Fidelity International, UK
As modern workspace design continues to evolve, there has been a gradual shift towards creating more holistic, welcoming environments in which employee wellbeing is paramount. Through the introduction of cosy breakout spaces, private working areas, soft furnishings and warmer colour temperatures, more and more offices are stepping away from the staid uniformity of the past for something altogether more inviting.
This approach is evident at Fidelity International’s new UK headquarters on Cannon Street in London, where Nulty has recently completed a WELL certified lighting scheme. Working in close partnership with Fidelity, alongside architects AEDAS and engineering consultants Hilson Moran, Nulty has designed a lighting solution centred around employee wellbeing for the global investment company’s 108,000sqft office space.
“From the outset, the intention behind the project was to improve the client’s current workspace and create a comfortable environment for its employees,” Kael Gillam, Senior Lighting Designer at Nulty explained. “Increased light, higher ceilings, better technology, more surfaces on which to display their art collection: these were just some of the elements that spoke of a desire to increase employee wellbeing and activity.
“The design of the working floors was conceived to maximise daylight ingress and one of our key roles was to supplement the light levels in the deeper plan areas to give the overall scheme a sense of balance. We also strongly believed in the design of the quiet rooms and the café, encouraging use of these spaces for respite in what can often be a hectic day for employees.
“Our goal was to make sure that the lighting design within each space had its own identity, and in doing so give employees a variety of different options depending on whether they are looking to work or relax.”
Fidelity International features a blend of office floors – which house a colourful mix of relaxed and formal working areas including collaborative and private working zones – and additional areas that include client-facing meeting rooms, lounges and two media studios for the company’s video and audio broadcast. Nulty’s final design solution was rational in its response, circumnavigating the practical lighting needs of the workplace with Fidelity’s overall vision for the day-to-day wellbeing of its employees.
Gillam explained: “The initial brief for the lighting called for a very multi-faceted design narrative, with a strict distinction between the client-facing areas and the working floors. Colour psychology played a big role in the design of the space; a lot of the early reports that we received broke down the relationship between different material palettes and people’s traits and behaviours. Because of the richness of the interiors, the lighting had to play a role in celebrating the different finishes and treatments, while not appearing too disconnected from space to space.”
From the outset, Nulty worked closely with the client team, and examined lots of research, such as colour therapy insight, to guide the lighting design. This approach is something that Gillam feels differentiates Fidelity International from other workspace projects that Nulty has worked on. “The colour research and how we approached each different space was a response to the rationale that informed that particular material palette, while the brief from the client team, made up of representatives across different departments, guided us as to what parts of the office needed to be really honed in on to make the day-to-day experience simpler and more enjoyable,” she explained.
While catering to the multi-faceted design narrative sought after in the initial brief, Nulty kept its design intent relatively simple – a recurring motif of linear lighting runs throughout the building, connecting the main reception, open plan working areas and meeting rooms. Nulty commissioned a bespoke light-insert from LTS, designed to meet WELL requirements and deliver a high colour rendering for enhanced visual acuity. This linear concept was used in conjunction with adjustable recessed downlights from Modular and Kreon, diffusing light from both the centre and perimeter of the ceiling to create the perfect contrast ratio for day-to-day working and video conferencing.
On the fifth floor, where a glass skylight has been used to bring natural light into the room, the light-insert has been incorporated into the central spine of the ceiling. The team used tunable white linear LEDs to match the outside colour temperature with the interior of the room, allowing it to be adjusted from cooler lighting on a bright day to warmer lighting at sunset.
To contrast with the rectilinear design seen throughout the building, Nulty softened the aesthetic in casual breakout spaces and communal areas with copper and ceramic pendants from Marset, designed to create an environment that encourages downtime and relaxation. The client-facing meeting rooms were also given a gentler touch in some spaces, trading out the graphic linear line of light at the border of the room for a glowing circular stretch fabric feature, again courtesy of LTS. Pendants from Vibia were also added to the café area, producing a false-skylight effect in the only pocket of the working floors where natural daylight could not be found.
“The differentiation between linear and softer ambient lighting allowed us to distinguish spaces within the scheme,” Gillam said. “We picked out very rich colours and metallics for the pendants as a way to differentiate the more relaxed breakout spaces from the open plan working areas. The more you encourage someone to take a lunch break, and not to eat at their desk, the better job you’ve done as a designer.
“Interestingly though – and despite our best intentions – we’ve noticed post-commissioning that people prefer to use the quiet rooms without any overhead lighting on at all, or with the wall lights pressed up against the wall to create a really dim halo of light. We’ve managed to create something so cosy and personal that people prefer to be in near-darkness with an almost candle-lit glow in their periphery.”
While designing the lighting scheme, Nulty also had to be mindful of Fidelity International’s extensive artwork collection – although strangely, the artwork was not intended to be a focal point, instead blending into the fabric of the building. “The funny thing is that a key consideration was the installation of the artwork collection, but we weren’t meant to draw attention to it – just allow it to blend in with the environment,” Gillam explained. “There’s a vast array of both classic and A/V installation art throughout the building, so we had to consider viewing angles, colour fidelity and glare with our unobtrusive design scheme.”
Throughout the design process, Nulty worked closely with the interior design team, regularly sharing ideas about the creative direction of the project, as Gillam revealed: “In the beginning, the interior designers proposed more creative features like geometric copper or leather padded walls, but a lot of the discussions with the interior design team were stricter in terms of lighting. However, by having these conversations, we learnt how to open up that dialogue. We did so much of the later design hand-in-hand; there was a pretty clear intent for how the interior design team wanted the lighting to function in the space, but they weren’t prescriptive at all, which allowed us to explore different ideas.
“We knew pretty early on in the redesign that we had to specify high CRI/R9 value luminaires to achieve the credits we were targeting, and the interior designers were understanding about the restrictions this placed on what we could and couldn’t do in various areas.”
The WELL credits that Gillam and the Nulty team were targeting mean that the workspace is much more attuned to employee wellbeing, with the lighting design helping to create a more pleasant ambiance for staff. This is a trend that is gaining serious traction, particularly in workspace projects, and Gillam believes that it is an important development. “I think employee wellbeing is becoming more of the norm, which is great,” she said.
“We get asked about green walls and circadian lighting (defined in a different way each time) for almost all of our office projects now – even at the RFP stage – so you know it’s in the client’s mind as a pre-requisite, and not an afterthought.
“When you get into the nitty gritty of what the different standards and certifications entail it can be a bit daunting for everyone on the team, but I’ve never seen the difficulties become a total stop block to a project where everyone wants to prioritise wellbeing. I’m a very strong believer in certifications that focus on educating people about the built environment and giving them opportunities in their workplace and community to do better for both themselves and others.”
This approach has resulted in a lighting scheme that, while appearing relatively simple on the surface, blends in with the interior design to create a pleasing, yet functional space. Gillam explained: “I think it’s one of those projects that looks deceptively simple, but in actual fact disguises the backbreaking work that went into making it look as effortless as it does.
“In an office space like this, the lighting design isn’t meant to be front and centre, it’s meant to stitch together the rest of the design and allow the space to function in the best way that it can. For us, it’s the combination of daylight harvesting and place-making with a minimalist design aesthetic that will stand the test of time. And I’m pleased with that narrative.”
Looking ahead, while the trend of creating workspaces that promote employee wellbeing is gaining momentum, there are understandably questions being raised about how workspaces will change in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic – whether this will create more isolated spaces or put an end to the open, collaborative areas. However, amid this uncertainty, Gillam is intrigued about what the future will hold for workspaces: “It’s both really exciting and terrifying to think about how office design is going to be moulded by the realities of the pandemic,” she said.
“Colleagues have told me about the governmental mandates in mainland Europe for acrylic partitions between desks and I’ve seen pictures of school cafeterias in South Korea with each individual seat cordoned off with plastic inserts.
“Perhaps the greatest hope I have for all of this is that we focus more on spending time outdoors and developing flexible working hours. I know that sounds odd coming from a lighting designer, but if we can shift to a less rigid 9-to-5 mentality, then people will be able to get more daylight exposure, time with their families and generally be happier. Isn’t that what we all want?”
Spielfeld Digital Hub, Germany
For many modern workspaces, one of the key ambitions for clients is to have a space that will foster creativity and inspire innovation. But how can lighting design help to create such an environment? This was the challenge that Studio De Schutter was tasked with, working alongside architects LXSY on the Spielfeld Digital Hub in Berlin, Germany.
Situated in a former post office, Spielfeld Digital Hub combines open work areas with event spaces in an environment atypical to the usual office space. With the brief for an office that “promotes innovation”, Sabine De Schutter, Founder of Studio De Schutter, explained how this impacted on the lighting design: “Our design process is about understanding user needs. Our key takeaway, from the design sessions with the client, was the need for flexibility.
“Innovation is an unpredictable, agile process that requires adaptability. From an architectural and lighting point of view, this is allowing the user to adapt their space. Secondly, changing the space should be super convenient otherwise no one does it. For us, this meant looking at systems that would allow both the hosts of the space and the workshop teams to adapt the lighting in brightness, orientation and location.”
To create this flexible scheme, De Schutter ensured that the entire lighting system is Bluetooth controllable, meaning that the lighting can be dimmed via an app, as well as traditional switches. Meanwhile aimable spots and tracks offer an infrastructure that can expand and change – all of which contributes to an extremely user-friendly set up that De Schutter feels will help in the client’s ambition to use the space to inspire innovation.
“To facilitate innovation, you need multidisciplinary teams, collaborative workflow and flexible workspaces,” she said. “Lighting helps in this process by creating moods. The settings you use can make a team feel more aligned and have a positive impact on collaboration. Creating that atmosphere to collaborate, communicate and concentrate is something that lighting has the potential to do.”
Throughout the design process, Studio De Schutter worked closely with LXSY – an architecture firm that De Schutter has worked with on a number of projects – collaborating to develop a space that matched up to Spielfeld’s aspirations.
“We have worked with LXSY on a number of projects. We know each other’s process and have a common goal: participatory, user-centred design that aims to think differently,” De Schutter explained. “We all bring ideas to the table, whether they are about materials or colours or how to integrate or mount something, and in our collaboration we both influence each other.
“It was very clear from the start that the client wanted to differentiate themselves from the usual Berlin start-up co-working space, not the coffee shop style bare bulbs or the usual office-like lighting. Through our collaborative process with the architects, Spielfeld and their clients, we found a direction and style.”
The style that the design team opted for became cleaner and more minimal over time, bringing a contemporary feel to the listed building, while still paying homage to its historical status. By revealing the original structure inside, and using a clean, simple colour palette, the architects and the Department of Listed Buildings hoped to bring back the historical charm of the space. Further to this, the lighting was used as a means of complementing the architecture, rather than taking focus away from it.
“The idea was to be minimal and not compete with the building,” De Schutter continued. “The spaces themselves are very flexible, and we provided very flexible lighting. As lighting designers, our goal is to make the architecture stand out and to make the user feel good. The better we are at our work, the less people notice us, unfortunately! All they notice is that they feel good in a particular space.”
However, because of the listed status of the site, it complicated matters for De Schutter when it came to actually installing the lighting fixtures. “Working within an existing building does have its limitations, and keeping the character of the building while changing its ultimate purpose was a challenge. Naturally, we could not mount any fixtures on the exposed pillars and beams,” she said. “Also, there are no recessed ceilings, except for the event space, to maintain the character of the building. Therefore integrating fixtures was not even an option. Our entire lighting system is surface-mounted, from fixtures to plugs to Bluetooth modules.
“Surface-mounted lighting also means surface-mounted cabling. So in projects like these, we even design the cable layout, making sure that this was out of view and not left to change.”
Throughout the space, Studio De Schutter used surface-mounted track lighting from formalighting in the form of its 3-phase track and Zero Compasso 66 directional spots, alongside RZB’s Levido Round downlights, both complemented by LEDs C4’s Pipe and Circular pendants.
This combination of lighting options helped the design team to facilitate an environment that combines both traditional workspaces with event spaces – a hard balance to reach, but one that De Schutter feels will become a lot more prevalent in the workspaces of tomorrow.
“The combination of workspaces with event spaces is something that we see more and more of in contemporary workspaces. Offices in general are less a space to produce work and more a space to exchange ideas and meet your team. Lighting is less something that is purely functional and follows norms, instead it becomes more an element that reflects the identity of a company. The track fixtures help here to create an intimate and warm mood, away from the standard office lighting.”
As specialists in creative workspace lighting, Studio De Schutter is used to developing lighting designs that eschew the traditional template for offices, instead creating more fluid schemes in line with modern workspace requirements. “It’s all about understanding what flexibility means for the client,” De Schutter explained. “It’s not about having tracks and spots, it’s about providing different lighting layers and an appropriate infrastructure. We think about lighting in terms of scenarios, and as part of the user experience.
“With lighting, we aim to add some ‘Corpitality’ to the workspace. This is hospitality mixed with the values and corporate identity that the workspace represents. It’s not just about adding the logo somewhere. For Spielfeld Digital Hub, the lighting is an extension of the way they work, of the affinity for digital tools and their values.”
At the time of writing, the world is slowly starting to return to normal following the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing global lockdown. However, one factor that will invariably be different in the future will be the role of the workspace, with workspace design no doubt changing drastically.
However, De Schutter feels that this change is something that started before the pandemic even struck. “The role of offices is going to change in general, but the trend already started some time ago, with co-working,” she said. “Co-working spaces will now have more private and less open working areas. They will become hubs for larger corporations. In terms of lighting, this will mean catering to this typology, and to different clients in one building.
“Also, workspaces will be more for teams and to create and foster team spirit, instead of a representative space for clients. I believe that we will see more creative lighting solutions, instead of traditional office lighting.”
Creative lighting solutions like that found at the Spielfeld Digital Hub. Throughout the building, while the lighting clearly serves its functional purpose, it doesn’t call to mind the stale, boring, traditional office lighting of the past. Instead it is an altogether more modern, inviting scheme that creates a feeling of warmth and creativity – an approach that De Schutter feels will be essential to the workspaces of the future.
“The lighting design for Spielfeld is warm. What I like is, you wouldn’t associate this atmosphere with office lighting,” she exclaimed. “There is no diffuse lighting at all. We want to create workspaces that don’t want to be ordinary!
“For us, design is about creating meaningful spaces that positively affect people’s lives. We love working on workspace lighting because most people spend the majority of the day in boringly lit, functional spaces. We think it’s time to change that.”
David Morgan Review: Stanley Electric LEDSFOCUS Pro
This time around, David Morgan revisits Stanley Electric to take a look at the new LEDSFOCUS Pro, the latest ultra-narrow beam LED projector from the Japanese manufacturer.
Stanley Electric was established in 1920 by Takaharu Kitano to manufacture replacement automotive lamps for the small number of cars (all imported) then on the roads in Japan. The company was initially called Kitano Shokai but this was changed in 1930 to Stanley Electric after the intrepid 19th-century British journalist and explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley. It is understood that Kitano was impressed by Stanley’s vision, courage, and pioneering spirit.
Stanley is well known for his exploration of central Africa and for his search for the missionary and explorer, Dr David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley allegedly uttered the now-famous greeting, “Dr Livingstone, I presume?”
The company continues to prosper and now employs around 20,000 people with offices and factories worldwide, the automotive lighting sector still being its main market. The company was early to research and develop LED light sources in the late 1970s and introduced a number of innovative LED car stop lights in the 1980s. The first white light LEDs were introduced in the late 1990s and, this year (2020) a US company was acquired, which makes high power UVC LEDs that can be incorporated in anti-virus disinfection devices. Stanley has, in recent years, developed a unique gold effect LED that has been used on a variety of projects including an installation at the Eiffel Tower, designed by Motoko Ishii.
Over the past 10 years, Stanley’s luminaire division has grown and the range now includes highly technical products for industrial high bay and wide area applications, road lighting and architectural lighting. It is understood that the current Stanley strategy is to grow in the luminaire market by becoming the global leader in ultra-narrow beam LED projectors.
The LEDSFOCUS Pro is the most recent addition to the Stanley range and is a development based on the LEDSFOCUS luminaire that I reviewed in 2014. The main differences between the two is that the LEDSFOCUS Pro has integral line voltage drivers and is available in single module, four module and nine module sizes. The custom optics are now much tighter, with better control of colour fringing and uniformity. This in-house development has taken around a year to reach commercialisation with cross-disciplinary input from Stanley members of staff in both the technical and commercial departments.
At the heart of this range is the custom-designed 60mm diameter lens that was developed with input from the Stanley automotive headlight design team. The single lens version produces a very impressive 1.5-degree beam (FWHM) with a centre beam intensity of 199,000 candelas from an LED output of 195 lumens running at 3.5W. I have not come across another luminaire with such a high output and narrow beam angle, which could be used to highlight individual architectural features over very long distances.
Another new feature available with the LEDSFOCUS Pro is a two-part lens system. The primary lens produces the ultra-narrow distribution from the single LED emitter and a secondary flat optic is used to control and slightly diffuse the beam. The secondary optics are available in one degree steps, giving the lighting specifier very precise control of the final beam angle for each area in a project. From 1.5-degrees up to 10-degrees the secondary lenses are made in 1-degree steps and then two wider optics for 20-degrees and 30-degrees. The secondary optics can be changed on site, allowing the lit effect to be fine-tuned at any time.
The highest output version in the range is the nine lens type and the narrowest distribution in this type seems to be 2.5-degrees (FWHM) producing over 1 million centre beam candelas from 36W. Available LED colour temperatures for all the LEDSFOCUS Pro luminaires range from a warm 2200K up to 6500K, RGB plus the Stanley Gold colour.
The construction of the projector is simple with a large die-cast aluminium passive heat sink that runs at a remarkably cool temperature when saturated. I was not able to open the luminaire to confirm the PCB temperature but it seems as though that the LEDs are operating at a low temperature to give an extended working life and allowing use in high ambient conditions.
The overall product configuration reminds me of a few other exterior luminaires I have reviewed in recent years where water is allowed to run inside the enclosure with drain holes and slots for the water to run out again. This construction allows the secondary optic to be easily changed on site without worrying about compromising the IP66 rating. Interestingly, the secondary optic elements are moulded in PMMA, which has very good UV resistance to sunlight but can be brittle at low temperatures. It would appear that the rather elaborate screw fixing details between the secondary optic and the moulded polycarbonate frame may be included to reduce thermal stress on the lens moulding. Allowing water to run around and behind the secondary optic onto the main window moulding could be considered a self-cleaning feature but I have some doubts about this approach. It will be interesting to see how this works in practice.
Behind the removable front lens assembly, the main clear polycarbonate window moulding is located, which is bonded and screwed to the die-cast body heat sink. The bonded seal between the casting and moulding will definitely make for a highly effective IP66 rating. However, removing the bonded window is difficult, so this design detail is not quite in the spirit of the new EU Eco-design directive that promotes a circular economy approach with the easy separation of light sources, drivers and containing product (luminaire enclosure) for inspection, recycling and re-use.
The rest of the design is simple and robustly constructed with clear aiming angle marking and effective locking and clamping. A solid 5mm thick stainless mounting U-bracket allows rotation in the horizontal plane via the mounting screws. The range also includes a series of add-on hoods and louvres for enhanced glare control.
The optical performance of the LEDSFOCUS Pro projectors is very impressive and a significant improvement on the original LEDSFOCUS product. The mechanical design of the range also overcomes some of the issues that I mentioned in my 2014 review. One of the other strategic objectives that Stanley has set itself with this development is to upgrade the product appearance and my feeling is that some further work is required in this area. It is a clever move to offer three sizes of luminaire and to enable on-site beam modification. The overall branding and perceived quality could be upgraded to reflect the outstanding optical performance.
This LEDSFOCUS Pro is an impressive example of optical engineering and will be a very useful part of the lighting designer’s tool kit where ultra-narrow exterior projectors are needed.
Andrew Small
As Lumino celebrates its 35th anniversary, arc sits down with founder Andrew Small to discuss how the company reached this milestone, and how the lighting industry has grown over the last 35 years.
How did you get into lighting?
I graduated from Ravensbourne in 1982 with a BA (Hons) in Furniture and Product Design and following that, had a stint in the interior design department at BDP in London. During this time I was approached by two Italian lighting manufacturers I met while travelling in Italy as a student who were looking for a UK partner to introduce their products and build sales. I was looking for the next opportunity and it seemed like an exciting idea. My father left the RAF after the war and started his own electrical contracting business, so the idea of starting my own business wasn’t such a daunting prospect. I’d grown up listening to my father’s stories of how hard it was for him in the early days, so I had an idea of what to expect. Also, I’d grown up tinkering with electrics and so lighting seemed like a fairly logical step for me at the time.
How was Lumino formed?
I decided to go it alone and start Lumino in 1985, but had no idea of how to go about setting up a business. I knew image was a crucial factor because I would be essentially selling to designers. I decided to ask Newell and Sorrell to look at it for me and scraped what little money I had together to put towards a good identity. It proved to be a good decision and our identity for a start-up business won them a design award and got us a huge amount of coverage in the design press. We were a name people knew very quickly because of that. I worked from a borrowed office space when I couldn’t work from home anymore and spent my days knocking on doors and making contacts and my nights working on schemes and quotations for clients. Long days and a lot of hours but in the early years of a establishing a business you have to live and breathe it 24/7.
How did the company look back then compared to now? And how has it grown over the years?
We became very good at helping clients with design and supply packages in the early days. I worked until I couldn’t cope any longer and desperately needed a wing man. I went to my old head of department at Ravensbourne and asked if he new anyone there who was worth looking at. He pointed me in the direction of a student about to graduate. I met him, liked him and realised he had the exact qualities I was looking for. I employed him there and then. That was 26 years ago and he’s still my wing man today, my Design Director Jago Wickers. We have an incredibly strong and trusting relationship and he has a real passion for lighting and more importantly for Lumino.The growth of Lumino has been a slow burn really. We’ve never really been interested in getting rich quick, we enjoy what we do, we drive the business the way we think is right and we work very much as a team. I respect every single person in the business and they all make a great contribution. We’re more like a family these days. We are very lucky in that we are now 20 strong and have a very low turnover of staff. People clearly like it here, so we must be doing something right!
What would you say was Lumino’s big breakthrough?
Our big breakthrough was very clear to me. It happened after 25 years of being in business. We were always an importer/distributor, selling some excellent brands from manufacturers around the world. We became more and more frustrated over the years that many of the brands we represented didn’t cater well enough for our particular marketplace. They designed product for a global market and sometimes this caused us several issues in getting product specified. So after 25 years we decided to do something very radical. We changed our business model completely to become a manufacturer in our own right. Key members of our team are from a product design background and so it was relatively easy for us. We had a very clear idea of the products we wanted to offer, which was mainly linear products. From the moment we made the decision we’ve never looked back.
How has the lighting industry changed over the last 35 years?
When Lumino was born the world was all PAR 38 lamps and R7 linear halogens. We were right there at the moment the 50mm dichroic lamp hit the lighting world and it transformed everything. Over the years lighting technology has been consistently refined and improved but in small increments. Then the high output LED hit the world and again everything changed. We have been extremely fortunate that this happened just at the time we decided to become a manufacturer in our own right and so we were there pretty much from the start of the LED revolution. I think there’s never been a better time to be in lighting, with the technological advancement of LED over the last few years, it’s a very exciting business to be in and has paved the way for so many innovative lighting solutions in recent years.
How do you make sure that you as a company are staying abreast of the current industry trends?
It is hard for a small company like Lumino to compete with the major players in the lighting industry, but this is also our defining strength. We have a great team of three designers in our R&D department who are responsible for all of the products we manufacture. They have free reign to improve and refine our existing product portfolio as well as look at new innovative products. We have an exciting new product development programme at Lumino and luckily we have the financial resources to keep this going through these uncertain times, so we are very excited about the new products we’re currently developing. We have a growth programme that will see us expand our sales in North America. We have been selling in this market for a few years now in a small way, but now we are ready to begin to drive that growth.
What do you think the future holds for the lighting industry?
I am very optimistic for the future of the lighting industry. Since I started Lumino I’ve seen a steady evolution in this industry. It’s a more important ally of the construction industry than it ever has been and it’s generally a very professional and well thought of industry these days, very different to the 80s when Lumino first started. For us we are led by the lighting designers that specify our products and this profession has grown incredibly in the last 30 years. This has had seen a marked development in the way companies like Lumino have evolved and has a huge impact on the products we design. With energy consumption and zero carbon emissions being such an important factor now, I think we’ll see some great innovation in the coming years and the lighting industry’s role in the sustainability of the planet, and the wellbeing of the people who rely on light in their lives has never been so important.
Temeloy
As the issue of sustainability becomes more prevalent across the lighting industry, one designer is going above and beyond to ensure that she leaves as minimal a footprint as possible.
Alongside running her own lighting design practice, Temeloy Lighting, Tiphaine Treins has for the past three years been committed to the pursuit of more sustainable, eco-conscious lighting solutions, culminating in the formation of the Lighting for Good charter – a scientific rating system that assesses the environmental impact of light fittings.
“I believe sustainability is a universally overriding and compelling issue for all aspects of our way of living,” said Treins. “Our current impact on our overpopulated planet is not sustainable.
“I have long questioned the waste in the lighting industry. Yes, LED technology is more efficient, but in the end, we may have a fitting that costs £200 and cannot be repaired or re-used.
“While we can still use the table lamps our grandmothers used – if the bulb goes out, we simply replace it – if we want to use new overhead lights or new fittings, we better hope they never break because there is no way to repair it. Something is not right there. We have to change the way we are using our new technology.”
In her efforts to raise awareness on the issues of sustainability within the lighting industry, Treins prepared a draft for an eco-lighting label in 2017, and contacted Nicolas Martin, Lighting Manager at LVMH for help. “I knew that he had built an established network of high-end, capable suppliers, and I thought that this connection could be a good platform,” Treins explained. “Nicolas was interested and decided to commit to the project. Without his support and the dedication of the LVMH suppliers, it would have taken years to get to where we are today.”
While the Lighting for Good charter was the first piece of work that the pair produced, the collaboration has since led to the launch of their own website, where they propose a free certification process to further develop a lighting community around eco-design. Here, designers can use an “eco-design spec sheet template” to calculate the environmental impact of the fittings that they want to specify.
The pair also established a “think tank” with 12 lighting suppliers, that Treins believes “enables us to collaborate in a pragmatic and efficient way”. This think tank includes manufacturers such as formalighting, Orluna, Flos, Lucent, Molto Luce, Reggiani, Self, Zumtobel, Delta Light, Luce5, Nopoc and Bluelite, who regularly hold discussions on ways in which the lighting industry can improve its sustainability efforts.
“This year, the chief project for the Lighting for Good think tank has been to develop a 35mm LED module that can be used as a market standard,” Treins explained. “The silhouette will be the same for all the suppliers, so that it can be interchangeable, like we used to do with lightbulbs.
“The vision is that if you have a building using 5000 modules, or the 500 shops of a brand using this module, you can refit the modules when needed, but you can also keep them when you refit the shops or change the lighting equipment. In this model, the light engine can be refit and re-used indefinitely. We are dealing with a closed loop. The business model, in this case, can be based on a product-service system.”
Through all of her work with Lighting for Good, Treins is hopeful that it will lead to a sea-change in the way that lighting fixtures are assessed, although she conceded that there is still some way to go.
“In the lighting industry, I think the issue is complex because the tools that we are using to quantify the environmental impacts of the fittings need to evolve,” she said. “At the moment, the Life Cycle assessment that calculates the impact from production to the end of life has limitations. One of the most important limitations is that whatever toxic material we are using is considered obsolete in comparison to the energy consumed during the life of the fitting.
“In this model, the impacts of the material are almost negligible. Does that mean that it’s OK to use plastic for wrapping or plastic for some parts? The answer is no, not at least until we have a better way to recycle plastic. We need to understand that any piece of plastic will take around 1,000 years to decompose (depending on its composition), and that process generates an enormous quantity of toxic microparticles.
“And again, you can use your grandmother’s lamp when your kids won’t be able to repair the lamp that you purchased this year. Are we relegated to using old things? Why do new fixtures have so many drawbacks? This take/make waste system inherent in new lighting fixtures does not make sense.”
The success of Lighting for Good culminated in the Lighting for Good awards at the end of 2019, where manufacturers such as formalighting, Delta Light, Lucent and Bluelite were recognised for their work in using sustainable materials and processes throughout the manufacturing process. Following the success that it has had already, Treins is hopeful that the Lighting for Good movement will continue to gain momentum as sustainability becomes a bigger concern within the industry.
“The aim of Lighting for Good is to develop a community around eco-design and lighting,” she said. “We are now looking at how we can enhance it, as we want it to be based on collaborative culture and collective intelligence.
“Through our experience over the last three years, it is evident that eco-design is an efficient engine for innovation and a drive to reduce production cost. This is one of the reasons why we created the Lighting for Good awards – we wanted to create a strong opportunity/synergy around eco-design and present it as an engine for innovation.
“If we all take steps at our respective individual scale, it will amplify the movement and the opportunity to create new solutions and new standards.”
Before setting up Lighting for Good, Treins founded her own independent lighting design studio, Temeloy Lighting, in Paris in 2009. With a background in the art world, Treins had previously interned at a well-established contemporary art gallery, before going on to work for one of the artists represented in the gallery – Fabrice Hyber.
“I worked for him for eight years and was in charge of managing the production of his installations and exhibitions,” Treins explained. “Fabrice created a very diverse range of artwork, which enabled me to learn about a broad spectrum of media.
“Following my experience with him, I worked in a lighting design studio as a project manager, and decided to specialise in this field.”
After establishing Temeloy in 2009, Treins moved the studio to London in 2013. “I was looking for ways to continue to learn and develop new possibilities with lighting, and London is a vibrant centre for the lighting industry,” she said.
Working regularly with “very creative, like-minded people” throughout her career, Treins believes that this collaborative approach has had a lasting impact on both her work, and her design philosophy.
“I have been lucky to have had profound relationships with a variety of professional people in my life who I consider as mentors – individuals who have given me a better understanding of what it is that makes us conscious human beings – understanding that there are multiple complex layers to working with people and to ending up with the best possible result. I have learned that a good relationship with my team and with my clients always enhances the experience and the end result.”
Speaking more on her creative process, Treins said: “It always starts with a blank page and the feeling of knowing nothing. I listen carefully to understand the story behind every project, as well as what makes the client tick, before I start having ideas. It’s this process that helps me propose a solution.
“For example, the brief for the dome at Elephant Paname Arts & Dance Centre in Paris was simply: ‘We want something special’, then after many questions, I started to understand what the space needed.”
This approach, Treins feels, is what has resulted in Temeloy working on a broad range of projects, from residential and museum lighting, to exterior schemes and even yacht designs and what Treins refers to as “augmented architecture”. Because of this, it’s hard for Treins to pin down a particular ‘signature style’ across her work. “I will say that we are specialised in Mouton à 5 pattes (French for a five-legged sheep.” However, she says that she always strives to bring a human touch. “I feel that it’s possible to infuse a space with ‘soul’ – something that can be felt but not seen, and where the eyes are seeing more than the mind can grasp,” she said. “The tricky part is that there is no recipe for this.
“It requires a difficult dance between the creative process and the production. The sense of beauty comes from the result, but also the process with all the persons involved.
“There is magic when people start to understand that they are working on something unique and outstanding, and let go of any personal limitations to commit to the project fully. This is where the ordinary becomes extraordinary.”
Temeloy’s ‘Augmented Architecture’ is a means to develop lighting solutions that interact with their surroundings – examples from Treins’ portfolio of work include the Renault Motor Show in Paris, for which Temeloy did all the technical development, in 2012, alongside the aforementioned Elephant Paname dome, also completed in 2012. The approach is an attempt by Treins to create something more emotionally investing for the public.
“When walking in a city such as London or Paris, one is always marvelling at the obvious landmarks – for most, it is simply seeing the ‘hero shot’,” she said. “With augmented architecture, I strive for a more multi-dimensional experience where urban spaces or public realms are infused with moments of poetry.
“A couple of examples are the living façade of the Grande Épicerie in Paris, whose living storefront plays very differently depending on the time of day or time of year. For the Moonstone superyacht project, the colour of the sunrise or sunset can be captured to animate the hull. It’s also possible to play with the caustic effect of the reflection of the water on the hull.”
Moonstone stands out as a favourite project for Treins as it represented her first patent. “It took five years to develop a technical solution to this design. The process required a lot of commitment, as there was no precedent for what we developed. We created everything from scratch.”
Other highlights for Treins include the chandelier aboard the Aquila – an 86-metre yacht. “This was an extremely complicated and exciting piece,” she said. “We only had ten days to install it, and the metalwork that was delivered was faulty. It took an extreme amount of personal fortitude and courage to find a solution and the resources to finalise the installation on time.
“My understanding is that in these intense situations, you can either give up or be grateful for the adrenaline rush where all your energy escalates from 100% to 200%.”
The standout project for Treins though, is the Elephant Paname dome. “It’s one of those projects that might not have happened at all,” she explained. “There were so many obstacles. We knew that we were working on something extraordinary.”
Looking forward, Treins revealed that she’s currently developing an exciting concept for Givenchy Parfum entitled La Lumiere du noir. Alongside this, she continues to put plans in place for Lighting for Good, including the 2020 awards, and the expansion of the Lighting for Good charter.
Speaking of the current situation, Treins believes that the Covid-19 pandemic could act as a wake-up call for the lighting industry, and she has urged more designers and manufacturers to think about their environmental footprint and sustainability efforts.
“Clearly, the Covid-19 pandemic has touched everyone around the world,” she said. “In the wake of such an international crisis, we are all reassessing our lives and what is essential. It is without question that we have more concern now than ever regarding sustainability, because we all feel we need to look for solutions.
“We need the lighting industry to push the boundaries of sustainability and be a model for other industries. We need to design fittings so that their parts can be re-used, transformed or recycled into the replacement fitting. Zero waste is ambitious, as LEDs are using precious metals, but some solutions are starting to emerge like the laser LED, which is four times more efficient than actual LED, and uses fewer precious materials.
“All of us have the power to co-author a distinct new future. We can do so by creating solutions for problems that we are directly confronted with. If we each do our part, then together, we can create a successful synergy that will propel all of us toward a sustainable future.”
www.temeloy.com
www.lightingforgood.org
Goziem Ukachukwu
Women in Lighting’s Nigerian Ambassador, Goziem Ukachukwu, sits down with arc’s Assistant Editor Sarah Cullen, to discuss her journey into lighting and life as a lighting designer in Africa.
Beginning her working life as a banker, then transitioning to starting a travel agency business, it wasn’t until Ukachukwu decided to take a leap of faith into the creative sector to pursue her passion for design that she discovered her love for lighting. “I started off my career in commercial banking. I worked in the banking sector for six years and then went ahead to start my own travel agency business.
“I ran the agency for 10 years but realised I still had the desire to go after the passion I had always nurtured inside me - the passion for creating beautiful spaces. I started out with some short online courses on Interior Decoration before I finally enrolled for a diploma course in Interior Design. While studying Interior Design, I realised that I wanted to create a niche for myself, so I decided to get more of an understanding in the different areas of Interior Design. I started out with lighting first and after attending a lighting course, I had made up my mind to focus my attention there. I took other short courses in lighting design and also attended Light Middle East, where I met some experienced industry professionals that encouraged me. So - I started my career as a lighting designer.”
Ukachukwu’s educational portfolio now includes a Bachelor of Education, an MBA in Business Administration and three certificates in Lighting Design and she is currently working on a diploma programme in Interior Design at the KLC School of Design at Chelsea Harbour, London.
Noting Rebecca Weir as her lighting hero, Ukachukwu reflected on the wisdom and inspiration she received from Weir during her time in education: “She was my first lighting teacher and her story of how she first developed an interest in lighting is also similar to mine. “She gave me a piece of advice that encouraged me to start out as a lighting designer, and her book, The Languages of Light, has become a design manual for me.”
Returning to Nigeria to work as a lighting designer, Ukachukwu commented on the role and its presence in the African design industry: “In Nigeria, we do not really have a lot of people working as lighting designers. Instead, we have a lot of lighting and electrical engineers and those actively involved in sales and distributions of different light fittings. Lighting design, in the real sense of it, is not well known in Nigeria. It needs a lot more awareness created. It has been quite a challenge explaining to people why they need a lighting designer to help make their space safe and bring it to life and to help them achieve energy efficiency,” she said.
When asked about her philosophy when it comes to lighting and design, Ukachukwu explained how “light is the life we live” and that when we live in darkness, “there is no life”.
“Design helps us to create a space that is safe and beautiful to behold, arranged to achieve its ultimate functionality and has the right psychological effect on those occupying it.
“Light is a very essential part of our life - it was the first of God’s creations. Our whole being and every aspect of our life requires light. It is light that enables us to see, recognise and appreciate every other thing in our environment. It is the light that comes through our eyes that illuminates our whole world. We are constantly trying to bring these original words of the first creation, ‘let there be light’, into all our spaces,” she explained.
An incredible achievement, Ukachukwu believes one of her first completed lighting design projects was the one to ‘put her on the map’ as a lighting designer in Nigeria. “It was a project carried out for a church that was in the public eye and actually showcased my career as soon as I started,” she explained.
“I would now consider my most recent project of designing a whole office building that incorporates three retail spaces, eight administrative offices, one boardroom and a canteen as my most well-known project to date. It brought out my skills in a broader perspective.”
Standing out as a female designer in the lighting industry and in Nigeria is something that Ukachukwu has recognised needs celebrating and exposing more. “I would really love to stand out. I would also want to bring ideas into the industry that will lead to the solutions for different needs of the consumers. I will be able to identify these needs by paying attention to the different challenges or the needs that have not been met by existing products while working for my clients.
“I hope to stand out by paying attention to the tiniest details that seem to be overlooked and by applying a lot of passion,” she added.
Witnessing the dramatic shifts throughout the lighting industry, Ukachukwu has been at the heart of experiencing some of the technological developments: “The world of lighting has really evolved dramatically over the years, both technically and aesthetically. From incandescent to LED, from direct to mains, to the use of drivers and the creation of energy efficiency,” she explained.
“From having one source of lighting for ambience to the layering of light, creativity is also a very major part of lighting design. Lamps are now created to shape the light they emit.”
When applying these evolved tools for lighting, Ukachukwu explained how she tailors her lighting schemes for each project: “When planning a lighting project, I consider the use or functionality of the space, the architectural features of the space, the kind of people that will occupy the space - their way of life - and the psychological effect it would have on them.
“I also put into consideration the energy efficiency of the light fittings in order to help the client save cost. The safety of those occupying the space is also a very high priority. The aesthetics or the beauty that the lighting will bring to the space is also a thing of consideration for me.”
As the WiL ambassador for Nigeria, Ukachukwu is working hard to promote the roles of women in the industry and encouraging more to join the profession.
“Lighting designers are better recognised and considered today as very essential people in handling projects, but I believe that more awareness still needs to be created.
“A lot of women are presently involved in lighting as much as the men, the only difference is that men are more noticed or better recognised. Bringing women into the forefront or bringing light to the role women play is the major reason as to why we have WiL today,” she added.
“My role as a WiL ambassador in Nigeria has exposed me to the fact that we hardly have women whose main career is in lighting design. We have women as electrical engineers and mostly in the sales and distribution of light fittings.
“My short-term goal is to encourage the majority of women in the business of selling light fittings to move further in expanding their scope into the area of designing. My long-term goal is to provide training for the Nigerian women who will be passionate about lighting design. Having a lot of people in the industry will help create better awareness.”
Looking ahead to the path she embarks on as an ambassador and practicing professional in the lighting industry, Ukachukwu seeks to continue in her education both as a student and teacher: “My career has just started, and my goal is to keep on growing. I will expose myself to a lot of training that will help me in upgrading my skills consistently, and I will do my best in contributing to the growth of the industry through unique problem solving, resulting from new demands or future needs.
“I will also work collaboratively with other designers to bring solutions and new creative innovations to the industry,” she explained.
“I see the world of lighting revolving around and adjusting to the future innovations of the different industries and human needs.”
Siteco Sirius
A floodlight with multiple possibilities, including DMX control, stadiums, external, internal, events, multi lumen output, single blade, twin blade with more, Siteco's Sirius is a lighting system that is recommended for industrial use as well as being a revolutionary solution for sports and event lighting.
With minimum light spill and uniform illumination, Sirius creates safe environments for workers, drivers, pilots, passengers and pedestrians. With maximum glare control and special colour intensity that surpasses official FIFA and UEFA guidelines – for outstanding live transmission conditions and flicker-free super slow motion, both in Ultra HD and in 8K for future TV broadcasting standards.
corporate friends R-SL-16-TG
The table showcase R-SL-16 led light bar won the gold award at the Focus-Open 2020. The aim was to develop an LED profile luminaire with a minimum diameter that can simultaneously capture both linear and punctual light. The position of the spotlights can be freely changeable without dismantling the luminaire. The lighting system is used for the illumination of showcases and moreover for special situations in object lighting.
WiL in Asia
Assistant Editor Sarah Cullen sat down with Women in Lighting to discuss their recent trip to Asia.
For this instalment of Women in Lighting (WiL), I travelled across the world to the Far East from the comfort of my desk, in a time when travel is not permitted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We worked closely with the WiL team to create an article that coincides with the release of their Asian interviews, conducted at the end of 2019 in a whirlwind five-day trip that covered four cities.
I sat down with Sharon Stammers and Martin Lupton to discuss the trip:“Eight months after the WiL project began and in-between our lighting projects, we found a small window, mid-November 2019, of five days in which to cover four cities in Asia – Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore and Shanghai,” she explained. “We knew this would be a unique opportunity for us to expand the online interviews and cover a completely different continent. Since formalighting has its Asia headquarters in Hong Kong, their team organised this whirlwind trip to Asia, which feels like a lifetime ago - even though only a few months have passed.”
Whilst traveling across these four cities, Light Collective completed thirteen interviews with sixteen female designers, as well as attending two WiL specific evening events with “extraordinary members of lighting design”, all with the help of formalighting’s Hong Kong based team.
“In Hong Kong we interviewed Isabella Cheung from Inverse Lighting, Wendy Mak from Arup, Meike Goessling (Hong Kong’s WiL Ambassador) and Joy Wong from Light Links,” explained Stammers. “In Bangkok, we spoke with Tippaya Prasertsuk from Be Lit, Dr. Vannapa Pimviriyakul from With Light and Rinnin Kositanont from DJ Coalition. We also caught up with Thailand’s WiL Ambassador, Pilasinee Rattarangsi, at the WiL evening event hosted by formalighting.
“In Singapore, we interviewed Cheryline Chua from KLD Consulting, Josephine Dimalibot Schneider from Bo Steiber Lighting Design and Phaphorn Kasemtavornsilpa, SunYoung Hwang, Mayumi Banno and Angkana Kongchatri from Lighting Planners Associates. We also heard from Singapore’s WiL Ambassador, Yah Li Toh from Light Collab, and designer Anna Kadurina from Boomsi Lighting, at the WiL Singapore evening event where the two lighting designers shared presentations about their work.
“In Shanghai, we interviewed Jenna Liu (Shanghai’s WiL Ambassador) from Uno Lai, Phoebe Yu from Lighting Images and Lisa Wei from ATL. The last two of these interviews were in Chinese!” she added.
“We were welcomed into all the offices above and given language support from the local formalighting team when needed.
“The WiL evening events created the opportunity of meeting other local designers (both male and female) on this short trip. The Bangkok WiL dinner , held at the top of the highest building in Thailand (where we walked across the roof’s outdoor glass floor...), the WiL dinner overlooking the Bund in Shanghai, and the networking event in Singapore - again up at the top of the Altitude roof bar - were all well attended. It was great to meet up with Hong Kong WiL ambassador Meike, Thailand WiL ambassador Pilasinee Rattarangsi and Ya Li Toh, the WiL ambassador for Singapore in their respective countries.
“The response and feedback we have received from the WiL project has heightened our sense of responsibility to ensure that designers feel comfortable to reach out to us and to offer their ideas of how this platform can better support and inspire them.
“This trip resulted in a strengthening of the project in Asia and an expansion of the WiL community. It was good to be able to explain the origins of the project in person and to get opinions from other parts of the world. It was also a pleasure to personally connect with the women we interviewed and to hear their stories.
“The outcome will be 13 brand new interviews being released on the website to tie in with this article.
“Our brief immersion in the Asian culture, eating great food and appreciating amazing architecture, will not be forgotten as Asia clearly offers dynamic opportunities in lighting design. It was our first time in Shanghai, and we met with members of formalighting’s Shanghai office team, so our overnight visit introduced us to lots of new lighting professionals and we hope to return for another visit one day and reconnect with all these new WiL supporters.”
arc sat down with a number of WiL Ambassadors across South-East Asia to discuss their experiences as women in design as well as their roles in their lighting communities and how they became ambassadors for the WiL project.
Ya-Hui Cheng is the ambassador for Taipei as well as Founder and Design Director of Light Poetic International. She holds an undergraduate degree in Interior Design from CYCU in Taiwan, a Daylighting Design postgraduate qualification from KTH in Sweden and a Master’s degree in Architectural Lighting Design from Hochschule Wismar in Germany. She has delivered speeches at multiple PLDC events and received an IALD award in 2016. In 2017 she received both IES International Illumination Award of Merit and Excellence in USA, and in 2019 she was the on the judging panel for the [d]arc awards.
When asked about her experience as a woman in the lighting and design industry, Cheng commented: “I was once asked by a male manager about my future plan to have a baby, so the office knew how to plan my future opportunities and position - this is kind of discrimination. A lot of women hide their baby plans, so they still get fair chances at work. I believe the fact that having a baby and taking care of a newborn should be a plus for the women’s professional experience. Such experience makes them more caring, open minded, tolerant and resilient.”
At the time of writing, the majority of the world is in lockdown amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. As such, we asked the WiL ambassadors what their experiences were in Asia during this time. Cheng added: “The lockdown has proved that work can be conducted at home. That makes it possible for women or couples to work at home while children are around, and it promotes a work/life-balanced lifestyle.
“Together with the ambassador in Shanghai, we had spoken with formalighting at the end of last year to make plans for an event in February this year. However, the pandemic has delayed this plan. I have also talked to local lighting art and culture foundations, as well as a few Women in Lighting entrepreneurs at various lighting occasions, and they are fully aware of the WiL movement. Once the social distancing period is over, we will resume planning of the event.
“I am also planning to work with a group of women in architecture so we can share more insight and experiences.
“It is very exciting to see more and more women make their voices heard in many professional and public occasions. However, we hope to see louder voices from men to support their partners and wives to carry out their professional dreams.”
Meike Goessling is the ambassador for Hong Kong. With a background in Architecture, Goessling made the common step into Architectural Lighting Design. “I trained in Germany, the UK and the US, and then worked for Lichtvision in Berlin until relocating to Hong Kong to set up their local office there. It has been exciting, challenging and also a rewarding time working with a great crowd of people on projects ranging from bespoke installations to large-format and technical developments. Having recently changed my role, I am an independent lighting consultant today. It is a privilege to be part of Women in Lighting and based on some feedback I got throughout the last months, I hope to be able and share some of this experience so far,” she told arc.
When asked about her experiences as a female designer, she reflected on how WiL was the reason she paid attention to the role her gender had played throughout her career so far. “I did not think about the ‘female’ aspect of my work as something particularly unusual until WiL approached me. From day one of my education, as well as during work life, I experienced a high percentage of female students, architects and designers. Looking back, I approached most challenges with a pragmatic ‘how to…?’ mindset and a variable degree of stubbornness, finding a solution.
“The lighting world is very well connected, whether across countries or markets, and I think the high number of women in lighting supports this collaborative aspect. Living in an environment that involves people from different backgrounds and parts of the world, I experienced that eventually how you do your work and what you do matters most.”
Reflecting on her experiences during lockdown in Hong Kong, Goessling commented: “At the moment, there is a lot of attention on the direct consequences of lockdown. The impact on people and societies varies a lot, it materialises in different aspects of life or at another time. Whenever my thoughts go spinning, I try to remind myself of the perspective beyond and those things that don’t change. Yet, there are new experiences and lessons learned. For lighting design, the long-term change in living and working environments requires attention, just like our exposure to different light sources. Think about the efficiency of virtual meetings weighed against the value of personal meetings and observing light with your own eyes. This will impact how we develop a design within the team and how we specify our designs, eventually having an effect on the process and the outcome.
“Gatherings in Hong Kong have been impacted by recent events, but this allowed us to connect with another woman in lighting, which is Sharon Maghnagi. She has been incredibly helpful and thoughtful no matter what.
“Physical meetings are of high value here and I am still not a keen user of social media, but with more and more people becoming used to virtual socialising, I would throw some previous hesitation overboard and think this can be an opportunity, not just locally.
“With the idea to create awareness and improve visibility of the many Women in Lighting, I hope to share experience and learn from each other. Maybe this can be an opportunity for younger designers to raise their questions, which they may not want to in their daily environment. Ambition is not a negative thing to have and should be used as a positive drive. But getting back to your previous question about my personal experience, eventually there should be a ‘normality’ where a person’s individual abilities and attitude are relevant.”
Yah Li Toh is the ambassador for Singapore and Principal at Light Collab. After completing a degree in Architecture, like many others she was inspired to venture into Architectural Lighting and went on to complete a Master’s in the subject at Hochschule Wismar, quickly followed by accepting a role in Singapore with the Lighting Planners Associates.
“I did not think of starting a practice, but I went along with whatever came my way, so I started freelancing for a residential project and things became busier as more projects came in, which is when I decided it was a good time to start Light Collab properly in 2010. Of course, it has been a challenge for ten years now – from starting a practice, getting clients, hiring your first staff, your first office rental, a bigger team, mentoring staff and business continuity, branding and having a competitive edge,” she explained.
“Things started to change in 2015 when I became a professional member of the IALD and also one of the first five people in the world, and the first woman, to be recognised as a Certified Lighting Designer (CLD). Doors started opening and clients had more confidence in my, and Light Collab’s, competency and were willing to give us a chance to embark on projects. With more projects completed, we were also able to submit for awards such as LIT and IES Awards and finally the practice and its work are bearing fruits.
“In 2018, I was also very honoured to be one of six to be shortlisted as Designer of the Year for the Singapore President’s Design Awards and the only one to receive commendation from the Jurors. 2019 was a really memorable year as I was also named in the top 40 under 40 lighting designers by Lighting Design Awards 2019 and also a Generation T Honouree for List 2019 for Asia Tatler, one of the 20 future-shapers honourees by the Peak magazine and recipient of the Skillsfuture Fellowship Award 2019.
“My profession allows me to explore different facets of myself, being a design-preneur, to grooming the next generation of lighting designers, to bringing together the industry as the regional coordinator for IALD SEA. The IALD also gave me lots of opportunities to grow professionally; being an advisor to the CLD Board and serving as a judge for the 36th IALD Lighting International Awards in 2019. I am also very grateful for the chance to be able to have various opportunities to spread the love of light and awareness of our profession through documentaries for national TV and radio stations.”
Speaking from her experiences as a female designer, she added: “Generally in Singapore, it is still fine. Many of the competitors are led by male figureheads and designers in the design industry. In the lighting industry, sometimes there is also a slight stereotyping that women are not hands-on enough, or their technical knowledge is not as strong. There is also some preference for foreign talent too in Asia. Thus, it is important for a local female lead designer to have a voice and presence in order to lead the company locally and internationally.”
Kaori Hiroki is the Japanese Ambassador for WiL and Founder of Lyshus. She has experienced an equal gender balance in the lighting industry in Japan, claiming a 50% male/female split. However, when working on a current series of interviews with fellow Japanese female designers, she has uncovered opposing views. “I heard a lot of great stories from each woman I interviewed. However, I found that many women have struggled with ‘old-fashioned gender roles’ and sometimes constrained themselves. I think now is the time to realise the bias and improve circumstances for our future generations.”
Pilasinee Rattarangsi is the Ambassador for Thailand and is the Founder of Rangsi Atelier. Rattarangsi graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture and a Rector Certificate of Honours, before continuing her studies with a Master’s of Architectural Lighting Design at Hochschule Wismar. In 2005, she completed her Theatrical and Architectural Lighting Design apprenticeship with Jesper Kongshaug, Scenograferne, Det Kongelige Theater (The Royal Danish Theatre), Lundgaard and Tranberg Architects in Copenhagen, Denmark. Speaking of her experiences as a female designer, she said: “It has been a great experience for 16 years in lighting so far. Nothing to complain. Ok, maybe a little bit… We work with light and darkness, so sometimes being woman and working late could be difficult in some contexts.
“We are big ‘family’ here; lighting designers in Thailand. So many of us are friends on Facebook. We share ideas, projects and also our personal life. We have a very friendly atmosphere and it’s very Thai also, I would say.
“Women make up the majority of lighting designers in Thailand and we all are in the spotlight and receive mutual respect. We have had a Facebook group for Thai Lighting Designers since around 2006 and we share knowledge etc. on there, and once a year we come together to create a lighting installation piece at Bangkok Design Week.
“I would like to acknowledge the WiL team and their dedication. It has been growing beautifully, and I am happy to be a part of it. It is great if I can be a small connecting point for Thai lighting designers and the other designers elsewhere. When I talk about this project to suppliers, universities, professional friends, they also appreciate it a lot - and they really like the name ‘Women in Lighting’, they said it is such a powerful name.”
When asked about her perspective of women in lighting and business and her time living in Hong Kong, Sharon Maghnagi of formalighting, said: “In my case I am grateful for the childcare infrastructure in Hong Kong that helped me to seamlessly return to work after only a few weeks of having my second child, which then allowed me not to lose momentum on the projects I was in the middle of developing, before I gave birth,” she explained. “Hong Kong really has a cultural mindset of enabling a woman’s participation and productivity in the work force and I consider myself very fortunate to work here and contribute as a result of the opportunities afforded to me by this great city.”
Upon reflection on their trip, Light Collective received a huge amount of feedback that brought with it a sense of responsibility to “ensure that designers feel comfortable to reach out to us and to offer their ideas of how this platform can better support and inspire them”.
Stammers added: “This trip resulted in a strengthening of the project in Asia and an expansion of the WiL community. It was good to be able to explain the origins of the project in person and to get opinions from other parts of the world. It was also a pleasure to personally connect with the women we interviewed and to hear their stories.”
Looking back at their trip, we asked Light Collective if they had witnessed any interesting comparisons with other international trips they had conducted as part of the WiL interviews. “The interviewees in Asia appeared to be more confident. Even speaking in English as their second or third language, the interviewees were very composed and confident in their delivery. They proudly shared their portfolio of projects but remained so humble notwithstanding the impressive scale of their projects and significant impact of their work,” explained Lupton.
“The main difference seemed to be the approach to design - there is a softer approach to the application of light, which would appear to come from cultural reasons. Vannapa, for example, talks about Buddhism and how it inspires her work in her interview.
“Tippaya literally took us on an idyllic journey of a prestigious resort with the images of her lighting design scheme for the project. We felt so tranquil watching the project on the slide show, that we all longed to experience an actual stay there. The scheme she created was conscious of light pollution in this luxurious sanctuary, yet she upheld the prestigious standard of the renowned hospitality brand.
“Lighting design in Asia has its own identity and high emotional intelligence, which the women we interviewed were strongly connected to.
“It seems incredible now that we were able to easily fly to all these places and meet all these women in their offices, given how much the world has changed since. We couldn’t have foreseen the importance of this connection now, but to have this digital library - which is not on any time schedule, and communicates inclusivity - has allowed us to build on actions, which are more relevant to our circumstances today – like the WiL in Lockdown initiative [a collection of submitted snapshots of WiL and supporters from their homes during lockdown], which is so uplifting to read during a period of isolation.
“It may not be directly related to our recent trip to Asia, but it was very exciting to see that recently a lighting designer from Beijing submitted her own interview on the website. We also received three more interviews from designers in Japan. We hope this will continue and that the WiL movement will reach other areas of Asia and engage designers through our inviting community.”
To coincide with the publishing of this article, Light Collective have published the first set of four interviews. “The digital world has recently seen a tsunami of webinars, chats, panels and interviews and our concern was that if we released them one at a time, they would get lost. Over the next two months, we plan to release a set of four interviews every two weeks. Each set will include an interview from one of the four cities we visited in Asia. They will all be available on the Women in Lighting project website and on some of our partners sites.”
Otemon Academic Ark, Japan
The Otemon Gakuin University’s newest campus opened a year ago in the heart of Smart-City Ibkaraki in northern Osaka, Japan. The 40,000sqm facility is home to half of the university’s student population, equating to roughly 3,600 students.
Designed by architectural firm Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei with lighting design from akari+DESIGN, the striking triangular structure presents a beautiful learning facility for the students.
Project Architect Yasuhiro Sube sat down with arc to discuss the project: “I wanted to design a one-building campus that would encourage communication in the age of texting and smartphones. My inspiration was the image of an iconic inverted triangular pyramid floating over the Earth,” he explained.
“An analysis of the surrounding urban landscape led me to conclude that a triangular plan was most appropriate for the site, and this developed into an inverted pyramid form, a powerful contemporary shape that attracts students and community members. I used environmental simulation software to further refine the form through computational design.”
In an age of internet technology increasing the ability to communicate remotely, the architects were driven to create an educational complex that would draw students in, stimulate their interests and encourage exploration.
Taking inspiration from traditional Japanese shrines, the architects created the dubbed Academic Ark as a place of gathering, much like that of a shrine that attracted pilgrims from across the country to meet. The Academic Ark’s outstanding triangular form presents steeply angled sides that create an inviting “gate” that students and educators enter through. Inside the Ark, audiences are welcomed with a great floating silver volume in the main hall. The floating volume contains a library filled with books and a book trail that encircles the centrepiece, which is flanked by six large classrooms on both the second and third floors. Above, 21 classrooms fill the fourth and fifth floors. “A large void between the library and the book trail allows for visibility between the floors, making apparent the energy created by a learning site where individuals both see and are seen by each other,” explained the firm.
Lighting design, by Hiroyasu Yoshino and Mai Okada at akari+DESIGN, was integrated in the early stages of design in a close working relationship with the architects. “I contacted Mr [Hiroyasu] Yoshino at quite an early stage in the project, once I’d decided on an inverted pyramid form with a floating library inside,” explained Sube. “I wanted the lighting to strengthen the impact of the design, so that the structure and space would really stay with people. Mr Yoshino and I have collaborated on other projects, and I love the way his lighting design is modulated to create a mysterious atmosphere, similar to the light of the sun and moon.
“Mr Yoshino’s lighting is as essential to my spaces as the sun and moon. The most striking space is useless in the dark. His lighting is an art, with the power to give life and emotional impact to architecture, differentiating it from ordinary environments.”
Speaking of his collaboration with Yoshino, Sube added: “I tell him about the space I am envisioning and the points that require special attention from the perspective of user convenience and leave the rest to him. Satoko Uda, Mitsubishi’s electrical engineer, also collaborates with Mr Yoshino not only on the engineering but also on issues related to post-construction management and operation.”
When discussing the design details for the floating library, Sube describes how the working relationship with Yoshino influences his architectural choices. “We jointly came up with the idea of using reflective material from the K-Spot spotlights designed by Shiro Kuramata, whose work we both love,” he said. “I’d been wanting to use that material in an architecture project, but there weren’t any previous examples of it being applied in such a large space. The way we worked with contractors and construction workers unfamiliar with this industrial item was through trial and error to create a huge, seamless floating mass, made a strong impression on me.”
Inside the Academic Ark, the modern architecture is enhanced with the use of architectural lighting, which defines the lines and textures of the building.
“My brief was to attractively illuminate this unique triangular architectural form,” explained Yoshino. “I was also asked to design artistic, centripetal interior lighting, and exterior lighting that would make the structure into a reassuring local landmark. These fundamental concepts remained consistent from start to finish.”
Yoshino claims his initial impressions of the triangular structure, both inside and out, were like that of a spaceship. “I wanted to somehow use light to make this silver form float in the air,” he explained. “I was also thinking about maintenance and using indirect lighting in a way that creates a physical sensation. All of the interior spaces are lit with long, thin dotless LED lights. These thin lines of light emphasise the edges of the triangles, creating a futuristic impression. In particular, the 15mm-wide linear LEDs on the outside of the corridor handrails both effectively bring out the library’s exterior walls and contribute ambient light to the entire atrium through reflection.”
Inside the library space, Yoshino encountered one of the inevitable challenges a project like this brings. One of the structural constraints he faced was with the library bookshelves. “At first, I intended to install horizontal LEDs on the shelves, but I then learned that the lights could not be attached there, so I hastily switched to vertical linear LEDs on the boards forming the sides of the shelves so that the bookshelves themselves function as lighting,” he explained. “Switching to a vertical design had the added effect of emphasising the height of the shelves and making the space more striking, so the design ended up evolving thanks to on-site problem solving.”
Yoshino’s lighting scheme was so successful due to the attention to detail he carried throughout the building and to the student’s wellbeing when using the space. One example of this is seen in the embedded LEDs in the handrails illuminating the exterior of the library in the atrium. He explained further: “These linear dotless LEDs are controlled with a DMX signal, which dims them in a slow, random pattern. I felt that the light needed to flicker in this way because there are no skylights or other source of natural light in this space. When students leave the classrooms, they experience a sense of passing time arising from this flickering light, which is similar to slowly passing clouds.”
Along with the health and wellbeing of the student’s playing a big part both the architectural and the lighting designs, the architecture was also sensitive to its environmental impacts. As Sube explained: “The façade is fabricated from unpainted cast stainless steel, treated to prevent dulling and shaped like cherry blossom petals - the first example of its kind in the world. This “eco-screen” reduces thermal load by 50% and blocks visibility from the surrounding residential neighbourhood, so that those inside and outside the building are not aware of one another.
“In Japan, when the cherry blossom trees are in full bloom, groups of friends gather under them to eat and drink. I wanted to create a place for learning that was surrounded by this same motif of cherry blossoms in full bloom. For the past 10 years or so, I have been interested in the potential of cast metals to reduce environmental load by lowering the amount of solar heat that buildings absorb. Cast aluminium must be painted but cast stainless steel can be used as-is in a façade. I’d used this contemporary approach previously on commercial façades and interiors at the Taipei Nan Shan Plaza in Taiwan, and this current project further deepened my understanding of the material.”
Yoshino’s lighting design responded to this awareness of environmental impact, and he specifically chose LEDs for their environmentally friendly and long-lasting nature.
“Architects can give their buildings windows and skylights to bring natural light inside. That makes the interiors more comfortable, but the accompanying solar radiation can also create an unpleasant environment,” added Sube. “In the areas where the stainless-steel façade and windows don’t bring in sunlight or moonlight, Mr Yoshino went beyond providing the bare minimum of necessary light by contributing to the creation of one-of-a-kind artistic spaces.”
Throughout the Ark’s unique triangular shape, Yoshino’s design emphasised its shapes, yet stayed discreet and unassuming. “Because the architectural design was so incredibly futuristic and fantasy-like, I did my utmost to ensure that the lighting design would be unnoticeable,” explained Yoshino.
“The building has so many sloping and acutely angled forms, I decided to illuminate them only from a fixed direction. That created shadows, and a contrast of light and dark that emphasises the forms,” he added.
“Wherever possible, I designed the lighting to follow the circulation paths and architectural forms so that it would blend into the space. Aside from the classrooms, I did not attach downward-facing fixtures to the ceilings. That allowed me to illuminate the ceiling and wall surfaces so that the forms came forward strikingly.
“The narrow dotless LEDs also allowed me to linearly connect the lighting into a seamless overall design. The dotless lights look like the lightsabres in Star Wars, which I felt was perfect for creating a futuristic, new kind of space.
“I’m very pleased with how the lighting design turned out. I think that thanks to the lighting plan, the lighting became an element of the architecture. It’s not simply task lighting or illumination, but instead functions similarly to wallpaper or curtains. I feel like the small, delicate LED lights gave rise to a new kind of design,” concluded Yoshino.
Louis Vuitton Maison Seoul, South Korea
Louis Vuitton announced the grand opening of Maison Seoul, a new South Korean flagship store, last year.
The opening of Louis Vuitton Maison Seoul marks a further link in the already strong connection between the Maison and Korean culture. Located in the prestigious Cheongdam-dong in the Gangnam district, the new flagship store brings together two world-renowned architects’ visions: Frank Gehry’s poetic façade and Peter Marino’s dynamic interiors. Throughout the store’s five floors, all of Louis Vuitton’s collections can to be experienced in a variety of intimate spaces, connected by an airy, floating staircase. Clients are provided with an entirely unique private shopping experience surrounded by works of art, historical Louis Vuitton archival objects and artisanal savoir-faire.
On the uppermost floor of the store, Louis Vuitton also inaugurated the Espace Louis Vuitton Seoul, the fifth exhibition space of its kind around the world. For its very first exhibition, the Espace Louis Vuitton Seoul presented eight emblematic sculptures by Giacometti, that belong to the collection, including L’homme qui chavire [The man who capsizes] (1950) and Grande Femme II [Tall Woman II] (1960).
L’Observatoire International was brought on board to complete the lighting design for the flagship store after a pre-established working relationship with the retailer. “We have a good relationship with Louis Vuitton from a number of projects, including the Fondation Louis Vuitton, where Gehry Partners was also the design architect,” explained Hervé Decottes, Principal of L’Observatoire International. “We were brought in from the beginning to create the overall lighting concept for the gut renovation of the five-story building, which includes retail spaces, multi-cultural space, façade and exterior lighting. The project took four years from the start to completion.”
Working on the project alongside Decottes, from L’Observatoire International, was project leader Jessica Jie Soo Tchah and project team members Carrie Chang and Sam Power .
“The nature of the building’s signature Gehry architecture brought with it some design challenges for the team to overcome when implementing the lighting scheme,” elaborated Tchah. “For areas in the Gehry Partners scope, the glass façade volumes, with a series of enclosed terraces, were the main challenge. We had to locate the fixtures within the very complex geometrical shapes of the building. Each curved glass panel has a different shape and height, and is positioned in different angles, but the lighting effect needed to be revealed in the same manner throughout. In addition, as fixtures are located in interior spaces, the detailing needed to be visually pleasing to the visitors.”
In order for this to be accomplished, the luminaires were tried and tested in multiple full-scale mock-ups and 3D modelling reviews to provide glare-free illumination.
“To enhance the dynamic and poetic façade, we grouped lighting control zones according to volume, including roof louvers, and within the volume, different height glass panels had separate control zones. During the scene setting proofs, each volume was set with different dimming percentages,” explained Tchah.
“For areas where the Peter Marino team designed interior retail spaces, the main challenge was to harmonise the atmosphere and lighting elements from each floor to Gehry’s façade.”
Each floor represents a different universe, according to Marino’s interior design, but the obvious statement comes from the airy and spacious entrance atrium. It was important for the lighting scheme to respond to this vast space and connect the different universes with the varying lighting fixtures from Flos, Feelux, formalighting and SR Luxconex, considerately placed to avoid being visible. “The lighting gesture was to reveal Peter Marino’s modernist interior volumes, embracing textural stoned walls, and using grids of light to allow for flexibility throughout the space to highlight merchandise. By providing back drops with perimeter illuminated walls, lighting created depth within the spaces,” continued Tchah.
“The other challenge was to locally source the majority of fixtures. To accomplish both the client’s and our desires, most of the lighting fixtures were developed as custom fixtures [from IMS, PTG and Miso Lighting] to meet our required design criteria to support the project’s specifications.”
Over the course of the project, the fourth floor changed purpose from a permanent dining café to a multi-purpose space that required flexible lighting. The original lighting plan for the dining area aimed to “light the dining tables using fixtures with a very tight beam spread, since the ceiling is five-metres high,” said Tchah.
For the updated layout the team “kept the same track lighting system but reconfigured the layout and modified beam spreads for the fixtures, with added wallwashers.”
Due to the nature of the building’s structure, the team had some issues with placing the fixtures. “We had placement issues for the interior ceiling lights, which were conflicting with the existing MEP system. Because of limitations of height above the finished ceiling, the fixtures were replaced from a track system within a recessed backlit slot gorge to a low-profile recessed track system with surface mounted track heads and linear glowing light lines to provide ambient lighting.”
To enhance the beauty of Gehry’s architectural statement, the façade of the building was illuminated from the inside out. “The key was to provide lighting from the enclosed spaces and integrate the detailing as a part of an architectural element. During the daytime, light fixtures are hidden but as night falls, light accentuates each volume and creates a lantern effect for the glass volumes.
“We had several mock-up studies with a 1:1 scale single glass panel with the team, then two large full-scale visual mock-ups were constructed with cladded glass from a high zigzag-shaped vestibule and window, and a series of enclosed terraced spaces and roof louvers,” she added.
During the visual mock-up stages, the team reviewed the lighting fixture locations and specifications as well as the mounting details, cable management, remote power supply locations and the lighting control system.
“The review process was very critical for the team, as most of the structural elements (tubular structure, membranes, glasses, joint, etc.) are exposed and lighting elements had to be accommodated accordingly within the listed elements discreetly,” continued Tchah.
In order to combat potential glare from the LED chips, the team designed custom luminaires to reduce visibility of the fixtures. “For the signature façade, most of the light fixtures were visible from different viewpoints and reflected in the curved glass paneling. We had a limitation on locating the fixtures, where they are mounted above the tubular structure, so we developed fixtures that can rotate and tilt in a wide range to reach not only floor surfaces, but also wall surfaces.
“In terms of lighting controls, daisy chaining was one of the important factors for wiring, since we had a limitation on locating remote drivers.
“For the interior spaces, besides lighting the merchandise with high-quality fixtures from exact fixture offsets, we had to consider the strict lighting layout, with grids of light for flexibility throughout the space. We specified and designed the fixtures and layouts throughout to have a minimal, clean aesthetic with options to have flexibility.”
The ground floor entrance space had specially developed custom track fixtures that were used to target three visual elements from a single DALI track system. One was used to highlight the artworks that are mounted on the stone wall and suspended in space using projectors with medium beam spreads. The second set was aimed at the merchandise using projectors with very tight beam spreads, and the third washed the stone wall with a soft, wide beam spread.
Throughout the retail space, L’Observatoire International designed fixtures that aimed at all the products, including those on top shelves. These fixtures were easy to aim and lock during the light focusing. A customised-finish Flos fixture was used on the stairs to combat the site and programmatic restraints of height limitations under the stairs.
Overall, the team created a successful lighting scheme for the designer retail space. “As we were collaborating with Gehry’s and Peter Marino’s teams, we wanted our lighting design to harmonise with their spaces and give continuity throughout, even though each space has a different concept and programme,” reflected Tchah.
“We designed the entire building to be controlled with an astronomical time clock, so when the sun starts to go down, the building envelope begins to bring a new vibe to the store and to the neighbourhood. Working with Louis Vuitton and two standout architects was a unique experience. It is always challenging working with two architects, but from other projects we’ve worked on together, we are familiar with their design processes and expectations, so we were able to manage this with a joyful vibe.
“This project was really a team effort, because we had a big team to work with: the client (Louis Vuitton), two design architects, two local architect teams, the façade consultant, two general contractors, the millworker, local lighting distributors, local lighting control parties, and so on.
“I want to thank all of the teams once again, because we had some challenges during construction, but it turned out very successful with their support. The success of this project was this great team work and positive energy!”
[d]arc thoughts: Episode 6 | In Conversation with... Arup, LITE & Meteor Lighting
In the latest [d]arc thoughts video, arc editor Matt Waring sits down with Lauren Blow of Arup, alongside LITE's Andrew Milestone and Meteor Lighting's Arjan Stevens to discuss the new partnership between LITE and Meteor, as well as some recent lighting projects from the two manufacturers.
Lauren discusses Arup's work on Liverpool's Royal Liver Building, in which the lighting designers worked with LITE in illuminating the landmark building, while Arjan offers an insight into Meteor's work on the amazing Amazon Spheres in Seattle, USA.
Photography:
Royal Liver Building images courtesy of Arup
Amazon Spheres images & footage courtesy of Meteor Lighting
Video edited by Matt Waring
Music from bensound.com
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