone light and sound installation created by fellow lighting designer and light artist Jack Wates. “On our first visit to the campus there was one room in the historic, listed Lethaby building that we found so beautiful and magical that it was almost intimidating,” Streatfield continued. “It was so spectacular that it really demanded a lot of love.”

The Storm Room was conceived as an artificial lightning storm that would occupy a central space in the building, positioning Lethaby’s iconic glass dome as a “mediator between body and storm”. “The concept was to produce a piece of magical realism as a place in which a storm was forever raging. The immaterial characteristics of the storm – rain, thunder and lightning – would become permanent features of the room,” Wates explained.

The “storm” was designed to give the sense that it was continuously moving – approaching, departing, and climaxing in moments where lightning would strike directly overhead. The lightning, and associated thunder, was programmed with a randomiser to ensure that each strike was unpredictable, so that no one – actors or audience – could predict when it would strike.

“The Storm Room was a really important part of the show,” continued Streatfield. “It needed to be a really powerful, immersive space, but also be visible from other rooms and corridors around the building complex.

“In urban design we refer a lot to Kevin Lynch’s ideas about mental mapping and creating landmarks. The Storm Room became that landmark and common reference point, around which the different narratives unfolded.”

The Halfway House as a performance spanned across the building and surrounding streets, with a myriad of locations and spaces that needed illuminating. This variety meant that the performance became one of the most “logistically complex” projects that Streatfield has worked on. Add on top of that a very small budget, and the impact of Covid-19 and it became a very challenging experience.

“In all there were around 35 different spaces to light, some with a number of different scenes and transitions,” Streatfield explained. “The campus is large and its layout complex. It has been disused for years, so some rooms had no existing lighting in them, and others just had a single or no working power outlets. Our theatre lighting technician/designer, Steve Lowe, did an amazing job running cables and getting lights where we needed them.

“We had to be very resourceful and creative with the existing lighting. We started by going through every space and filtering, blacking-out, shielding and re-directing existing lighting to transform those spaces without having to add any new lighting at all. We then added accents where needed, and designed a lot of the spaces that the audience wouldn’t necessarily walk though, but would nevertheless experience on their route around the building, seeing them through windows or slightly open doors.

“We then put our main resources, equipment-wise, into the main scenes where the audience would spend more time, and some of that kit had to travel between rooms during the show to make full use of it.”

On a technical level, the location also meant that it wasn’t possible for the lighting to be pre-programmed for each performance, meaning that any scenes requiring lighting transitions needed a lighting operator in situ – sometimes hidden in plain sight, dressed as a member of the cast, and other times hiding under tables or in corners.

“All of the lighting operators had their own choreography and timelines through the space, with some staying put and operating one or two rooms throughout, and others ducking from one scene to another via back routes and stairs to avoid crossing the audience’s path,” Streatfield recalled.

“Every show would open with two of us spotlighting a character on the street, by the phone box on the corner of Southampton Row and Theobalds Road. As soon as the audience entered the building, we would have about three minutes to pack up and quickly and quietly rush to the opposite side of the building, ready to light another scene. Dressed in black, wearing our face-masks, hiding in doorways and glancing at stopwatches, it sometimes felt more like taking part in a heist than doing theatre show lighting.”

The various elements and locations of the show also meant that a multitude of different lighting applications were also used, from existing public realm/urban lighting, to architectural lighting and theatre lighting.

However, fusing these various typologies into one coherent show is something that Streatfield feels came “very naturally”. “Aside from the fact that we engaged people from different lighting backgrounds, there was a demand for each of these different experiences and understandings of light,” she said.

“It wasn’t straight theatre, because there was no clear stage, backstage and auditorium, but of course all the tech, cues, transitions and response to narrative needed theatre lighting sensibilities. It was an immersive, promenade show, but we weren’t working with a blank, black-box space – we were working within a very strong, existing architectural context.

“Principles of architectural lighting – including Richard Kelly’s elemental qualities of light – became crucial in creating a strong sense of space and context.”

Streatfield added that the building’s urban context also became an integral part of its character. The show opens in the street, where public streetlighting and the passing lights of traffic and the flashing lights of police cars and ambulances became fundamental components of the lighting. This then extended for scenes inside the building as well, with lighting designed around that spill-light through windows from the surrounding environment.

Utilising the surrounding urban lighting, along with what existing lighting there was within the building, proved to be essential, as the lighting team had an incredibly small budget to work with. A large portion of the lighting fixtures used were either donated or, as Streatfield explains, “borrowed, bought and scavenged from cast and crew’s homes, eBay and even Poundland”.

“We owe a real debt of gratitude to Paul Simon from Enliten, who donated a lot of colour and diffusion gels and blackwrap. He also lent us the fanciest bit of kit we used – an ETC D60 – as well as several Alpha Pack Zero 88 portable dimmers, without which we would have had very clunky transitions.

“One of our brilliant producers and lighting operators, Alice Wilson, knew someone who works at Shakespeare’s Globe, so they very kindly lent us some filters and redundant tungsten fittings. Stoane Lighting and iGuzzini also very kindly had a rummage through their warehouses and old samples and donated various luminaires, lamps and components.

“I also bought an old 2000W follow-spot, which we nicknamed Mable, for £90 on eBay, including stand and spare lamps, which I was pretty chuffed with!”

Alongside the minimal budget for lighting equipment, the lockdown measures implemented in March of last year severely hampered the planning and development of the show. Theatre workshops had to be moved online, while show director Rocio Ayllon had to film several hours of footage on site on the eve of lockdown, just so the production team could post videos and tasks that participants could respond to. “It was a very difficult process – to reinvent our ways of working and try to devise site-specific theatre, without being on site. But it did mean the group collectively built a rather wonderful virtual sketchbook of initial ideas, videos, dances, films, photographs, texts, collages and music compositions, all based on these video-glimpses into the site and various historic texts and research.”

It’s all the more impressive in that respect that the show was able to go ahead. And while the production team was not able to properly meet with the audience after each performance, Streatfield revealed that they did receive some very positive feedback.

“A lot of people said it was like being in a film,” she said. “Many commented on really enjoying the way the show allowed them to experience the buildings. One man and woman were moved to tears, which I think was a big compliment.”

However, at the moment there aren’t any plans for a repeat performance when lockdown measures are eased, and due to the site-specific nature of the narrative, it’s unlikely that the show will be transported to another venue.

“The show’s narrative and scenography emerged from the place, the performers involved and the very particular circumstances of the pandemic, so it won’t be repeated,” Streatfield concluded.

“It was a huge amount of work, with hundreds of volunteered hours by a fantastic team, and we were gutted that relatively few people got to see it. We did film each route and scene, however, so there will be a film released this year, which will open it up to a much bigger audience. Rocio is also hatching plans for a short film – a kind of spin-off for one of the show’s characters too.

“There will be another new show eventually too, but we will have to find a suitably interesting venue first…”

www.personacollective.co.uk

by Matt Waring

Sandvika River Promenade, Norway

Lighting designers at Zenisk have created a beautiful bespoke lighting solution that brings an artistic materiality to the Sandvika riverside promenade in Bærum, Norway.

Located just outside Oslo, Norway, Bærum is situated on either side of the Sandvika river at the meeting point of a fjord. Sandvika Municipality has recently increased its focus on urban quality and decided to develop its riverbank into a recreational promenade that will allow locals to take full advantage of the surrounding nature. 

The public space project was opened for entries to landscape architects, lighting designers and engineers, with entries evaluated on a point-based system: a third of points evaluates the team’s competence and previous portfolio of work, another third goes to the understanding of the project brief and the final third is given to the budget proposal. 

Lighting design firm Zenisk was awarded the project, along with Dronninga Landscape practice, a firm it has previous experience and a good working relationship with, after submitting its initial lighting proposal in 2016.

arc caught up with Kristin Bredal, Director of Zenisk, to find out more about their involvement in the promenade development and the custom-designed light fixture created for the project. 

“Our main goal from the beginning was to enhance the materiality and quality of the wood decking of the new promenade, revealing it as one continuous space and visually separated from the rest of the area,” she explained. 

“Keeping it clutter free from lighting columns was also a priority. The idea was to give the promenade an exclusive warmth and give the necessary functional light for the street.

“Creating a new, comfortable and pleasant pedestrian experience in this fragmented space interrupted by many bridges was the main idea behind all the design solutions,” she added. 

For the general lighting, the team suggested using 12-metre-high lighting columns, which provided functional lighting, both to the street and to the promenade, with precise and shielded beams. In order to balance the look, Zenisk added a low-level mounted glowing bespoke fixture, that would “bring focus and attention of the pedestrians to the floor level and enhance their experience through the space”. Furthermore, Bredal noted that it was easy to hold a good balance of light in the area due to a lack of competing light interfering from neighbouring installations. 

Bredal and her team was encouraged to design a custom fixture inspired by the historical lantern of Sandvika. 

“We have a long and good collaboration history with Dronninga Landscape. They not only respect our ideas, but they encourage us to be brave and inspire us to create. Having their support is precious to us, and what true collaboration and teamwork is about. We interfered with each other’s disciplines all the time during the concept phase, with ideas and feedback, and this elevated the design, blends the disciplines on top of also being great fun.

“This custom bollard [the Sandvikslykta] is in-between being a functional light source and a light art object,” she explained. “The initial concept was to have the light twinkle constantly like a flame of a candle. Dark winter days are long in Norway, but so are bright summer days. We wanted this to be a jewel that also sparkles in daylight. This meant designing the light source inside hand blown crystal glass to catch the twinkle from the LED inside and the sparkle from the sun and daylight outside.” 

To start off with, the team created a 1:1 model of the lantern from wood and plexiglass to study the shape and size. Based on this model, they progressed to a 3D render to adjust and finalise the design. 

Together with Rebel Light, Zenisk developed a special DMX LED luminaire from Radiant. The luminaire has 16 LED light sources in different colour temperatures distributed over four DMX channels. 

“Apart from a construction that needs to be sturdy and available for maintenance, a lot of consideration went into the proportions and shape. We wanted a timeless, stylised shape to enhance the effect of the light and the crystal.

“When the first conceptual drawing was made, Hadeland Glass and Rebel Light were chosen for further collaboration based on the input solutions they offered. Handblown glass with air bubbles captures the light from the LEDs with varying colour temperatures, programmed in a dynamic scenario with DMX controls.” 

The original proposal for the scheme had incorporated the Sandvikslykta to be placed in the most prominent part of the promenade, but it was decided by the municipality to extend its placement to cover the whole stretch. “This gave us a great opportunity to explore how we could make the best use of it along the whole promenade,” said Bredal. “With two different sizes, we were able to integrate it all nicely with the landscape and furniture design, giving the whole promenade a rhythm, enhancing the experience through it for pedestrians and cyclists.” 

Given Norway’s long spells of darkness during the winter, Bredal clarified that it is important to have well-designed outdoor lighting. “When the leaves are gone and it is pitch black and wet, or white with snow, you need that little spark, twinkle or glow that gives you visual stimuli and an experience. Norwegians are light deprived during winter, so we crave it both physically and mentally.

“As a general note in regard to lighting and the pandemic, this winter lighting was high on the municipalities agendas all around Norway, with lots of temporary installations all over the cities.” 

Typically, challenges teams face when working on projects with new clients include ensuring the client is able to clearly understand the vision and see the whole picture of a potentially brave and bold concept. “We find that the best way is to include the client as much as possible in the analysis phase, giving them options to evaluate, showing them what each layer of light does and exploring how the act of seeing and feeling safe is so closely connected to our social behaviours and our sense of belonging and identity,” explained Bredal. 

For this particular project, she reflected on the fact that they were particularly grateful to have a competent and understanding client in the Bærum municipality, that comprehended the importance and power of light, and the freedom they were granted to realise the Sandvikslykta design true to its original design concept.

“We feel very fortunate to have had the chance to work on this great project. Norwegians are big on outdoor activity and spending time outside in nature. However, this does not always happen in our cities, which still have a lot of potential in the dark, where public space is mostly used for circulation,” she said. “There is a change happening in our cities, with more dwell time opportunities within the urban fabric. Our hope is that by activating this promenade with special lanterns in the dark, we will encourage residents to spend more time here and make it their own space,” she concluded.  

www.zenisk.no

by Matt Waring

Green Heart, UK

At the centre of the University of Birmingham campus, a new, 12-acre green space named Green Heart provides a welcome social and educational hub for students and faculty, with a perfectly balanced lighting scheme from Speirs Major.

In the built-up environs of a university campus, it is essential for planners, architects and designers to create break-out spaces where students and faculty can find time to relax, recharge, and switch off from the every-day stresses of higher education. The University of Birmingham offers this in Green Heart, a striking new 12-acre public park that connects the school’s historic Edgbaston campus with student residences.

Designed by landscape architects Churchman Thornhill Finch, with lighting designed by Speirs Major, the new green space was created with the ambition of “promoting interaction between students, staff, visitors and other users” to create a “safe but pleasing ambience and identity”.

Lighting was a key pathway to achieving this, as Mark Major, Senior Partner of Speirs Major, explained: “The concept was to achieve a sensitive and sustainable balance of light and darkness across this important social and educational hub, facilitating freedom of movement while enabling richly varied opportunities for interaction and outdoor learning after dark.”

Part of the overall design concept for the space was to “maximise opportunities for serendipitous encounter”, creating a space where students and staff would wish to linger and spend time outside of class.

Major explained how the lighting concept helps to facilitate this approach: “We made sure that circulation routes were clear and intuitive, and punctuated these with atmospheric places to congregate and socialise.”

The new Library Square’s central lawn is surrounded by a glowing halo of light that combines with the lighting of the main circulatory routes to make the interlinking spaces of the park legible after dark. Softly lit tertiary routes cut through the darker centralised pockets, with strong highlights to objects such as benches and architectural features. 

The result is a delicate balance of light and darkness, that creates a sense of drama and ambience, while also allowing for aspects such as wayfinding and security. 

“We employed a carefully considered hierarchy of light intensities, managed through the lighting control system, to ensure safe passage and a good sense of security, while enhancing the character of the landscape, protecting its ecology and minimising energy consumption,” Major continued.

“The highest lighting intensities occur on the primary pedestrian and cycle routes, and at the many changes of level across the park,” added Philip Rose, Associate Partner of Speirs Major. “The bridge features integrated balustrade lighting, creating a dramatic lit effect on the bridge floor. Concealed lighting within the handrails highlights the staircases and selected pathways, and creates the halo effect to the sloping grass banks that surround the central lawn – which acts as an additional area of informal social and study space.”

Meanwhile, located at the top of the sloped bank between the new Library Square and existing University Square, the retained and relocated heraldic shields have been lit as a feature, using ground recessed lights.

The scheme by Speirs Major also emphasises the site’s natural character. Glowing tree canopies announce the primary pedestrian entrance gateways, while rows of illuminated trees frame the views from the amphitheatre, creating a sense of enclosure. Further key trees are uplit in the University Square to the south of the site, facilitating social encounters beneath them.

With the project spanning across 12 acres, Speirs Major worked very closely with the landscape architects and the wider project team to ensure that there was a “seamless integration of lighting into the wider design of the campus”, while creating a sense of coherence and consistency throughout the park. “With the sheer scale of Green Heart, it was important to determine what to illuminate and what to leave unlit,” added Major. “This allowed us to develop a targeted approach that focused on supporting access and routes, along with defined areas of dwell space.”

All circulation routes, planting and “areas of encounter” are lit in a consistent colour temperature – a warm white 3000K that evokes a relaxing character akin to an outdoor living room. The only exception is the water feature’s cascades, which are enhanced using a tonally complementary, cooler white light.

The choice of lighting equipment itself reflects the character of the different elements of the scheme, as Rose explained: “The hierarchy of light intensities is consistently applied sitewide, and the mounting heights of the lighting equipment are similarly scaled. The main routes adjacent to the university buildings have taller, eight and 10-metre timber columns, with multiple spotlights to help reduce the quantity of columns overall.

“For the internal pedestrian routes, four-metre timber columns provide a more human scale and a natural aesthetic that complements the park design. In the darker landscaped zones, the routes are revealed through low-level light only.

“The use of timber for these columns allows them to be more sympathetic to the landscape also, which helps to make it feel less like an urban or regeneration project.”

The scheme also enables 100% internet coverage across the site, so that it can function as an academic space as well as an area of relaxation. This technology was incorporated into the lighting columns, helping to reduce clutter. “Innovation was also incorporated into the project by installing the 13sqm Pavegen, just before the bridge,” Rose added. “Here, footfall actually powers the USB charging points at the nearby workbenches.”

Indeed the efforts made by both Speirs Major and the wider design team have contributed to creating a communal space that is both pleasing on the eye, interestingly and creatively lit, while retaining a sense of security after dark. Major continued: “The overall impression is one that is well-considered, that provides a highly legible, safe and attractive after dark environment – simple and elegant.” 

While Speirs Major has worked on numerous public realm and external lighting projects, the lighting designers commended the university for creating this new, green space in the middle of the built-up academic setting.

“It was brave of the client after building a new library and demolishing the old building that, instead of redeveloping the site with a further building, they chose to retain and develop a large, open landscape,” concluded Major.

“Historically, there was an intention to create a formal open space in the middle of the campus, however the old library did not allow this. Green Heart reinstates the original 1920 axis that runs north to south, and opens up the campus, providing a unique public green space.”

www.smlightarchitecture.com

by Matt Waring

Óðinstorg, Iceland

Lighting designers at Verkís collaborated closely with Basalt Architects to create a seamless, integrated lighting scheme for Reykjavík’s new public square, Óðinstorg.

Literally translated as Odin’s Square, Óðinstorg is a new public space introduced to the heart of the Icelandic capital of Reykjavík.

Previously mostly used as a parking lot, the square is the end result of an urban design competition, in which Basalt Architects and lighting designers at Verkís sought to regenerate the square so that it could fulfil its true potential as a liveable urban space.

The design team proposed that this space would place a special emphasis on winter and darkness – owing to Reykjavík’s location as the northernmost capital city in the world. This meant that the nighttime scene was integral to the design concept, both architecturally and in terms of lighting, from the very beginning.

However, the lighting strategy from Verkís was not of illumination, but rather a “more holistic vision of this area for the night, whereby lighting was based on the elements composing the urban and landscape design, with fixtures becoming integrated into these elements where possible. The purpose, Verkís believe, is to create an inviting atmosphere, even in inclement weather.

Darío Núñez Salazar, Lighting Design Leader at Verkís, explained the lighting concept further: “The idea is always to create the most adequate atmosphere, while being coherent with the architecture and landscape concept. In this case we tried to minimise the use of light poles or luminaires that are perceived just as an added isolated element.

“We rather wanted the light to flow ‘naturally’ from the landscape features. And if really needed, light poles and luminaires would have to be as discreet as possible. This is also to be coherent with the future changes that the city of Reykjavík is making regarding the master lighting plan for the city. We wanted to bring light to the area, without luminaires.”

As the square sits in the middle of a built-up area, Núñez Salazar was keen to include the surrounding buildings within the scene, but as such, extra precautions had to be taken to ensure that any new lighting wouldn’t become obtrusive or invasive to these buildings. “That’s why it was so important to avoid new outstanding visual features,” he said. “We wanted to give some room for a natural character to take form by itself, and then it was all about using the new landscape features and finding every opportunity to integrate light.”

As such, the lighting designers called on recessed or integrated linear fixtures from LightGraphix and iGuzzini, which were embedded into benches, handrails and steps. This decision, Núñez Salazar believes, allows the light to “flow through the landscape and architectural or landscape features,” while avoiding “conventional” luminaires.

Where needed though, area lighting was solved by discreet poles fitted with iGuzzini’s Palco InOut luminaires, that don’t compete with other urban elements.

The design competition for Óðinstorg was launched in late 2015, while Verkís and Basalt Architects were commissioned by the City of Reykjavík to further develop a detailed design for the square in 2018. With the project completed in 2020, Núñez Salazar said that the rapid turnaround time was a slight challenge for the lighting design team, but it didn’t hinder an otherwise enjoyable project.

“As with many other things in Iceland, things needed to be done quite rapidly, but we did have a good time. Especially since most of the concept work was done during the competition phase,” he said.

“I don’t remember this project as a much-suffered one, at least for the lighting. Perhaps the electrical plan was a more complicated story, as during the project we had to switch from conventional lighting controls to smart systems, and the project also needed to be future-proofed.”

Various future-proofing methods were implemented by Verkís; all luminaires are digitally addressable to allow for future connectivity. Meanwhile the current programming setup runs different scenes depending on the season and time of day.

Throughout the project, Verkís worked very closely with Basalt Architects – a practice that is well known for knowing and thinking about light in its work. This meant, according to Núñez Salazar, that the architects “give a lot of respect to qualified lighting designers”.

“That doesn’t mean that you can do whatever you want though. They have a clear vision, not really about the final lighting solution, but about the experiences they want to create, and then they are open to hearing the ideas or thoughts from the lighting designers.”

This close collaboration, from the initial concept stages right through to completion, is an aspect that particularly stood out to Núñez Salazar, as was the attention paid to lighting from the very start. “It is a completely different story when the architects and urban designers start discussing the nighttime vision from the very beginning, and not left as an installation merely needed to illuminate the space during the night.”

This approach has resulted in a space where lighting feels like an integral part of the design and a key aspect of the intended ambience, rather than an afterthought that was retro-actively implemented.

Núñez Salazar added that the lighting brings a special character to the square: “I think once we finished tuning all the light sources, everything now feels in its right place. The integrated lighting brings a special character to the square, without taking too much attention from the things already existing in the area. Even though this was a significant transformation for the space, things feel like they belong there.”

Although completed in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, open-air, public spaces have become integral to facilitating mental health and wellbeing, and Núñez Salazar feels that Óðinstorg is no exception. “This square was meant to provide a welcoming atmosphere both as a place to mingle, and as a transitional space,” he said. “I have walked around it in darkness before and after the restrictions, and I would say that even now that it could look a little ‘empty’, the lighting features inspire optimism that things will again happen there for the better.

“I know that many other things will not change back after the pandemic. I just hope we don’t take a step backwards and become again afraid of the night and darkness. Even so, I believe this square will always invite you to stay a little longer.”

www.verkis.com

by Matt Waring