Amsterdam Light Festival call for concepts
(Netherlands) - Amsterdam Light Festival calls for artists, designers, engineers and architects to submit ideas for Art Works to be staged at the festival's 2015 - 2016 edition.
The fourth edition of the Amsterdam Light Festival will take place in the city centre of Amsterdam from 26 November 2015 till 31 January 2016.
This edition will celebrate humanity, and light as a universal language of expression. The festival's theme this year is “Friendship”. During the period of the Amsterdam Light Festival, Amsterdam is the stage of the European Summits as a result of The Netherlands holding presidency of the European Union.
The festival wants art works that express an understanding of the importance of friendships across Europe, of the way the continent has become evermore united over the past 50 years and how the "friendship" that has been established within the European Union translates into the continent's value for all individuals who live there.
The festival will again present the Water Colors boat tour and the Illuminade walking route. Water Colors comprises of larger, colourful, monumental works along the canals while the Illuminade offers a platform for talent, experimentation, interaction and mixed forms of art and digital technology.
The deadline for submission is 25 March 2015. Late entries will not be accepted. The festival will announce 70 finalists on 8 April 2015 who will be asked to further detail their design and to resolve production issues. 30 winners will then be announced on 29 April 2015. All winners will be required to visit Amsterdam for a site visit in May 2015, now scheduled for 11 – 13 May, the precise dates are to be announced.
Venture Lighting expands solid state capabilities
(Europe) - Venture Lighting extends innovation to include fast developing Solid State Lighting product area.
Venture Lighting President Sabu Krishnan commented: “Solid State Lighting (SSL) technology has grown faster than any other because of scientific and operational innovation, making 2015 the ideal time for Venture to enhance its industry-leading product set. Our customers demand the best solutions for their lighting needs, and it’s crucial that we apply our considerable abilities to SSL, now that the technology has proved its adaptability to the range of lighting situations we see in the marketplace.”
To demonstrate its commitment to SSL, Venture appointed Keith Price, previously Managing Director of Venture Lighting Europe since 1990, to lead SSL business development effort around the world.
Prior to joining Venture, Price spent twelve years with City Electrical Factors, including positions as branch manager, regional manager in the UK and general manager for Germany, and then worked as an independent distributor.
“SSL technology is the future of our industry,” Price commented, “and to continue bringing Venture’s history of lighting innovation to that future is personally and professionally exciting for me.”
In his new role, Keith will build a support team of Solid State Lighting product managers and design engineers, based at Venture Lighting offices and manufacturing centers around the world.
“We are committed to bringing the finest SSL products to market around the world, and will shortly release an expanded product line that will enable our customers to pick the right technology, or blend of technologies, most appropriate for their needs,” said Price. “This sales and design team will offer the specific expertise and capabilities to SSL that our metal halide customers have grown to expect in that important product set.”
Richard Morris has been appointed to succeed Price as managing director of Venture Lighting Europe. Morris, most recently served as sales director wholesale/distribution for the UK and Europe since 2002.
Krishnan concluded: “We look forward to bringing the same pioneering spirit to SSL, even as we continue to improve and enhance our metal halide product and serve and support our customers.”
Liz West's Your Colour Perception showcased
(UK) - Your Colour Perception transforms Federation House into visceral experience for visitors.
As West’s largest site-specific installation, Your Colour Perceptionincorporated 5,000 sq ft of Castlefield Gallery’s New Art Spaces Federation House in Manchester.
Developed in direct response to the architectural space, West is interested in the psychological, physical, emotional and spiritual responses visitors experience during encounters with light. She used colour and light to create vast installation art that tested visitors’ perception of luminous colour by overloading it with artificial chromatic light.
The installation opened for two days on 30 January from afternoon to evening, intentionally utilising natural darkness to increase illumination and colouration in the work. Using the darkness of winter allowed more colour saturation in the light than if displayed any other time of the year.
darc awards now open for entries
(UK) - It is now time to enter the darcness… You can now enter your projects and products into the darc awards, the international lighting design awards organised by mondo*arc and darc magazines for lighting designers, suppliers, architects and interior designers.
Every entry will be displayed online for full exposure and every company who enters will receive a free profile in the online darc directory.
Just like in the pages of mondo*arc and darc, we’re not after the most efficient, the best money saving, the safe. We’re after the creative, the clever, the brave.
The categories are:
1 Best interior scheme – low / high budget
2 Best exterior scheme – low / high budget
3 Best landscape /urban / streetscape / masterplan – low / high budget
4 Best decorative lighting installation
5 Best light art installation
6 Best architectural lighting product – interior / exterior
7 Best decorative lighting product
8 Best lighting concept
Now, over to you…
*You can read all about the darc night launch party held on 5 February here
Speirs + Major presents Half Life
(UK) - King’s Cross foot tunnel to house immersive Spiers + Major light installation.
Launching on 6 March, in association with King’s Cross Central Partnership, Half Life uses the medium of light to synthesise a digital journey through light and colour.
Having previously conceived illuminated graphic artwork Light Pipe in the King's Cross tunnel (mondo*arc #80), Half Life is built on a construct of digital, ordered cycles building from light to dark and begins with bold, dramatic steps gradually becoming calmer until they dissolve, ghost-like, leaving just a trace of the light that has been, before resetting to reveal a new cycle.
Within the tunnel’s 90-metre glazed wall are 180 sources that create a palette of animated colour. Through the intricate programming of each individual light source, sequences have been developed from which the narrative of the piece grows organically. Each of the sources consists of five individual elements: red, green and blue light, complemented by warm and cool white. These are then blended together to create a variety of tones and saturations.
While the juxtapositions of light and dark, order and chaos, past and present, peaceful and energetic can be observed in one viewing, the gradual evolution of hue and saturation are only recognisable across the piece's entire duration, creating a new experience on each journey.
Keith Bradshaw, Principal at Speirs + Major commented: ‘We have designed Half Life so that no two moments in the tunnel will be experienced the same. Each visitor will have their own perception of time and distance, immersed in light, dark and colour."
International Year of Light begins with SGM
(France) - SGM package illuminates UNESCO headquarters for IYL opening ceremony.
Finnish lighting artist Kari Kola prepared a full concept including light, video and music for UNESCO’s Fontenoy building during the IYL opening ceremony for 1,500 guests; launching an initiative to raise global awareness about the importance of light for the development of society.
Kola’s installation, Light Is Here, used 130 SGM P-5 wash lights and fourteen G-Spot moving heads, along with 70 LED fixtures and twelve video projectors.
Kola explained: “I wanted to reflect the most powerful elements of natural light, Aurora Borealis (Northern light) and sunrise, bringing in the north and the nature to the opening ceremony.”
The 360º installation swathed the building in blues and greens contrasting the warm colours of the sunrise, accompanied by music composed by Kola. The project presented a comprehensive challenge, with Kola facing a tight timetable as well a monumental building.
The SGM P-5 LED wash light was the main feature, accompanied by elements from the G-Spot moving head. Kola commented: “The purpose was to break the surface with gobo animation and video content. Everything had to be IP65 rated and I needed lots of power and a good saturation of colours, so these units were perfect for the job.”
Aura Light acquires Zobra
(Sweden) - Aura Light acquires Sweden-based Zobra as part of growth strategy.
CEO of Aura Light International Martin Malmros said: “This acquisition is an important part of Aura Light’s growth strategy and we have seen an increased demand of complete lighting solutions amongst our customers.”
Michael Engstrand, CEO of Zobra, added: ”We look forward to being a part of the Aura Light group and to supplement its range with our products and our expertise in luminaires. We are two companies that together offer our customers total lighting solutions and high-quality lighting.”
#WeLoveLight film released by L-RO
(International) - Valentine's Day film launched by Lighting-Related Organizations, Official Partner of the United Nations International Year of Light 2015 under the patronage of UNESCO.
#WeLoveLight is a Valentine's Day film about the climactic end to a first date... But it's mostly about light! This is a declaration of love from the lighting design profession to the wider public: all the people we hope to work with and share our passion, our knowledge, our skills and our resources.
People take for granted that outdoor lighting is there to help keep cities moving after the sun goes down, that light can influence health and performance at work, as well as children's wellbeing and their ability to learn. But who safeguards the consumers and guarantees results, timings and costs? Shouldn't society demand good quality lighting?
The Coordinators of L-RO have collaborated with the award-winning collective of filmmakers Zero in order to create #WeLoveLight. This is an opportunity to make the lighting design profession better known and understood; the provocation is an instrument, the story we are telling is a commonplace. Extra-ordinary is the Light!
#WeLoveLight is also an open announcement: Lighting design is an affordable service for everyone. Quality lighting is as much a right as health care. Look at your life in a new light. Regenerate the context in which you live. Turn on your right light!
Watch #WeLoveLight enjoy and spread some love for our profession, our passion, our lifestyle. Sometimes it's not a bad life, it's just a bad light - Lighting Designers #WeLoveLight
Light Collective curates exhibition in Paris
(France) - ‘Lumières - The Play of Brilliants’ to feature at Éléphant Paname from 6 March to 31 May.
Organised by Éléphant Paname, a Centre for Art and Dance in Paris, the exhibition, Lumières - The Play of Brilliants is managed by Temeloy advance lighting design and curated by Light Collective, with Concord Lighting as official partner.
Part of the Lighting-Related Organizations - Official Activity for IYL2015, the exhibition's theme is 'the play of brilliants' - a phrase made famous by the pioneer of architectural lighting design, Richard Kelly to describe the magic of light when it adds sparkle and vivacity to a space.
The exhibition runs from 6 March to 31 May and allows visitors an opportunity to play and experience the brilliance of light as demonstrated by a selection of fantastic pieces.
Artists include Soo Sunny Park, USA; Haberdashery, UK; DGT, France; Laura Bayliss, UK; Moritz Waldemeyer, UK; Whitevoid, Germany; United Visual Artists, UK; GNI Projects, UK; Flynn Talbot, Australia; Laurent Fort, USA.
Fulton Centre, USA
The Fulton Center is the new transport hub for Lower Manhattan. Styled as both a retail space and a Subway interchange the impressive new structure with its centrepiece oculus was designed by Grimshaw in conjunction with Arup and features a daylighting design from James Carpenter Design Associates.
The Fulton Center is the gateway to Lower Manhattan and is the entrance through which 300,000 commuters arrive daily in the city’s business district.
Inspired by the awe inspiring Grand Central Station in Midtown and standing between the newly opened World Trade Center Memorial and City Hall, home to NYC’s trend setting liberal mayor Bill de Blasio, the Fulton Center is a transport hub combining a number of Subway stations with 65,000 square feet of retail space.
Designed by Grimshaw in conjunction with Arup, with a daylighting design from the New York based James Carpenter Design Associates, the Fulton Center cost 1.4 billion dollars to build and the Centerpiece of the project is the 53 foot-diameter oculus that allows daylight to pour into the building’s principle atrium. The impressive ceiling is formed from a cable structure that supports aluminium panelling that caches the light and appears to shimmer.
Grimshaw was appointed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Capital Construction Company as the lead architect on the project in collaboration with prime design consultant Arup. Grimshaw after the completion of a considered design process, designed a dynamic transport environment that treamlines connectivity and enhances the user experience for transit passengers who use the station daily.
The surging redevelopment of Lower Manhattan that has followed after the difficulties prompted by 9/11 and the financial crash of 2008 prompted the creation of the station and it is a vital link to this commercial center and its growing residential sector, acting to connecting eleven New York City Transit subway lines and easing access to PATH trains serving New Jersey.
“From the beginning, we were inspired by the ambience and activity of Grand Central Station,” says Grimshaw Project Partner Vincent Chang.
“We endeavoured to design a similar environment for transit customers and visitors, creating a new front door to downtown New York. By providing a dramatic, light-filled civic space and incorporating the historic Corbin Building, the transit center represents a microcosm of Lower Manhattan’s evolution, one that reflects both the legacy and the revitalisation of the district.”
The Fulton Center is organised around a large-scale atrium contained within an elegant, transparent façade. Tapered steel columns draw inspiration from the historic neighbourhood’s cast-iron buildings and complement the integration and restoration of the adjacent Corbin Building, the historic Romanesque Revival Style office building which dates back to 1888, a time before New York became the high-rise city it is today.
The open design provides unimpeded customer movement and sightlines across a level ground plane extending from the major thoroughfares of Broadway and Fulton Street.
Carefully aligned entrances and exits allow the streetscape to permeate the building, defining clear and efficient pathways to all trains. Once beyond fare control and underground, passengers encounter brighter, widened passageways than in the older stations, with clear signage connecting the complex array of platforms.
The transit hub’s atrium ascends to 120 feet and is topped by a conical dome Centerd on the concourse below. The dome is truncated by an angled glass oculus oriented to the southern sky.
The central architectural concept of redirecting natural light deep into the transit environment in an effort to humanise the space and orient passengers, culminated in the design of the dome’s interior and a new integrated artwork.
Sky Reflector-Net (2013) is the work of engineer, architect and artist; a collaboration with Arup, Grimshaw and James Carpenter Design Associates, commissioned by the MTA Arts for Transit and Urban Design and MTA Capital Construction Company. Held aloft below the oculus, the artwork paints an ever-changing image of the sky across the atrium interior.
The Sky Reflector-Net builds upon the architect’s desire to ensure that the atrium is light filled. Tensioned within the atrium’s conical form, the artwork acts to fold the sky downwards into the core of the building, helping to create the grand civic room that the designers hope will stand in posterity as a rival to Grand Central.
JCDA, working with Schlaich Bergermann und Partner created a cable net structure that fits inside the oculus perfectly. Designed to resemble the film that forms a soap bubble, the façade draws the eye upwards to the ephemeral, diurnal and season rhythms of the sky. The skylight features a perforated facetted reflector system that is able to animate and redirect seasonal sunlight into the atrium. Visible from the corner of Broadway and Fulton the sculpture creates a distinctive point of orientation amid the busy city.
The second element of the project for JCDA was the creation of an underground passageway under Dey Street linking the Fulton Center to the PATH station at the new World Trade Center. The tunnel features interactive light walls that simulate the experience of twilight meaning that the two sections of the project are linked by depictions of the sky.
According to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, “This new station makes traveling easier for subway riders, and is a beautiful public space for visitors and commuters to enjoy. We now have a new cornerstone in Lower Manhattan, and I am proud to see this unique complex opened to the public.”
Both a neighbourhood asset and regional interchange, the Fulton Center fulfils a significant civic role as a gateway to and from Lower Manhattan. Today, commuters and visitors alike will arrive and depart through a memorable, contemporary urban transit centre that celebrates the city’s history while looking forward to the area’s future.
www.grimshaw-architects.com
www.arup.com
www.jcdainc.com
Nordbad, Germany
The newly refurbished Nordbad swimming pool in Munich retains a classic monumental architectural style while offering swimmers all the conveniences required from a modern swimming pool. Built during the Second World War, Norbad is famous for its impressive 33-meter swimming pool and sauna area, there is also an outdoor pool that remains open through the winter for any hardy soul that wishes to take a dip in the freezing cold.
Lighting designers Gabriele Allendorf Light Identity aimed to create a lighting scheme that would make Nordbad equally famous for its lighting design. The concept uses our natural human fascination with water and the colours and shadows created when water is lit, and funnels this inspiration into a contemporary illumination of the swimming hall. First proposed in the 1920s as a public swimming pool in the northwest of Munich the realisation of the Nordbad was delayed from 1936 to 1941 when it was finally erected under the direction of Karl Meitinger and Philipp Zametzer.
At the end of the Second World War the public swimming pool was partly destroyed and hence rebuilt from 1949 to 1951. The architecture of the building is typical of the time, the use of columns an example of the attempt pre-war German architects made to resurrect the traditions of a more classical school of architecture, taking particular inspiration from the buildings of Ancient Rome. The original interior of the building featured imposing murals and two ornately painted horses that sat between a large and regal wall clock. These were later edited out of the building during the reconstruction in 1949.
It was decided to switch the lighting of the hall from the ceiling to the sidewalls for pragmatic reasons. In preparation for the removal of the lighting above the pool it had to be emptied, no small task in itself, and it took twelve hours until the pool was drained. The pendant ceiling luminaires, complete with their classic ball glass lampshades, were replaced by a number of fluorescent lamp chandeliers and the classic ceiling lights were replaced by ceiling floodlights and reflector sheets.
The effort was worth it though, as by relocating the lights to the wall sides the ceiling was freed from large tangles of cable and the swimming pool now appears as an architectural unit. As well as this the ceiling floodlights and reflector sheets mounted in the 1990s were not only inefficient with a 40% loss of light through light deflection, but they were also hard to maintain. LED spotlights were installed along the interior colonnades. The fixtures were individually designed by Gabriele Allendorf Light Identity and have been built in cooperation with LMT, they are chlorine vapour and water resistant and were manufactured by Otterpohl-Leuchten. Using specialist luminaires not only enables a perfect adaptation of the structural shape to the architecture but also adapts the light perfectly to the room.
In this case the LED spotlights homogeneously bring light into the middle of the room, while also directing the light onto the ribbed ceiling. The room contour is emphasised by the downlights shining from the pillars and this light is then easily directed into the wider room. The luminaires have been installed on the columns approximately seven meters above the floor. In the lower area of the north side of the pool the pillars boasted ugly black loudspeaker boxes and these have been replaced with subtle white loudspeakers.
The solaria galley, which reaches along the side of the swimming hall on the first floor of the building has been equipped with subtle ceiling light lines. This indirect and warm white illumination helps visitors to relax, while the innovative lighting creates a seamless connection with the swimming areas. All the fixtures in this area were designed by Allendorf in conjunction with Korona.
The light concept was made in close cooperation with the heritage management office in Munich and the SWM and this is a project that respects the requirements needed to preserve historical monuments. The plan for the next renovation phase intends to highlight the arcade behind the tribunes in a way that emphasises the wall mosaics. It is intended that cold white lights will accentuate the blue and turquoise shades of the mosaics. The new look Norbad is a pool for swimming purists, who like to revel in the notion of swimming as a pursuit, a tool for relaxation and exercise rather than sport and competition. This newly modernised facility can also cope with the demands of competition too, all under a lighting scheme that doesn’t aim only to highlight the pool, but to make it, in conjunction with a fine neoclassical building, part of an architectural whole.
darc night launched in style
(UK) - Launch party for darc awards takes place on February 5th at Dilston Grove arts venue in Southwark Park, London.
darc night, the launch party for the darc awards, took place on February 5th at Dilston Grove in Southwark Park, Bermondsey, London and featured a special lighting scheme by Light Collective using fittings from the darc awards commercial partners. A Dark Source animation and exhibition by Kerem Asfuroglu of Speirs + Major also featured. Over 150 designers and partners attended the event.
Paul James, awards director and publishing editor of mondo*arc anddarc, gave a presentation explaining the awards programme and darc night concept.
“With our database of over 1,000 international lighting design practices, as well as interior designers and architects, there is a unique opportunity for every practice to get involved in the awards process,” commented James.
“We intend to make the darc awards the most accessible and global awards programme ever. After the shortlists have been chosen by an expert panel of international lighting designers, each of the 1,000+ lighting design practices and their designers will be invited to vote on their favourite projects via our specially developed website. Using the model developed by the Oscars where all members vote on the work of their peers, the darc awards will give every designer a vote, making this the only truly peer-to-peer lighting design awards in the world.”
Each award will be split into low and high budgets, thus allowing the smaller projects a chance to compete and not just given a token ‘Special Projects’ award.
Martin Lupton and Sharon Stammers of Light Collective are excited by the prospect of a pluralistic awards event: “Having been involved in many lighting awards programs over many years, this is a great opportunity to build on all of those experiences and try to create a different version of celebrating the best of lighting design where the judging is in the hands of everybody. Helping to shape darc night in collaboration with mondo*arcand darc has given us a chance to create an awards ceremony that is by the people, for the people – it’s the Oscars of lighting design!”
All the projects and the companies who have submitted them will be present on the website so that, over time, www.darcawards.com will become a comprehensive online lighting design resource that can be used by designers and clients alike for inspiration.
There will also be product categories (two architectural and one decorative) that will follow the same philosophy resulting in a comprehensive online database of products.
Following the voting process the awards ceremony will take place as part ofdarc night in September 2015. This will be an atmospheric party in a unique venue in London. Imagine light art, street food, lighting installations… this breaks all the awards rules and will be unlike any other awards ceremony to date.
Each commercial partner will be able to show off the capabilities of their product via a series of light installations from collaborations with lighting designers.
Currently the manufacturer partners consist of Lucent, Megaman, Innermost, LSE Lighting, KKDC, Concord, L&L Luce&Light and Reggiani. A maximum of twelve partners will be involved in order to create a dozen inspiration spaces at the specially selected venue in London next September.
darc night will be part of the IYL2015 (International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies 2015 ) related activities program and will be promoted by the L-RO (Lighting-Related Organizations) to raise awareness for the lighting design profession and showcase the importance and beauty of light.