Landmark Status
Rogier van der Heide examines the extra efforts to which lighting designers need to go to effectively and sensitively illuminate our heritage monuments, with some striking examples.
Some call them “monuments”, others say “heritage” or simply “historic buildings”.
Either way, they are part of our cities and villages and they link our understanding of the present to our collective memories of the past.
Monumental buildings form a critical part of the cityscape. They are often beautiful to look at, they provide your city with uniqueness, charisma, and character, and many of them still function remarkably well, making them a testimony to sustainable building.
Those historic structures, that simply seem to have been there forever, are important for a city to make its citizens feel at home, to create destinations and navigational beacons, to get attached to and to be fond, or even proud of. Who will ever forget the expression of devastation on the faces of the eye witnesses when the Notre Dame of Paris was on fire? For many people, a piece was ripped out of their heart and it was not the cathedral that caught fire, but a whole nation.
The economic relevance of monumental buildings is obvious, too. In European cities – the capitals of the “Old World” after all – historic buildings form a key attraction. A major experience that delights tens of millions of visitors in every city, every year. Their images – by day and night – are broadcast all over the world on Instagram and in the digital photo albums of people everywhere. Chances are slim that Apollodorus of Damascus – the architect of the 2,000 year old Pantheon in Rome, would have thought of that! Good historic buildings may change their function over time, but they remain relevant. It is this relevance that deserves great, imaginative illumination, so those structures can perform their much-needed role in today’s society.
Fortunately, there are more and more lighting schemes of historic buildings that recognise all of the above. Lighting that links historic buildings to their environment rather than detaching them. Lighting that is like a narrative, telling you what you see, by highlighting details and unexpected elements of a façade. Lighting that demonstrates respect to a building that has been watching the city grow and change, and that proudly endures, and stands the test of time.
Eleftheria Deko’s lighting of the Acropolis is a fine example of that. Though it was featured in much greater detail in the previous edition of arc magazine, it is worth mentioning again that Deko’s lighting is fantastic.
The iconoclastic poet Kostas Karyotakis wrote in 1920: “The Acropolis, as a queen up there, wearing the scarlet sunset...” If you have visited Athens you’d agree it’s nothing less than that.
To me, the Acropolis tells the story of civilization. What better could the lighting designer do than connecting the Acropolis’ most important building – the Parthenon – to the city of Athens as it is today? And how she did! By lighting the rock that elevates the Parthenon over the city, a genius gesture that is intuitively understood by all. The result of unconventional thinking, but more importantly, of a profound understanding of the nature, the story, and the cultural relevance of the monument at hand.
Another recent example of outstanding lighting of a historic site is Charles Stone’s illumination of the historic façades of the Bund waterfront in Shanghai. A collaboration between Fisher Marantz Stone and Uno Lai, the scheme aims to be “light for the people” as Stone explains it. What he means is that while the lighting clearly shows the history of the site and its 1930s façades that all remarkably survived, the whiter light firmly positions the Bund in the future of Shanghai. The lighting designers also wanted to show the different kinds of stone of the 27 façades, and reveal those through subtle shifts in colour temperature. It is light that tells a story: the story of a harmonious waterfront, where delicate differences contribute to a holistic approach, as a juxtaposition to the “visual density” and chaotic cacophony of the Pudong district that is for many of us “Shanghai as we know it”.
These two projects demonstrate that the lighting of historic buildings is not about floodlights and wall mounts but all about making an effort to learn, and to discover the true meaning, function and role of the building at hand. Poets and historians will get you further than lighting engineers and project managers. And once you understand, you’ll decide what to emphasise, what to tell, and what to leave up to the imagination of the viewer. That is the magic of great design: to show just so much that the viewer wants to discover more. Our experiences are fuelled by curiosity.
When we illuminated the façades of the National Museum of The Netherlands (the Rijksmuseum), we shifted to revealing greater detail, using less colour, creating lower contrast and embedding the “building image” much better in the Museumplein environment. The building’s night time appearance has become more welcoming, less monumental if you like, and truly a destination of everyone and for everyone – much like how it was intended when it was built at the end of the 19th century. The fact that other European fine art museums of that time used to be palaces that put private collections on display, while the Rijks was built on purpose, with public money that funded both the building and the collection, is truly remarkable. And it is more than worth interpreting in the way the building presents itself at night. That’s how a governmental strategy some 130 years ago inspires a lighting design today.
Buildings and their purpose change over time. An important trend is the refurbishment of existing buildings, giving them new, often commercial, purpose. Think Milan-Post-Office-becomes-Starbucks. Despicable? Not at all!
Often, these commercial investments are the only way for historic buildings to survive these days. Many of them are restored beautifully. And moreover, just like their previous function, their new role is most likely not forever anyways.
The Milan “Palace of Post” has a gorgeous façade, and the lighting by Jason Edling’s Niteo from Seattle plays with theatrical tricks, with contrast and sparkle, to give the building a makeover after it became worn out by its long service for the Italian Post. It is as if it wants to say: I have been rejuvenated! It’s anti-aging at its best. It requires a great sense of detail and again, a profound understanding of the client and the role the monument plays in society.
An even better example of such a redevelopment is perhaps the Palais Hansen in Vienna. Named after its architect, Theophil Hansen, who designed it as a hotel for the World Expo of 1873. Two years later, it was converted into an apartment building. Being a purely neo-classical façade, the Palais Hansen has defined this part of the “Schottenring” avenue. The government sold the palace to Kempinski, who committed to renovating it and emphasising its original Greek-inspired splendour.
With a lighting design by Dan Hodgson of acdc, the façade obtained an incredible subtlety without disappearing from the streetscape. The monochrome lighting – that actually leaves many areas of the façade in dimmed illumination – symbolises understated luxury: the trademark of Kempinski. It works out perfectly on this classic façade. The statue of Nike – the Greek goddess of victory – at the top of the façade receives a well-deserved highlight, telling the story of Hansen’s inspiration, that he got when he worked in Athens.
The lighting of historic façades and buildings is great fun, but a great responsibility too. It is like Howard Brandston said: “when you start to have an awareness of the world, it is a richer experience”.
IALD: Certification is Serious
David Becker, Chair of the Certified Lighting Designer Commission, speaks to lighting designers around the world on the importance of gaining proper certification.
Having been involved with the Certified Lighting Designer (CLD) programme from its stirrings, initially as a member of the Certification Feasibility Task Force and in recent years as Chair of the CLD governing Commission, I’ve had the pleasure in various ways and at various times to present the value and importance of certification.
We are kidding ourselves, deluded even, if we blithely think our vocation can forever skirt the norms and standards expected of other professional services. Fellow Aussie, Andrew Jaques, CLD and Director of Australian and German firm, The Flaming Beacon, underpins the problem of the profession: “Certification is a much needed and important step for the maturing of our young industry, one that would help architects and clients to have greater confidence in us as professional architectural lighting designers.” Luke Ellis, CLD and Associate IALD, and Senior Lighting Designer at EOS Lighting in Vancouver, Canada also recognises the need for professional recognition: “I saw CLD as the epitome of assessment for our unique and global profession, which would justify our role in the AEC industry.”
Anyone Can Call Themselves A Lighting Designer
It’s simply untenable that anyone, without regard to talent, aptitude or experience, can trade as an architectural lighting designer. Sure, talented people eventually acquire a reputation, which defines their competency, but what about those who don’t possess talent? Isn’t that a risk to the profession? By enabling unskilled people to masquerade as “professional” lighting designers we promote the idea that anyone can do it and, therefore, it requires no expertise.
Vladan Paunovic, IALD, CLD and Creative Lead Designer at Ramboll Architectural Lighting Design, from a Danish perspective, states the need for a credential to offset the flimsiness of “lighting designer” as a professional moniker: “This could be a guy who just sells gobos in an online shop or someone working in manufacturing, with no understanding of design,” says Paunovic. “These people are doing nothing wrong; they are just being creative to commercialise their business positions. CLD has brought an elegant solution to this problem.”
Paunovic particularly likes the unpretentiousness of the CLD concept; it gives the necessary recognition to individuals who can demonstrate skill through their portfolio regardless of scale, project type or budget. Tejas Doshi, IALD, CLD and Chief Design Officer of Light & Beyond in India, reinforces the need for certification: “CLD differentiates me from others because in India every Tom, Dick and Harry calls themselves a lighting designer whether they are qualified or not.”
Why Licensure Doesn’t Work For Lighting Designers
In some quarters, this unsustainable situation has promoted a discussion of licensure. However, the world of licensing is a dramatic step that would have consequences many designers do not understand. Licensure is a compulsory regime that would restrict trade to a specified territory (that’s what licenses do) and would require passing a mandatory test or examination. Rosemarie Allaire, FIALD, CLD of RALD in the USA and Vice Chair of the CLD Commission, highlights problems with a licensing model: “In the United States, a license would need to be issued by 50 different states and 14 territories,” states Allaire. “What would be the licence requirements? An exam? Experience? Who would decide? Undertaking and coordinating this huge process would take years. And what would be the costs to each state (and the individual)? CLD solves this – it is a voluntary application not restricted to any particular jurisdiction. It’s a system of self-regulation developed by the profession and assessment is undertaken by trained lighting designers who understand the standards expected in the industry.”
In a licensed environment it would be illegal to practise as a lighting designer without a license. Licencing would also be something our profession would have little or no control over, in terms of what constitutes competency and how it would be administrated – licences are typically managed by government appointed authorities, and all that that implies.
Created For Lighting Designers By Lighting Designers
CLD is an initiative that steps into this void, a certification programme that is voluntary, designed by architectural lighting designers, assessed by lighting professionals and independently governed by an autonomous commission of lighting industry experts. CLD has no territorial limits and is designed as a global standard. It measures proficiency through written responses submitted by the applicant to a published range of questions supported by portfolio evidence. Spanish lighting designer, Marta Coda, CLD shares: “the value of certification is huge… only if we make lighting design serious with certification will it be recognised as a profession.”
Like all certification programmes, CLD requires continuing education. Ta-Wei Lin, CLD, IALD of CMA Lighting Design from Taiwan says: “CLD is a clarion call that our profession is as important as an architect, interior designer and engineer. It proves that I have holistic knowledge of the practices of lighting design. It also means I have to keep educating myself with new information and training.”
At our fingertips we have CLD, a system designed to deal with an existential threat. By contrast, licensure seems not only inappropriate for the needs of the architectural lighting design profession but a distraction and unrealistic in any foreseeable timeframe. Rather than a mandatory academic test, CLD is a voluntary assessment process that asks the candidate to respond to a standard set of questions using their portfolio as supporting evidence. It’s a system that defines proficiency through proven experience. No written exam can capture proficiency in practice or artistic merit.
The Fight To Maintain Relevance
Rachel Fitzgerald, CLD, IALD and Senior Associate at Stantec shines a North American light on the predicament: “Lighting designers are in a fight to maintain relevance in an ever-evolving industry, competing more and more with sales representatives and design/build electrical contractors. Shouldn’t we have a metric for gauging if lighting designers are qualified and capable of doing this highly skilled work?
“CLD helps distinguish both myself and my firm’s lighting design services, demonstrating proficiency on the basis of evidence. Certification is a true differentiator that can clearly identify qualified lighting design professionals.”
Other leading lighting designers around the world agree. Andreas Schulz, IALD, CLD and Principal of Licht Kunst Licht in Germany conveys his enthusiasm for certification: “As CLD is the first global evidence-based assessment of proficiency in lighting design, I was immediately convinced that I needed to be part of it. CLD is the basis to raise awareness and respect for our profession.”
The views above highlight a remarkable consistency of outlook around the globe. But any certification programme, voluntary by nature, only has currency when it achieves critical mass – there must be a significant number of certified practitioners for the system to have meaning and value. With a large representation of certified lighting designers (CLDs) the credential will have real clout. Julia Hartman, CLD and IALD, Principal at Lightsphere in Switzerland concludes: “the acceptance and recognition (of our profession) can only work when we get a greater acceptance and awareness of CLD.”
David Morgan Review: Zumtobel Vivo II
Late last year, Zumtobel unveiled the Vivo II range - its latest collection of versatile spotlights for the architectural lighting market. Here, David Morgan takes a closer look at the range.
As one of the largest global luminaire companies, Zumtobel has played an important role as a technical innovator and partner for architects and lighting designers for more than 70 years.
The company was founded by Dr Walter Zumtobel in 1950 in Dornbirn, Austria, as a manufacturer of ballasts for fluorescent lamps. Fluorescent lamps had been developed and commercialised in the USA during the 1940s. Dr Zumtobel spotted the commercial opportunity in Europe for this emerging sector of the lighting market. Very quickly, the company moved into the production of complete fluorescent luminaires and this was the foundation for the growth of the company for decades to come. Dr Zumtobel was keen to produce innovative luminaire designs and the company pioneered a number of industry ‘firsts’ while collaborating with leading architects, product designers and, latterly, artists.
The company has sales offices and partners in more than 90 countries and 13 plants on four continents, including the new Tridonic component factory in Serbia. It has over 6,000 employees with more than 550 staff involved with R&D and nearly 5,000 patents; innovation is fundamental to the Group’s staying power.
From the outset, Zumtobel has pioneered the development of energy efficient lighting systems and has more recently committed to a fully sustainable approach to all operations.
With its four main brands, Zumtobel, Thorn, acdc, and Tridonic the company has been able to work with a variety of distribution channels in the lighting market, from wholesaler distribution to specification by architects and designers.
The Vivo 2 is one of the latest new product ranges from Zumtobel. The range is modular and includes three sizes of interior projectors developed for a wide variety of retail display and architectural lighting applications. Apparently, there are more than two million options available across the range. The three sizes of luminaire body can be mounted onto tracks, on surface plates, semi recessed into ceilings, or suspended as pendants. All versions use a COB LED as the light source and a series of reflectors, fixed angle lenses and zoom lenses can be attached and removed from the spotlights without the use of tools. The lens versions, which will be released later this year, have a specific light engine configuration so that the lens and reflector versions will not be interchangeable.
The Vivo 2 samples I was given to test were all of the reflector type and produced a nice, clean distribution with all the reflector beam widths. The twist lock reflector mechanism worked well. I was rather surprised to discover that there was no protective window over the COB LED which could be vulnerable to damage during reflector changes or the build-up of dirt over the years of use.
Dimming is via DALI and a wireless option based on Casambi is also available.
The smallest size – 75mm diameter – produces up to 2,800 lumens with a 4000K, 80 CRI light engine; the mid-size (95mm diameter) produces up to 4,400 lumens; and the largest size (115mm diameter produces 6,400 lumens with an efficiency of over 100 lumens per Watt at 63 Watts with a 4000K, 80 CRI LED light engine.
To achieve the maximum lumen output for the largest size in the range, an exposed driver integrated track adapter is the only option due to thermal management requirements. However, for the lower output versions of this size, and for the smaller diameter spotlights, there is a fully recessed driver integrated track adapter version available. The large and medium sizes offer an integral driver option. The luminaires are available in nine colours and finishes and a front trim ring can be fitted in contrasting or matching colours.
The detail design of the Vivo 2 range is very well-executed to minimise assembly time costs and eliminate screw fixings wherever possible, which has the added potential benefit of making disassembly at the end of life quick and simple.
In each spotlight’s body assembly, there are only four screw fixings, two to hold the COB LED holder onto the body casting heat sink and two more to clamp the hinge joint. All the other components are held by snap fits or twist lock details. The range of reflectors moulded in polycarbonate with vacuum metalised finish twist into position in the spotlight body and can be easily removed and replaced without the need for tools. The moulded front ring holds the reflectors and can also accept anti-glare and other accessories. The integral mains voltage driver used in the larger sizes slides neatly into place from the back of the spotlight and the LED holder makes a direct electrical connection between the driver PCB and the contacts on the COB LED, while also locking the driver securely in place. The back cover that encloses the driver-snap fits neatly into place in the body casting.
The hinge mechanism is an industry standard type used in notebook computers that are designed for a large number of folding cycles without losing strength or friction and thus providing an extended product life.
It is understood that the Vivo 2 has been designed to fit into a circular economy model and this has clearly affected many of the detail design decisions made during the development of the range. To extend the product life, the COB LED is designed to be easily removed and replaced with only two fixing screws. This is said to extend the product life to 100,000 hours. I assume that the reason for limiting the replacement of the LED to one change is that the driver life is likely be around 100,000 hours as it includes electrolytic capacitors, which will tend to fail within this timescale. However, the ease of driver replacement would seem to open the possibility of cost-effectively changing both LED and driver to further extend the product life. It is likely that driver design and technology will develop over the next 10 to 15 years, so by that time driver life may be much longer than it is at the moment.
The Vivo 2 development took two years to complete. The Viennese-based product design company EOOS, who have worked with Zumtobel on a variety of previous projects, were responsible for the design, with development being undertaken by the in-house engineering team. In a product promotional video presented by Harald Gründl, one of the founder designers of EOOS, he explains how many of the components of the product range can be either reused or recycled as part of a circular economy model. This is a frequently discussed topic at the moment with many manufacturers promoting their circular economy credentials. In this instance I wondered how easy it would be to recycle the polycarbonate reflector mouldings used in the Vivo 2 range with their aluminium coatings. It was also suggested that the body castings could be reused as part of complete new products, which may well be possible. However, again I wondered if, in 15 years’ time, retail spotlights will need to be as physically large as the Vivo 2 range or if they will even need aluminium heat sinks of these dimensions, given the continuing rise in LED efficiency and safe operating temperatures.
Nonetheless, the Vivo 2 range is a very well-designed and soundly engineered range and has already been well received by specifiers and customers, with orders from a number of European retailers already received.
Manal Kahale - Light for Lebanon
Following last year’s devastating explosion in Beirut, lighting designer Manal Kahale has been working with Light Reach on Light for Lebanon, an initiative designed to bring light back to the city. She tells arc’s Sarah Cullen all about the project.
Since the devasting explosion in Beirut in August 2020, which has been noted as the most powerful non-nuclear blast on record, lighting designer Manal Kahale has been working relentlessly to bring light back to the communities of the city to aid in its healing and repair.
arc Assistant Editor Sarah Cullen found out more about the lighting initiative, Light for Lebanon, from Kahale and how the journey to restoring power to the people of Beirut began. Kahale first became interested in a career in lighting after the desire to pursue numerous different career options as a student. It wasn’t until a close family member sparked the idea of lighting that she investigated an education in the field. “In the 3,980 possible professions I wanted to pursue, none were loosely associated with lighting design. But that started to change when my father began sharing article after article about how lighting design was making an impact on the world,” explained Kahale. “The simplicity of it was so mesmerising. You didn’t need a sea of concrete or a massive overhaul to create something beautiful. All you need is a light and an angle.
“I went to a French school growing up in Lebanon, then to the American University of Beirut for my Bachelor’s degree in Landscape Design and Eco-Management. After that, I went to New York City right away where I had applied to Parsons [School of Design | The New School], hoping with every bone of my body to get in so I could be in the city of lights learning about lights (as cheesy as it may seem now that I look back).”
After getting accepted at Parsons, during the summer between her two-year Master’s programme, Kahale worked a two-month back-to-back window to gain more experience in the lighting industry. It was during this time she was eager to “get a sense of where I wanted to practice lighting after I graduated: in the US or in the Middle East”.
Her first work experience placement in lighting was with Lumascence in Dubai where she interned for a month. Immediately preceding this placement, she took an internship role at One Lux in New York for another month, before classes at Parsons resumed. “Even if I didn’t have my answer yet, it made me feel good to have had a taste of both lighting worlds as I finished my last year at Parsons,” she reflected.
After gaining her work experience in Dubai, Kahale understood that “Dubai had bigger plans for itself than Beirut or any other Lebanese city, and it inspired me to urbanely modernise my home country someday as well.
“Honestly, it’s only when you get into the world of design that you pay attention to the layers of design. Some of them, such as lighting, are an intangible aspect, malleable and adjustable to our wildest imagination. So, why not pursue a career that will help me materialise my imagination?”
Prior to her graduation at Parsons, Kahale became acquainted with Stephen Lees of HLB Lighting, who helped her gain an insight into their offices and work ethics. This was shortly followed by a job offer: “I quickly took the job at HLB’s office in Los Angeles, where I spent four years with a great team working on over 25 projects.
“During my last year on the job, I was very lucky having three mentors in the firm – Teal Brogden, Tina Aghassian and Azusa Yabe – who each opened me up to new ideas and endeavours. I started playing with the idea of expanding the expertise in the Middle East, where I knew there was a need for professional lighting design. They taught me how to study this kind of project, but circumstances made it that upon my return to Lebanon, the revolution started and shifted my career path entirely.”
Kahale continues to receive help and support from her mentors, including Aghassian’s involvement in Light for Lebanon as a fundraising ambassador.
“HLB is not only a high profile and reputable studio, but also a school for lighting designers who wish to push the boundaries and improve each other’s presence in the industry. Being my first permanent position, it set the right benchmark for my future endeavours,” she explained.
Aghassian is also noted as one of Kahale’s top four lighting heroes she seeks inspiration from, not just in professional circumstances, but in personal too: “[She] is the heart. It’s all about the heart and how far it can take you.” She also notes three other female inspirations in the industry: “Teal Brogden: The feminine leader. Being around her is enough to learn how to talk about lighting and how to earn respect as a woman. I still catch myself asking ‘What would Teal do?’.
“Azusa Yabe: The Brain. Watching her juggle between life, work and still be on top of everything has always inspired me that we can have it all and still make the best out of it. And Nathalie Rozot: The Rebel. Challenging the normal attribution to the lighting world and showing me an entirely different world aside from the corporate one that needs as much attention.”
The blast in Beirut last year that led to the destruction of numerous buildings in the heart of the city ignited a movement of younger generations to help those affected by the disaster. “The blast impaired the city’s electrical infrastructure and plunged it into complete darkness after sunset,” remembers Kahale. “It was only when I was heading down to Beirut along with all the young generations in Lebanon to try and save families, friends and cultural heritage from the damage that I started seeing young professionals create groups amongst themselves to give back to our country. This active independent thrive we all felt inside inspired me to help out with lighting.”
As a direct effect of the loss of electricity, local communities were facing safety and security issues, with citizens deprived of street lighting and public space lighting as well as domestic interior lighting.
“I reached out to my former thesis professor at Parsons, Nathalie Rozot, remembering how her global charitable initiative Light Reach had supported communities in areas of disaster with a replicable solar lighting model. Within hours, we set-up to collaborate on a new Light Reach programme - Light for Lebanon - to help revive Beirut.
“And ever since, we have been working full-time trying to help residents feel safe at night without having to rely on a broken system, with a broken electric infrastructure, a collapsing economy and a pandemic to top it all off.”
Using her educational experience, Kahale incorporates all aspects of her Landscape and Urban Planning techniques when approaching new projects. “I like to look at the macro-scale - analyse the context to create a solution unique to the building, its community and the end user. Then I get into the micro-scale, studying closely the programme of the space, the wayfinding layer as well as the materials and the different effects it can receive, to finally proposing a layout that would make sense to the site itself, connecting fields involved in the project, in a uniform way.”
Light for Lebanon’s most immediate goal is to procure solar lighting to residents directly affected by the explosion. In addition, solar streetlights and solar security flood lights will be implemented in phases across the city’s affected areas. These steps will help lay the groundwork for the team’s long-term plans for solar lighting products to be repurposed and integrated into wider urban lighting masterplan initiatives and contribute to broaden the use of solar power throughout Beirut and in turn, Lebanon.
“We hope to achieve this by showing people that with all that’s going on, whether economically, politically, or health-wise, there is always a solution to having a right for light. And keeping the community involved helps create workshops that allow residents to understand the models applied and hopefully replicate in other cities, making a larger impact when it comes to sustainable design and economy solutions with a fossil fuel-free system.”
At the beginning of the initiative’s implementation in the community, Kahale noted their momentum was slowed due to the lack of efficiency in the public sector, but once they yielded positive results, there was something tangible to present to the residents.
“This helped us in picking up the pace of our operations, as more and more neighbourhoods flocked to us for assistance.
“We measure our success by the number of smiles we put on people’s faces during hard times, and we are fuelled by the potential positive changes to come. We hope to lift 1,000 homes out of darkness by Spring, paralleled by the objective we have for lighting up streets and entryways.”
Looking forward to 2021 and beyond, Kahale encourages fellow lighting colleagues to support the project, whether through funding or spreading awareness.
“We need all the support we can get to make it happen with an impact. The biggest contribution would definitely be in helping us raise awareness and funds. And after that, having individuals help on the ground in workshops or installations would be something we would be looking for as soon as we have all our ducks in a row to take on a few different locations in Beirut.”
Commenting on the current world of lighting design and her predictions for how the industry is moving forward, she said: “The lighting design world will become a necessity instead of a luxury.
“The complex layers of lighting will be changing so fast, adapting to the world and the fast-growing technology. We will be going from IES to LTD plug-ins to fully immersive virtual reality programme plug-ins. But this is the easy part in my opinion. The challenge would be standardising lighting design to be able to cater with one set of progressing tools, the developed, as well as the underdeveloped countries.
“As lighting designers, we are mediators between what the end user wants and/or needs, and the product demand; having the power to establish trends. And the future seems to be heading towards a conscientious trend, hopefully (post 2020-21 disasters).
“The entire world has gone crazy, but crazy inspires solutions and allows room for something new; this is what I am focused on.”
www.lightreach.net/light-for-lebanon
@lightreachnet
@lightforleb
Paul Traynor
Shortly after he was named as Head of Light Bureau, arc sat down with Paul Traynor to discuss the career journey that led to this point.
The turn of the year saw the news break that Paul Traynor had been named as Head of Light Bureau, returning to the top of the studio that he founded 22 years ago.
Established by Traynor in February 1999, Light Bureau merged with Scandinavian lighting design consultants ÅF Lighting in 2017 – the culmination of a journey that saw the practice grow from a small, three-man team operating out of Battersea, UK, to an international studio of more than 100 designers.
It has been a long journey for Traynor, who despite not forming Light Bureau until the age of 32, has always held a fascination with light, dating back to when he was a child.
“I’ve always loved light. I remember I had a dartboard in my bedroom and it was really important to me to have the right light fitting, with the right lamp source to illuminate it,” he said. “My dad was qualified in the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers, and when we were at home, he was always in the garage fixing stuff, making stuff. So, inspired by him, I would take bits that were broken or thrown out, and make new things, and I made lights out of recycled things.
“I didn’t imagine a career in designing lighting in an architectural sense, but I certainly felt that there was something that you could do creatively with light as a product.”
Indeed it wasn’t until his early 20s when Traynor, then working in Electrical Engineering, became aware that lighting design was a career he could pursue after speaking to someone studying lighting at the Bartlett School of Architecture at a Concord Marlin showroom party.
Before this, Traynor left school at 16 and took up an apprenticeship at the project design office of Pfizer, where he worked as a draughtsman. “It was a really fantastic time, the people in the project office were very enlightened and very culturally aware,” Traynor recalled. “I felt a really good connection with them, they were really inspiring and fun, and I realised when I was doing that, that it was an environment where I could imagine spending more of my time.”
Following his apprenticeship, a 20-year-old Traynor looked to pursue his other passion – photography – by applying for a Diploma in Photography at Medway College of Design. However, the course was full, so instead he moved to London, where he planned on working as a draughtsman for a year before applying the following year.
It was a decision that proved providential, as it was during this time that Traynor became more interested in lighting as a career path, leading to that fateful night at Concord’s showroom.
“Working in Electrical Engineering, I became really interested in the lighting aspects of it, to the point that I always wanted to do the lighting, I wasn’t so interested in the other parts of the job,” he said. “So I took a job at architects RMJM – Robert Matthew Johnson Marshall. I specialised in lighting working there, and I did a little project at Earls Court, and had a lot of smaller landscape projects as well. So I developed my skillset there.”
During this time, Traynor also enrolled in a four-year, part-time course at South Bank University, studying Energy Engineering. This gave him the chance to gain a decent qualification, and expand on his knowledge and skillset further.
“It was a fantastic course,” Traynor elaborated. “There was quite a lot about lighting on it, and I was able to make a lot of my final year about lighting too. But more than anything, it prepared me very well for becoming self-employed, because you have to be very resourceful to juggle a full-time job with part-time study, and like any degree course, you’ve got to structure your time and your work really carefully. So that gave me a lot of confidence in terms of how I could tackle my work.”
By the time Traynor finished his degree at South Bank University, he was working as a lighting specialist at Aukett, an architect-led multidisciplinary office. While he became involved in a lot more projects here, he was also getting calls from former colleagues to consult on lighting projects – a bonus for him, but a potential conflict of interest for his employers. This, coupled with Traynor meeting his future wife, who also worked at the company as an interior designer, led to him leaving Aukett to look for a role at a dedicated lighting firm.
“I did the rounds and was offered at least three good jobs, but only one of them was actually offering some sort of significant career path to an equity or partnership level, so I took that.” He said. “But within a few months, it became clear that I had different limitations and obstacles placed in front of me, because they were mainly active as design and supply. Working as a fee-based lighting designer was quite hard, so for that reason I decided I was going to have to go.
“But I had already done the rounds 10 months before, trying other practices and seeing what they had to offer. I was pretty sure it wouldn’t have changed that much, so I decided the only realistic opportunity was to set up on my own, so that’s what I did.”
And so, Light Bureau was born. From its inception, Traynor was quickly able to build up a strong portfolio of projects through relationships that he had built up with architects over the years. This included projects such as Accenture’s headquarters in London, Sun Microsystems, BT in Sevenoaks, and a large ad agency at Greater London House.
Despite this head start, Traynor said that his ambitions when establishing Light Bureau remained relatively modest: “I wasn’t sure what to expect when I set up. There wasn’t a grand plan, it was pretty much ‘I wonder whether if I set this up, will people give me work? If I need someone to help me, how will I do that?’ It was just a case of setting something up with an ambition for staying in business more than three months or six months.”
However, after just two weeks, Traynor had to employ his first member of staff due to the rapidly growing workload. “At the time, you start off as a generalist, so you’re designing, you’re the entrepreneur, you’re doing the invoicing, doing CAD, Photoshop and all of that,” he said. “But after a while you realise that’s an issue. If you want to service your clients well, you need to get some help.”
This led to Traynor first recruiting a former lighting design colleague, and then his stepbrother, a graphic designer, and eventually another up and coming lighting designer by the name of Paul Nulty.
From there things grew relatively organically for Light Bureau, with the team expanding gradually as the firm gained more momentum and won more projects, eventually reaching 12 people in 2006, which Traynor feels “has been quite a good fighting weight for us since then”.
Indeed it was in 2006 when Traynor began to feel that he, and Light Bureau, had really “arrived” on the scene. He recalled: “I was on a riverboat cruise on some lighting industry thing and I was talking to Mark Major, and he was asking how many people we had. I said 12 people, and he said ‘well, you’re about the same size as us in London’. I thought ‘wow, that’s incredible’. I hadn’t expected that would be the case.
“We also started getting big international projects around 2006. We won a big master plan project in Moscow with KPF Architects and Lovejoy, which was a really significant project that for me was a great prize for having developed the business and developed a reputation. We also won the NATO headquarters in 2006 with SOM, which was another massive international project.”
Despite winning these larger projects, Traynor doesn’t believe that there was one particular, stand-out project that put Light Bureau on the map – instead he feels that the studio’s consistent output of user-focused projects, regardless of size, is what has helped them to stand out.
“I wouldn’t say that there was a groundswell and there was one project that did it for us,” he said. “There have been significant projects, like NATO’s headquarters, but the kind of projects that we want to talk about and are proud of, sometimes, are the really small ones, but ones where we’ve managed to bring our values very much to bear.
“For instance, a project that we talk about a lot is the Yellow Pavilion, which we did with Hall McKnight in 2016. It was only there for a month, but the design experience of that project, and how we translated our design ethics into the lit result were things that we really enjoyed about that project. And then recently the Maggie’s Centre in Leeds – again, it’s quite simple, it’s quite small, and the reason for designing the building that way, and why we designed our lighting in a corresponding way, was because of the user. So for us, that’s an important project because it’s a community project.”
This focus on community-oriented projects has led Traynor, and Light Bureau as a whole, to enjoy public realm projects that can be enjoyed by many. Traynor cited the master plan of the island of Svalbard in the Arctic Circle as a particularly interesting public realm project for him. “It was a very unique site where you couldn’t take the principles of the master plan of another public realm scheme as with the local conditions, it was very specific, so we had to design principles around that specific case,” he explained.
When it comes to public realm projects, Traynor added: “We want to play to a wider audience. It’s all very well working on an amazing private residential project, but it’s going to be one person or one family who gets to enjoy that. For us, if we want to play to a wider audience, the public realm projects are the ones that we probably like doing the most.”
That being said, Traynor added that throughout Light Bureau’s tenure, the overriding philosophy has consistently been to use lighting as a tool for the architecture, rather than light for light’s sake.
“As a core philosophy, it was never about making something that just looked good as a concept, it was always about how rigorously it was detailed. I think because of my background in engineering, resolving designs and working things out in a high level of detail, that was always really important to me.
“Light as craft, as we say, and that very much comes out of not just having a nice idea, but coming up with something that is essentially quite interesting. And I think our approach has remained quite consistent. We don’t want to make lighting the thing about the project. Instead we use lighting to find the thing about the project that deserves to be lit, that should be lit. We’re very much about supporting the architectural and interior design objectives, coming up with something that is simple but beautiful, something that is really measured and considered, but not making it into a statement in its own right.”
This considered approach no doubt contributed enormously to Light Bureau becoming one of the most well-established, highly regarded lighting design practices in the UK, until October 2017, when it was announced that the firm was merging with Scandinavian lighting design consultants ÅF Lighting.
Traynor explained further how this merger came about: “I met Kai Piippo [ÅF Lighting’s Head of Design] about 24 years ago at a PLDA meeting in Prague. He had set his business up shortly before. We became good friends, and when we met at lighting events, we would always compare notes, and he had the same pain points as me – things like managing staff and salaries, accounts and billing, management and admin, which is not really what you sign up for when you start a design practice. He struggled in the same way that I did, so he sold his business to ÅF in 2013, which I was really surprised about.
“I saw him at PLDC in Copenhagen and asked him about it, he said how frustrated he was. He said ‘I had the best lighting design business in Sweden, one of the best in Scandinavia, but I felt like a sports car sitting at a traffic light next to a Ford Mondeo. The lights go green and I put my foot down but my wheels are just spinning while this Ford Mondeo sails past me’. He wanted to be somewhere where he got the structure and support, and was allowed to focus on the creative part of the business and on design.
“Every time I saw him after that he was looking increasingly relaxed and fulfilled, and in 2016 he said that they were thinking of acquiring a business in the UK, because they felt that it was a good way of getting into international business. I was interested for the same reasons as Kai. I thought ‘if it’s worked for him, then this looks like something that I could get involved with.’”
Since the merger, which was finalised in October 2017 and eventually saw ÅF Lighting rebrand to Light Bureau in 2019, Traynor feels that he has noticed a difference, saying: “there’s something very comforting about being part of a big organisation – there are more responsibilities, but a lot of the things that I was hoping would improve did improve.” And while the UK office remained relatively separate to the rest of the ÅF team – operating as a self-sufficient, separate business for the past three years, there has been a strong sense of collaboration across the offices.
“We want to go international, but we are doing it in a limited way. What has been good is that there’s been a strong cooperation between the offices,” he explained.
“For instance, we were overrun with work in the UK in the summer, but there was not so much happening in Stockholm, so we were giving parts of the project to Stockholm, just to deliver the background work on that. We’ve also taken on projects from Oslo when they were overrun. Sharing work between the offices and off-handing work to others has been very successful.
“But the plan now is to fully embrace that one business kind of culture and start to find big international opportunities. It’s all about the whole company objective.”
Another area of ÅF Lighting that stood out to Traynor at the time of the merger was its educational avenue, the ÅF Academy. “I’m formally knowledge sharing already on the Hochschule Wismar course, and do an occasional lecture at KTH in Stockholm too, so for me, knowledge sharing was a really important thing for my future,” he explained.
“One of the reasons that I was keen to get involved with AFRY was that, getting into my 50s, I didn’t know if I wanted my role to remain the same as it had for the past 19 years. I wanted to develop, and it was important to me for the sake of succession within the business that other people could come through without me being a blockage. It was also important to me that I could develop my role into something that was more central, and the ÅF Academy seemed like a good way of doing that.
“We implemented that at the end of 2018, and I started to travel around to the different offices, giving lectures and doing design exercises. It was a really good experience, and the feedback has been very positive.”
In a move to take the ÅF Academy further, Light Bureau recruited KTH Programme Director Rodrigo Muro on a part-time basis to develop and create a strong structure and backbone to the programme. And while the world has been rocked by a global pandemic, and Scandinavia recovers from a recession, Traynor has the ÅF Academy firmly at the forefront of his campaign in his new role as Head of Light Bureau.
The opportunity for this new role, a position previously held by Zlatan Idnert, came about towards the end of last year, as Traynor explained: “I never had any expectations that I would take on the role as Head of Light Bureau overall. But Zlatan Idnert was also running AFRY’s sound and vibrations business, Efterklang, and I think he was finding it difficult to make any meaningful headway with Light Bureau, as well as trying to run his first business, so he flagged me as someone who could take over.
“So I had a meeting, which turned into an interview, and I was surprisingly offered the job. My first reaction was ‘I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to become a manager, I want to carry on working on projects.’ But having got over the initial surprise, I thought that this could be a great opportunity if I wanted to do something that was more central, and it also opens a lot of opportunities for me to tie the cultures together between the offices, something that I think is really important.
“There’s a lot in common between all of our offices and now 100 designers, but there are quite a lot of differences as well. I’m not trying to iron out the local differences, I think it’s good to have local identities and different ways of doing things, but I think an overarching culture is really interesting, so I wanted to start bringing those things together.”
Other aspirations for Traynor include addressing the increasing demand for sustainable solutions as more clients seek to become carbon net zero. “I think we’re in a position now where we need to stop being responsive. We need to take more steps forward so that when clients are asking for these things, we’re not in a situation where we’re having to look into it. We should have these values and this manifesto of our own so that when clients talk to us, they have an understanding of what we can do for them and how we would work, and the things that we regard as important.
“I would also like to see us being more accountable and more responsible in what we do. I would like to see us doing more serious work, something that really has purpose, rather than something that makes someone’s project look pretty.
“I think now, with all the disruption surrounding energy, sustainability, the pandemic and our ways of working, there’s a chance to rewrite the script, and to be able to do that as Head of Light Bureau is a really good opportunity.”
Instilling this strong sense of culture is something that is really important for Traynor going forward, as he believes that a company’s attitude and approach is what it should be judged on, rather than its size.
“A lot of people talk about the scale of the business, but I don’t think that we should ever talk to one another about how many employees we have, and think that we’re important because we’ve got more people – I think that’s wrong. It’s much more important that you’re working in a good way, you’re doing good projects, the culture is really strong, the beliefs are all healthy; it’s much more important to be good than to be big.
“I think because we’re a large organisation, we do want to grow so that we can cover more territories and open the doors to more marketplaces. I think we will grow, but we will only grow once we’ve got a common direction and we’re doing things in a really good way and working really well as a cohesive unit.”
Looking to the future, Traynor believes that lighting design as a profession will continue to gain grounds in terms of its credibility as a standalone profession, or as part of a combined profession. This is thanks, in part, to the significantly increased opportunities available to young designers starting out now.
“When I look at some of the opportunities that were available to me 22 years ago, there weren’t that many places where I could go and work. I think that the lighting industry is in a good position now because it’s become so well established, and I think that is because of the foundation laid by the early protagonists. You take the level of skill and knowledge that we have now, and it’s way higher than it was 20 years ago.
“When I was hiring people 18 years ago, you wouldn’t expect to hire someone with a formal background in lighting education, but now it’s quite unusual that you wouldn’t, because it’s become much more established and people are recognising sooner that lighting design can be a career that they’re getting into earlier. Where I was starting my business at the age of 32 with a fairly crude skill set, I think I probably would have been better by 10 years if I recognised that it was a career opportunity earlier.”
Nevertheless, as the newly appointed Head of Light Bureau, Traynor will hope to use his position to foster a strong culture, healthy environment, and positive approach for the lighting designers of the future.
Emma Cogswell
arc catches up with Emma Cogswell to find out more about her new venture - The Skills Army, which has been established as a tool to help young designers find their way around the lighting industry.
How did you get into lighting?
I was incredibly fortunate to have been taught lighting by the illustrious Mary Rushton-Beales. Lighting was a module on my interior design course, and this was a catalyst into my lighting adventures. What started out as a six-week trial saw me catapulted to Dubai in the mid 90s, where we worked on some of the early shopping malls and hotels. For the next decade we saw the desert turn into a metropolis, I was captivated. I also became interested in the effects of light on human health and the wider environment. This has since become a very hot topic with biophilic design assisting us to live and work in more healthy spaces for mind, body and productivity. In 2001 I was introduced to the IALD, which lead me to many new relationships. These became a rich source of inspiration as I met some of the worlds’ most famous architects, including Tadao Ando, Zaha Hadid, and Daniel Libeskind; not to mention being able to make friends with lighting nobility such as Charles Stone, Andreas Schulz, Rogier Van de Heide, Mark Major, Motoko Ishii and her wonderful daughter Lisa Ishii, and many more; each person explained their inspirations and passion for the job, it became infectious.
Can you describe your lighting career so far?
Fantastic! There can’t be many other jobs where no two days are the same? I am trained in architectural lighting but playing with lights at festivals and workshops has been a great way to learn. The privileges I have had are almost too many to mention, from lighting the Tower of London, to being at the top of a minaret at the Oxford Islamic centre. It’s been a voyage of discovery. The last few years have seen my work change towards a more educational bias - taking part in light festivals such as Lights in Alingsås. I’m also incredibly proud to have developed the 100W challenge with Simon Thorp at LAPD and Stuart Knox of LED Linear, where teams were invited to light a whole house using only 100W. Being able to be part of the SLL Masterclass was also hugely rewarding and enabled me to brush up on my presenting skills.
What is the Skills Army? How was it created?
The Skills Army is the culmination of all my experience and an open invitation to all the people I have met along the way to share their wisdom. To enable others to gain insight, have confidence and feel prepared to take that next step in their career journey, in lighting and the built environment. It was created from a conversation with a young architect who asked if I was able to help with a series of skills, such as writing a CV, interview techniques, social media tips and effective networking. I set about gathering information and compiling a series of links to available resources, to help people find their way around the lighting industry, to encourage them to look at lighting as a possible career option.
What are your ambitions for Skills Army? What do you hope to bring to the lighting community?
My aim is to deliver an aspirational platform that excites and informs. We need to show young graduates that there is an array of opportunity in the lighting industry. We now have a 50/50 men to women ratio - the new challenge is to open the doors to minority groups.
Was it a difficult decision to set this up, especially in the middle of a global pandemic?
Absolutely not. This is a great time for innovation and opportunity, to energise young people coming through education or to reboot people that have a change of circumstance. The pandemic is much like a forest fire, devastation can bring new life and resilience. Now is the time to grasp the nettle and be thought leaders. This industry is an integral part of the wider built environment and we need to tell other professionals why lighting is so important.
Do you have a ‘Mission Statement’ or philosophy for Skills Army?
The philosophy is to take it one step at a time. Grow confidence and help others achieve. Armies aren’t one person, they are recruits, sergeants, generals, a framework that supports.
How can people get involved?
Anyone can get involved. The easiest way is to visit our website. From there you can follow all our social media channels, which give current references to events and happenings. The involvement has many facets, if you are a professional you can upload your profile, for free. If you are a manufacturer and have a project or product you want to shout about, contact us. Maybe you are a designer or educator and like to bring information out of the archive, send us the link. Do you have a job vacancy? Use our handy portal to fill that that role. We are open and flexible to support the industry in any way we can.
Since setting it up, what sort of reception have you had? How has the industry reacted to it?
Overwhelming support has kept us going, from a simple a post on LinkedIn. Massive thanks to Eve Gaut and the team at Parrot PR and Marketing for their expertise in PR and Marketing. Manufacturers have stepped up as early supporters including Erco, iGuzzini, Lumino, formalighting and finally thank you to the lighting design companies that have agreed to allow access to archived and current educational material: Leni Schwendinger, Paul Nulty, Mark Ridler, Mary Ruston-Beales, Christopher Knowlton, and Marcus Steffen to name a few.
The instant support from the industry associations SLL, ILP and LIA has been very heart-warming as well as multiple media providers.
What have you got in the pipeline for Skills Army? What can we expect to see from you in the near future?
We are looking forward to curating exciting and engaging events and making new relationships with the broader design communities. We are only at the beginning of building the Skills Army and welcome anyone who wants to lend their support.
What do you think the future holds for the lighting industry?
I am an optimist. I know things will get better as we live through the pandemic and come out of the other side. This is a great opportunity for us to reimagine how we want to live our lives for the next generation. If we work together as an army we will build support and resilience.
Zumtobel Arcos III
Zumtobel’s Arcos III is the third generation in the Arcos family. Developed for art galleries, museums, and the constantly changing requirements of exhibition spaces, Arcos III is a highly flexible lighting solution that brings artworks and exhibits to life using a highly innovative and intuitive zoom focus lens. Through the use of tunableWhite technology, Arcos III provides high colour rendering Ra > 96 for stable white and a low colour shift (MacAdam2) enabling exhibits to be seen in the best possible light.
Stoane Lighting Protozoa
Stoane Lighting’s tiniest spotlight is no taller than a Lego figure and is ideal for extremely discreet, close work such as museum showcases and jewellery retail lighting. As well as the surface mounted version, there is a height adjustable stick mounted version, two recessed types and also a single, double or triple LV track mounted version too. If needed it can be adapted for bespoke applications too. The whole family uses the same adjustable head with a zoomable lens, offering a generous 13° - 60° beam range.
ADO Lights LED-Drainlight
The LED-Drainlights with grating cover is a forward-looking solution, connecting aesthetic aspirations and practical requirements. Suitable for exterior and interior applications, it combines stainless steel drainage channels with an impressive LED illumination for buildings. Beautiful and useful, it allows rainwater to be reliably drained away through stainless steel draining channels, while the integrated LED illumination, which has an angle that can be individually determined, works whatever the weather.
Ansell Sidu LED
The Sidu LED pendant is an aluminium bi-directional suspended pendant with a black polycarbonate micro reflector design, which helps achieve UGR<6. Compatible with the OCTO connected solution, offering tailored lighting to only illuminate desks that may be occupied, dimming for customised light levels, or pairing with smart sensors.
Technilum Jeny
Singular in its style and applications, Jeny has a triangular shape profile and is equipped with three technical grooves that facilitate accessorisation. In tribute to Jenny Holzer, innovative artist in word expression, Jeny can be coupled with “LittleWords” from Technilum: an integrated LED screen allowing the interactive diffusion of messages or animations thanks to a dedicated application.
Acclaim Lighting Outdoor Link System
The IP67-rated Outdoor Link System quickly and easily links Acclaim Lighting’s Dyna Drum and Dyna Accent series fixtures, while eliminating excess hardware for lighting projects. The system allows the linking of up to 32 fixtures from a single power source without the need for a connection point at every unit. The system includes T junction, link cable, feed cable and end cap connection points, and performs in temperatures from -40°C to 80°C.
