MAY 2011 VOL 24 (9)
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18 IA&B - MAY 2011
O rchestrating A mbiences Andre Tammes and Dhruvajyoti Ghose, Principals, LDP, talk about lighting, design and visual experiences in conversation with Maulik Jasubhai, Publisher, IA&B. Andre Tammes and Dhruvajyoti Ghose are principals of LDP (Lighting Design Partners), an international visual planning firm working from offices in Sydney, Auckland, Singapore and Shanghai. LDP dwells on creating visual experiences and ambience designs through their expertise in lighting, interior design and illumination engineering with a background in Architecture. With projects across nine countries including India, LDP is on the forefront of lighting design in contemporary architecture.
MJ. What is ‘visual planning’? Can you elaborate on your practice? AT. This is a term which we believe provides a clearer understanding of the real nature of lighting design. It points to the reality that successful lighting design does not stop at the ‘point of delivery’ of light. It must concern itself with the interaction between the intrinsic qualities of light, and issues such as form, colour, texture, reflectivity and spatial character. We use the term ‘visual planning’ to emphasise the fact that our approach is based, both theoretically and in practice, on this realisation. As we say from time to time: “no light – no sight” – this suggests that the way light is used is not only the key determinant of how we see things, but is also a powerful element in shaping our perceptions of the physical environment.
MJ. Is lighting a means to security or is it a tool to create an ambience or is it art? How do you see the role of lighting design in architecture and the built environment? AT. It is all three, and more; except in the context of pure ‘light-art’ projects, lighting is always functional because, in any form, it is there to enable vision. The question is, how much more should it do in any given application? A road tunnel requires well-engineered artificial lighting with little ‘expression’, it needs to provide for eye adaptation, good control of glare and, preferably, an element of brightness on the walls. Appropriate lighting plays a key role in achieving this. I believe that we are moving slowly from a situation where lighting has been divided between the purely functional and the essentially cosmetic.
let’s partner Hitherto, these types of environment were lit from a purely functional viewpoint which was based on varying codes of practice that largely emphasised the quantitative, and readily predictable elements of lighting (principally lux levels). We are now seeking ways to enliven and humanise such environments, not only through the provision of appropriate levels of light, but also by the creation of visual messages through the quality and distribution of light. MJ. You have designed ambiences for a diverse range of places and projects. How do your commissions differ from each other? AT. Our commissions vary enormously in scale and purpose. Among other projects, I am currently dealing with the lighting of 16 large dams in South Korea (providing an overview on the detailed lighting design, which has been prepared by local designers), the detailed lighting design for a redeveloped 3,200-seat concert hall in Melbourne and a very beautiful new water sculpture for the Sant Nirankari Mission in Delhi. As a group, our work spans almost all built forms including bridges, temples, private residences, retail malls, hotels, large and small office buildings, airports, and the planning of the nightscape for complete city centres. MJ. Working on a variety of projects in multiple places, how do you create an identity distinct to your design and practice? Is there a common underlying theme in your experience designs? AT. Personally speaking, I would be concerned if our projects could be identified as ‘LDP work’. Lighting is essentially a complementary business, which should rarely seek to draw attention to itself and should therefore not develop an observable house style. If there is a common underlying theme, it lies in our wish to achieve a result which people feel good about, but don’t know why. DJ. I believe there is a ‘LDP way’ of approaching the project. It involves being the perfect receptor for any influence. We like to use light as an amplifier of architectural and spatial intent. The lesser distortion that is introduced, the higher we rank our result. MJ. How do you see the interaction of light and the built object? Do you envision the exact ambience and design accordingly or experiment on the site? AT. My thoughts about the interaction are as described above, but one of the greatest challenges which lighting designers face is envisaging the end result of their work when still at the design stage. Even the most experienced designers take a degree of ‘informed risk’ – the greater the experience, the lesser the risk. I believe this is true of all forms of design. Computer rendering programmes have become an extremely useful tool in supporting us in this, but even these have limits for a variety of technical and practical reasons. DJ. Working as a lighting designer, one has to learn to deal with the unexpected. In a collaborative design team, our input often changes the spatial constructs, triggering a cycle of change that can shape the project into a different frame. It is perhaps more useful to be in the role of the ‘ideal receptor’ rather than prescribe the design. We constantly experiment, in the studio, at the site and even after completion of the project there are times when we will not hesitate to rethink the solution from its fundamentals. MJ. You have been in the field for almost three decades. Which, according to you, is your most intriguing project? AT. For inexplicable reasons, some of my most entrancing and compelling projects have been to do with religious buildings (I am not particularly religious in outlook). As part of a bid to have the Golden Temple in Amritsar listed as a World Heritage Site, I carried out an extremely detailed survey of the complex and resolved many of the problems of how to light this exquisite place – perhaps one day it will be implemented..! I think that my favourite completed building is the great Norman cathedral in Durham, Northern
England, where I was responsible for the interior lighting design with my colleague, Graham Phoenix. There is something immensely pleasing in the way that we achieved the extension of the gentleness of the natural lighting from the high clerestory windows in the evening. DJ. Though each project poses its unique challenges, I have been immensely lucky to have had the opportunity to work on some exceptional projects. The lighting of the Humayun’s Tomb for the Aga Khan Awards in 2004 was the closest that I have been to ‘hand crafting’ a project. All the fixtures (some 3000 of them) were placed under my direct care so as not to damage the monument. The fixtures were aimed by estimation as due to the logistics involved, it was not possible to switch them on for a test till the actual event! MJ. You have worked in India on historic and modern buildings, the Humayun’s Tomb being a celebrated ambience design. Do you find any unique or inspirational character in the Indian way of looking at light? AT. My co-director, Dhruvajyoti, is perhaps better placed to respond to this. However, as a non-Indian, but as one who has been in India many more times than I can recollect, I have always felt that there is such a marked contrast between the celebratory use of light (how may homes put a chandelier in pride of place in their living spaces?), Diwali, the anarchic use of illuminated advertising and, on the other hand, the sensuous qualities of India’s natural light its myriad forms. I don’t know for sure, but I have the impression that Indians are perhaps more alert and sensitive to the quality of light than those in western countries. DJ. It is difficult to identify a ‘regional’ way of appreciating light, but now that you ask, there certainly is a difference in the perception. Asians in general, and Indians in particular, tend to be more accepting of variation. In other parts of the world, there seems to be a greater emphasis on achieving uniformity. I attribute this to the ability to deal with unpredictability! In India if there is one characteristic that truly unites us, is the demand for complexity. Minimal design is sniffed at – but in a land full of opposites, where the pantheon contains every variation, we find demand for the most ineffable Zen like spaces! The second characteristic is the need for shadow. In a country where daylight is in such abundance, it is the need to create shadow that dominates over the need to induct daylight into buildings. Regrettably, in our haste to establish a ‘modernised’ appearance, we have imported curtain-walled buildings that, upon occupancy, have blinds permanently fastened inside. Doubly regrettable is the use of artificial lighting to then solve the problem of not having enough daylight! MJ. Please inform us on your ongoing work in India. Anything interesting to look forward to? DJ. We have recently completed lighting the Jal Mahal in Jaipur. It ranks as one of the most satisfying projects in the past years of working in India. The invisibility of lighting hardware during day, adds further magic to the night time image (Low Res attached). Unstinted support from the client and their willingness to follow through with even difficult details has resulted in an excellent outcome. We are currently working on the JW Marriott in New Delhi which upon completion will certainly be noteworthy. One of our older projects, the Sahara Star in Mumbai is finally going to achieve completion. The exterior of the project which has been lying incomplete for nearly a decade is now back under construction and once finished will be the landmark for Mumbai airport. In Mumbai we are working with Hafeez Contractor on the Century Bhavan, due for completion later this year. At a different scale, we are working with Asian Paints to develop their experience store in Delhi. This will be complete in a few months and will showcase colour – how it influences perception and lighting of course is central to this interactive experience.