whenlightswork

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Cities After 1900hrs

Cities change with time. With time, activities morph and some spaces take on a special character when night falls. Yet, theories on visual qualities and visual design of cities have often focused on the visual qualities of cities in the day, whilst little has been mentioned about the visual design of cities at night. Tropical cities, with due consideration of our unforgiving weather, has public spaces that can be potentially well used at night but sometimes, some of our public spaces and parks are lit often for functional aspects, but in terms of creating “visual surprises” at night, we have still rooms for explore.

But before our subconscious start advocating for the need to illuminate everything for the benefit of use, we have to question the fundamental of “why light?” Besides fulfilling the functional aspects of urban lighting, and other than the need to orchestrate an aesthetically well-lit environment, but as brighter spaces do not equate to a better space, and in times when we are in the quest for energy-friendly cities, lighting comes under immediate scrutiny.

As much as we all will love a city that never sleeps, there are times when certain areas need to be in “darkness”. Darkness should not be seen as something to avoid in night cities, but darkness if needed to maintain a visual contrast and rest points in our night cities. And always, we must remember, as what Jan Gehl has advocated in Life Between Buildings, “Better lighting does not necessarily mean brighter light.” Mark Major presented his paper on “Dark City- Light and information in the 21st Century”, at the recent Stockholm Lighting Days, from 24 to 26 February 2010, when he discussed the aspects of intentionally creating for “dark cities” and the necessity of “appropriate darkness” in our current times. This discussion had sparked so many interests amongst lighting designers.  So, why light when you can keep things in darkness?

Good lighting and bad lighting?

“Outdoor activities that are particularly dependent on the quality of the outdoor spaces are the optional, recreational activities, and by implication, a considerable part of the social activities. It is these specially attractive activities that disappear when conditions are poor and that thrive where conditions are favourable.” Jan Gehl, Life Between Buildings.

Hence, Jan Gehl has simply advocated for the need of lighting for the essential use of public space in times of darkness, but not just any forms of lighting, in his book ‘Life Between Buildings,’ where he highlighted the need to light ‘socially relevant’ objects, where urban lighting do not exist for it’s sole functional purpose but is important to relate to our needs for social use of space. The advancement in lighting technology has also permitted and encouraged designers to see lights as a very powerful tool to transform our forgotten spaces at night, and especially with the increasing local awareness in the importance of lights in urban spaces, there exist a need to ‘experiment’ how some forgotten urban spaces can be ‘rediscovered in lights’. The use of lights to create extremely engaging spaces had been demonstrated through the effects Studio Roosegaarde’s lighting installation, Dune, has on seemingly conventional spaces. Also, United Visual Artists (UVA) and Jason Bruges Studio has always seek to challenge our perception of interactive design environment, through their lighting installations.

To question and to disturb our perception of light in urban spaces are also one of the original agenda behind guerrilla lighting, where guerrilla lighting aimed to inspire and ‘re-invent’ our community’s idea of their spaces in the dark.

So, on 22nd and 23rd of October 2010, the light guerrillas are to launch a series of attacks on 5 sites in Esplanade Park, which is one of the oldest parks in Singapore. Built in 1943, the park stand witness to many significant changes in our nation, physical development along the Marina Bay, and it holds many special memories to most Singaporeans, mainly for the older generations who have associated the park as a popular dating spot in the early years of our national development. Also within this narrow strip of green, there are several national monuments, like the Indian Army National Monument, Lim Bo Seng war memorial, the Cenotaph, and the Tan Kim Seng Fountain. This park also forms one of the important route within our heritage walk through the civic distict and by rediscovering this park through lights, we hope that students not only understand the magical qualities of light in space but to rekindle their appreciation for this park, which is integral to our national history.

Light Guerrillas in Singapore!

The Guerrilla Lighting movement started in the UK in 2007 and has spread all round the world recruiting fans, supporters and participants in many other countries. So far missions have been undertaken in England, Scotland, Northern and Southern Ireland, Finland, Norway, Turkey and the Isle of Man and others are being planned for Lebanon and USA. The idea has been developed with an open source approach and local design teams are always involved in the process.

This year, for the Singapore Archifest 2010 and I light marina bay 2010, Light Collective from UK and Singapore’s whenlightswork collective are going to embark on the mission to ‘change’ the night time environment of 5 selected sites along the Marina Bay area, with five teams of tertiary students all hailing from a different design disciplines- architecture, interior design, theatrical lighting design. Each team, comprising of 10 students each, will be working on design proposals for one of the five selected sites, under the guidance of passionate architectural or theatrical lighting designers, during the 3-day workshop is scheduled to be held from 21^st to 23^rd October 2010. Under the advice and guidance from our chief facilitators from UK, Martin Lupton and Sharon Stammers (Light Collective), Ong Swee Hong from whenlightswork and Suven Chan from Republic Polytechnic, we aim to educate these students through fun, handson activities tailored for them, to understand basic concepts in lighting and eventually applying their knowledge in their design of the 5 sites in Esplanade Park.

Using simple tools such as torches, battery packed lighting fittings, product support from lighting manufacturers and suppliers, and special lighting film from 3M Singapore, students will be given the chance to unleash their creativity in lighting design and witness the transformation of seemingly mundane and forgotten urban pockets into a mystical wonderland, through the play of light in space.

Witness the change through lights and join guerrilla lighting at the Esplanade Park on the 22nd and 23 of October from 7pm to 9pm.

The Guerrilla Lighting Student Workshop 2010 is sponsored by URA AUDE, Technolite (S) Pte Ltd, OSRAM SIngapore, 3M Singapore, Philips Lighting Singapore and is supported by Nparks, Singapore Archifest 2010 and I light marina bay 2010. More details and results of the workshop will be published exclusively with d+a, so stay tuned for our exciting updates!

Behind the scenes

Martin Lupton and Sharon Stammers of Light Collective in the UK. Light Collective is a lighting consultancy, fuelled by a passion for light and collaboration. Light Collective Rules #3 and #4 state that light is a medium that must be used to engage and inspire both professionals and the uninitiated. Martin and Sharon aim to spread their evangelical passion for light to everyone that they encounter (Light Collective Rule #1). Whenlightswork collective is founded by passionate Singaporean lighting designers who feel that the nightscape of Singapore can be made better for the community, to appreciate the beauty of light in the darkness of space, whilst to visualize light as a medium to reinterpret our forgotten spaces.