THE LOUIS POULSEN LIGHTING AND ARCHITEC TURE M AGA ZINE 2009
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Three designers The light in Bridgend Vilhelm Lauritzen lighting DR and the Concert Hall
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Interview • Ross Lovegrove
I am not a designer. I am a thinker Ross Lovegrove is an evolutionary biologist and a sculptor who has embraced the potential offered by digital technologies and advanced materials. Recently, he designed Aeros for Louis Poulsen – an ethereal and organic inspired pendant with nomadic qualities. BY IDA PRÆSTEGAARD
All roads lead to now NYT meets Ross Lovegrove in his studio in Notting Hill where he together with his 12 employees from all over the world creates products for a number of the world’s leading design companies. As the first thing I ask about the background for his design work: “I drifted into the design world. I was good at drawing in school. When I was seven years old, I could draw photo realistically. No one around me knew about design. Drawing was considered a hobby not a professional thing. In a small place
Aeros is about softness and light and lightness. It is about a physical presence – it is there and it is not there…
as where I grew up in Wales, one would never be given the advice to follow this path. Later I became interested in food, and I started to study cooking. I was ridiculed because of this, but I am very glad I did this because cooking made me discover the physicality of industry. I had an epiphany you see; I realized that food is a transformation of state. Basically, it is an industrial process because when you heat food, it changes. The amount of things you can do with an egg is incredible. The types of states of manifestation from foam, soufflé, meringue. Had that been in vogue at the time, I would probably have become one of these super chefs! Also, jelly has always fascinated me. The material would harden but still be transparent. There are materials like that today, which look like jelly but actually are industrial materials – techno jelly – that I work with. The deep underlying aspect of food is that it is about nature. And it is extremely organic. Maybe in the future there will be something in the way we process food on a molecular level which could make it an industrial product. Which means things could have a birth, life and death and just go back into the
Photo: Philip Vile
Ross Lovegrove and his 12-strong team design products for some of the world’s leading companies at his Notting Hill studio in London.
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Designers
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vironment. I would like to work with a chemist and see what we would come up with. I can’t see why you can’t mix egg with polyamine!“ Applications of thought “I am brought up feeling instinctive about nature – loving the sea, loving stones, loving fossils. Later, I became fascinated by contemporary technology and that has never left me. So when I am designing, things might have an organic feel. You may think that is my style. But, there is no such thing as style. It is a belief mechanism. When I put a hole in something, it is to release the material, to reduce the material content. That is what nature does. You don’t see a fat tree. Nature is fat-free. I want my designs to be fat-free in the same way and I try to create things that feel grown. They do have a sculptural spirit. They have balance and poise. When people come into my studio, they sometimes say: ‘God this is a cross between Star Trek and an archaeology museum!’ I don’t see any difference and I don’t see myself as an old, weird wizard. I happen to find dinosaur bones extremely contemporary. They’ve evolved over 160 million years. We haven’t even started! So when I get inspiration from bones, it is not because I am some frustrated archaeologist. It is because I think there is logic in organic design, in the way we use resources. We live in synergy with nature. I don’t suggest we go back to the Middle Ages. On the contrary, we should pioneer intelligent materials for the future. Underneath it all, I could have been a pure sculptor. But
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I have a practical side to me, which is about a life with purpose. It is very hard to be purely abstract. Neither do I see myself as a designer – to be an industrial designer is a very dry thing. I am a thinker, which means I make applications of thought and I sculpt them. And notably, I have no fear of failure. I think it is important to have time to fail. I much prefer to make a major mistake, than to do something tasteful!“ Conductors of nature into object “When Louis Poulsen invited me to work with them, I saw it as a privilege and a great opportunity. I am attracted to Louis Poulsen. The company has authority and it is an icon of Scandinavian design. Louis Poulsen has a cultural history and it has contributed to the advancement of art and design. And the company has fostered many inspiring designers of the day, and the results still remain relevant and influential in our modern times. I am interested in this history of design and I feel a great empathy for Hans Wegner, Verner Panton and many other Danish designers. They were all conductors of nature into object. The philosophy of Louis Poulsen is incredibly valuable, and I am genuinely interested in working on retaining or evolving that philosophy.“ Aeros - nomadic independence “The brief I was given from Louis Poulsen was for a pendant light that could migrate between situations. From a domestic and residential situation – where it would be perceived as a functional art form – to an office setting.
ross lovegrove
In the process of creating Aeros, I was aiming at catching the thought that went into the PH Artichoke 50 years ago, and expressing it today with contemporary processes.
Designers
I often find offices cold and impersonal. You don’t get love and ambition out of these machine-like environments. But lighting is useful in this sense: lighting is something that fills the void, and it can provide emotion to the room. So it is a very economic way to lift the spirit of people and be functional at the same time. If you buy a television or a computer, they can go anywhere. To develop objects that have this nomadic migratory independence is a very beautiful thing. In the process of creating Aeros, I was inspired by the spirit of light coming out of an object. I was aiming at catching the thought that went into the Artichoke 50 years ago, and expressing it today with contemporary processes. Regarding Aeros’ look, the brief I gave myself was to put the heaviest possible looking object in the air, but not make it heavy, and then let the light reveal the form. Aeros is about softness and light and lightness. It is about a physical presence – it is there and it is not there…“
St lov Kas to: Pho
Aeros
Photo: Clearlight
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Aeros’ perforated pattern is inspired by the wondrous, organic structures in bone tissue. The wavy embossment characterising the reflector and the top of the fixture is called a Fibonacci pattern, named after an Italian mathematician who lived at the beginning of the 13th century and found the mathematical formula used to describe patterns in nature, e.g. in pine cones. Aeros is made from anodised aluminium, deep drawn in two parts, with the joint serving to underpin the design. The fixture is designed with a perforated pattern at the rounded side while the upper and lower sides are unperforated. Light emission is mainly directly downwards, but a limited amount of light escapes horizontally through the perforations. A shade made of acrylic Satiné placed in the reflector spreads the light and shields the light source. Aeros is fitted with 35W metal halide, 75W low-voltage halogen or 75W 230V halogen. The fixture measures Ø 723 and is 220 mm high, height incl. wire suspension 724 mm.
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Better to come up with something unusual that takes a bit of getting used to, than to make something that catches the eye right away. If it does that, it’s often because it resembles a whole lot of other products already out there.
BY IDA PRÆSTEGAARD
Louise Campbell wants her work with light to tell wonderful tales. With Snow, she has brought the white glow of winter indoors. But the fixture is also practical and meets all the demands of Louis Poulsen’s lighting philosophy. “The light outside is far more interesting than anything we have ever managed to create indoors. I observe the daylight and try to find out why it is so much more interesting. Then I take it bit by bit, locate it indoors and see what happens,” says Louise Campbell. We are in her studio in the heart of Copenhagen, a space oozing with activity and creativity. This is where Louise and her partner Thomas Bentzen work intensively on assignments commissioned by a wide assortment of companies.“ The softness of winter light “The idea of designing a fixture inspired by winter light first came up years ago,” Campbell recalls. “The two previous products I designed for Louis Poulsen were inspired by the summer light in the forest and the filtering of light through many layers. But what really characterises Nordic winter light? We Danes have a great need for light, which we get so little of in the dark winter months. We seek out warm and atmospheric light. With Snow, I wanted to focus on the characteristics of winter light, which is gentle and quiet. At the same time, winter light has a freshness, like when you step out into
Inspired by daylight
louise campbell Interview
Photo: Anders Sune Berg
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the snow on a sunny day and meet great purity and nothingness. That nothingness was precisely what I wanted to capture, so I’ve made as much of the lamp invisible as I possibly could. Sunlight catches the tiniest little crystal, so Snow emits dots instead of a more even light distribution. I have developed some of the methods I discovered when I was designing Campbell and Collage and taken them a step further in Snow. The idiom continues. There is a little bit of Campbell in Collage and a little bit of Collage in Snow. You might say that the fixtures have given birth to each other.“
Designers
Photo: Anders Sune Berg
The art of the free experiment “When I started working with Louis Poulsen eight years ago, I first had to understand the company’s lighting philosophy. It took me three years, and I’m still working on it. You have to understand the light before you start to design the lamp. But fewer than 1% of the manufacturers do that – so the designers don’t bother either. A designer is never any better than the manufacturer. But Louis Poulsen has been around for a long time and has a design tradition dating all the way back to PH, so the experience is there. Not everything has worked out over the years but no stone has been left unturned. I sense this when I approach them with new ideas. The frame of reference is extremely broad. For a playful designer not constrained by artificial notions, the art is to balance between free experimentation and utilising the company’s vast experience.
Photo: Kaslov Studio
Louis Poulsen dares to go its own way. It can look back over more than six decades; its product range still contains fixtures that were created several generations ago and are still fantastic.
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The lighting requirements set by Louis Poulsen are clear and well defined: the light must be interesting and there must be no glare. But it is not enough just to screen off the light. The screens must be used in a rational and purposeful way, as a means for the light to travel. Above all, the light must be functional first, and then atmospheric, so we work very consciously on where to direct the light. All of these parameters are fulfilled in Snow.“
Photo: Anders Sune Berg
Daring to be innovative “I defined two rules for myself many years ago and I still follow these when I am developing products: one, each task starts from the very beginning; and two, there has to be a good reason for every decision made during the development process. If the explanation isn’t good enough, then we start all over
Photo: Kaslov Studio
Snow combines a floor lamp and a pendant in one fixture and could even be used as a table lamp and a wall lamp too! The result is known as a ‘room light’. Snow plays on the contrast between the material and the intangible. It is made of 4-mm-thick, dual-layer acrylic with a screenprinted motif consisting of three sizes of white dots reminiscent of falling snow. The motif is screen-printed in layers to produce an exquisite shadowy effect. Diffusion is achieved by gradually increasing the distance between the ‘snowflakes’. This provides the optimal light distribution and ensures there is no glare. In areas with no motif, the fixture is almost invisible. The top part of Snow is made of two layers of plastic that produces an illusion of depth, filtering light but also directing it to provide enough light for reading.
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Snow plays with the light, both indirectly through the screen-printed motif, and directly through the four openings in the two cones that make up the geometric component of the design. Reading light is emitted from and directed by the opening at the end of the cone. Snow is 1,505 mm tall. At its biggest, the body is 350 mm in diameter and 842 mm in circumference. Snow has two light sources - a globeshaped one for E27 (max. 60w) in the centre and a reflector lightsource (max. 40W) that directs light forward. We recommend energysaving bulbs from Megaman: 23W Globe DorS dimmable and 11W Reflector R50. Alternatively, snow can also be fitted with 2x20W metal halide.
again. Apart from that, there are no rules – that’s why all my projects take such a long time! Because I start from first principles, I don’t study trends. Out with the design magazines! The key is having the courage to be different. Some manufacturers are very aware of trends but it is important not to be seduced down that road. Of course, I have to keep up to date in terms of technology and materials, but in terms of design, news reports are the biggest enemy of the designer and manufacturer. Better to come up with something unusual that takes a bit of getting used to, than to make something that catches the eye right away. If it does that, it’s often because it resembles a whole lot of other products already out there. It is very much the case for Louis Poulsen that the company dares to go its own way. It can look back over more than six decades; its product range still contains fixtures that were created several generations ago and are still fantastic. And there you have precisely the value I cherish: durability. It’s all about creating something that’s original and interesting enough to last for 60 years. But it is a risky decision to take because you never actually know when you have created a classic. Louis Poulsen took a chance with Collage. It is important that we never lose that courage.“
Designers
Louise Campbell shares a central Copenhagen studio with her partner, designer Thomas Bentzen.
Photo: Kaslov Studio
Louise Campbell has developed the following in collaboration with Louis Poulsen: Campbell 275 (2004) Collage pendant and floor lamp (2005) Campbell 210 (2008) Snow (2008)
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Interview • John Small & Mike Holland, Foster+Partners
Transference of light BY IDA PRÆSTEGAARD
The concept of F+P 550 was driven by the wish to control and shield the light emission from a large number of LEDs in a minimalistic looking fixture. The result was achieved in cooperation with Foster+Partners.
“There is a very clear relationship between the quality of light and the impression you get from the interior of a building. And that relationship is crucial to how the people enjoy the spaces. Light fittings can indeed enhance a space. « This is how John Small begins the interview with NYT, which takes place at Foster+Partner’s large drawing office in the glass house at Riverside in London with a phenomenal view to the city and the river. We have asked John Small, partner and head of the design department and Mike Holland, designer and associate partner, to tell us about the development of F+P 550 and the cooperation with Louis Poulsen.“
Photo: Philip Vile, Kaslov Studio, Clearlight
F+P 550 was designed for the professional market but is also used in private homes.
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Designers
Photo: Philip Vile
Floating transference of light “The design brief we received had the goal to achieve a family of products spanning from indoor to outdoor. The major challenge being that the products should be based on LED and, at the same time, respond to the Louis Poulsen philosophy of functional, comfortable and ambient light. In our mind LED has very little visual value and is not a very attractive light source. We decided early on to work with hidden light sources and reflected light. We looked back historically at the Louis Poulsen fittings. We studied the PH Artichoke, which has a very different life to it when it is switched on. But it is also an amazing object when it is off. In a similar way, we wanted our fixture to possess two personalities – turned
off, you enjoy the materials and the detailing of the design; turned on, you enjoy the emission of reflected light. In order to get the right level of illuminance and the right light distribution, we needed 30 LEDs. The question was, how do you solve the heat issue with so many LEDs together? We looked at a linear form, and we looked at placing the LEDs in certain positions, forming hills and valleys. Having gone through extensive design development, we felt a ring allowed the spacing of the lights to be optimal, providing us with the strongest visual device as well as a good reflection due to the way the light bounces around the object. In the development phase, we worked around the fact that LED is still in its infancy. This implies that both
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Photo: Clearlight
Louis Poulsen and we went through an intensive learning process. At Foster+Partners, we have used LED before but only as single bulbs when designing the interiors of aeroplanes and yachts. When you cluster 30 LEDs, however, the colour consistency from LED to LED is absolutely crucial according to Louis Poulsen’s quality demands. The LED technology seems to be at such a high level, but in reality every LED bulb varies in colour and intensity due to the mean of production. To solve the problem, all LEDs are sorted and delivered within categories.
To work with Louis Poulsen is like working with a silver smith. The company has a comparable connection with the material. The limitations of the light source were part of the brief. As LED light sources are being improved all the time – almost every month a new LED bulb is being introduced – F+P 550 is designed to comply with future light sources. The fixture is easily upgraded; the clusters can be removed and exchanged by improved clusters. As part of the brief, the F+P 550 should have the possibility to change the LEDs if ever necessary.“
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Holistic approach to design “Norman Foster has always had the idea that design is design regardless of the discipline. Be it industrial design or architectural, you are still engaged in a similar process, and he sees the whole process as being within one family. Currently, we are seven people working in the design department and we feed off the architectural practice as much as we can as designers. As a result, we work in four levels. One is to work purely as product designers with our own client base. The second is working directly with the architectural teams, perhaps developing products for the individual projects. The third is working with the architectural teams on interiors and the final one is working speculatively developing products without a client.“ Synergy effect “When you walk into the office of Foster+Partners, you immediately feel all the activity going on from all the projects being developed. The practice has a very open working structure, which is beneficial and synergetic at many levels. Due to the way we expose the products we design, the potential is great for the products being introduced and incorporated into other Foster buildings. The Dallas Theatre for the Performing Arts, a project we are currently working on, is an example of the synergetic way we work. We worked with a number of different lighting fixtures
Designers
Photo: Kaslov Studio
in the project, examining their visual impact on the space and the quality of light. The project team was intrigued by F+P 550 but wanted it bigger. Consequently we are developing a special version of the
F+P 550 acts like a normal light fitting, besides that it uses LEDs as its light source. That is the uniqueness of the fixture. product with a diameter of 1.5m. Apart from size, the Dallas fitting will differ from the original fixture, but the idea came out of the Louis Poulsen project.“ Craftsmanship in harmony with modern technique “We’ve developed products with a number of Danish companies, and what is characteristic is the very definite connection between craftsmanship and modern techniques within Danish industry. We really like that there is still an engineering base and
a skill base, as well as an understanding of materials and an understanding of processes. The experience is there when we develop products but also when we specify Danish products, you get this sense of craftsmanship. For example, in Vola, D-line and Louis Poulsen fixtures, there is this understanding of materials. Many other countries have lost that. It is an advantage to work with a company that has a history like Louis Poulsen. The people working there have the history inside them and we designers pick up bits and pieces. Our collaboration is characterized by its closeness. When we work directly with the manufacturer, it is far more intimate than working as a product designer with the architectural team in our own office, where the envelope is much bigger and therefore we tend to be spread thinner. Our dialogue with Louis Poulsen is straightforward; we have a close communication with the product management and the engineering team in order to reach the common goal. We have worked with a number of lighting companies over the years. And in the lighting industry, there are certain companies that stand out. Among them is Louis Poulsen.“
f+p 550 F+P 550 proves that it is possible to design an indoor fixture capable of both utilising and taming the LEDs with their very high luminance. F+P 550 utilises 30 LEDs, all hidden from view. Most of the light from F+P 550 is directed downward, even though it is reflected to avoid glare. A small amount is directed through the light guide, after which it is filtered through the opalised glass and engenders a smooth transition between lit
and unlit zones. Despite its very low height and very high luminance, the fixture is completely glare-free. F+P 550 consists of four main parts: an opalised glass shade, a matt anodised aluminium reflector, a light guide made of metallised polycarbonate and an aluminium ring to conceal the 30 LEDs. The diameter is 550 mm, the height a mere 35 mm.
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Restaurant Sletten
Dinner with Collage
Photo: Anders Sune Berg
The Sletten restaurant was refurbished by designer Søren Vester and is leased by celebrity chefs Rune Jochumsen and Kristian Møller – the same trio responsible for Copenhagen’s Michelin-starred Formel B restaurant.
BY IDA PRÆSTEGAARD
Following a major refurbishment, the legendary Danish inn “Sletten Inn” has been resurrected as Restaurant Sletten, with designer Søren Vester’s beautiful, unassuming interior illuminated by Louise Campbell’s Collage pendants. “It was important for us to create the right atmosphere,” designer Vester explains. “Imagine you’ve just come back to the inn after a long day tramping up and down the coast. The wood-burning stove is fired up. The innkeeper is wait-
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ing in the kitchen and firewood is piled up, ready to infuse the rest of evening with just the right air of warm conviviality. The rewards of your day’s beachcombing – fossilised sea urchins or whatever else you’ve stuffed into your pockets – are arranged on the windowsill.” Vester designed Restaurant Sletten in collaboration with the restaurateurs and chefs Rune Jochumsen and Kristian Møller, the same team that designed the Michelin-star restaurant Formel B in Copenhagen, where Collage also provides
the lighting. The simplicity of Restaurant Sletten’s design matches the food, which is unpretentious, exquisite and based on Danish ingredients. The tables have concrete surfaces and the chairs, designed by Finn Juhl, have seats of black leather. During the refurbishment, some of the floors were found to be of original Oland stone so they have been retained. Collage pendants, designed by Louise Campbell, provide the general lighting and have proved an excellent choice. The white lampshades are in keeping
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with the classic black and white colour scheme, and their perforations generate a translucent play of light and shade, creating a beautiful, decorative contrast to the tight and simple idiom of the interior. The pendants bind the rooms together and provide a point de vue inside the restaurant to rival the view out of the window and over the Sound. Vester felled an apple tree and an old elm in his garden at Thise Præstegaard to provide wood for coat hooks and hat stands, which have been stained black. “The trees have been given new life. They help to generate a natural, raw atmosphere so the general impression isn’t all hollyhocks and country kitchen,” he points out. Wood absorbs sound, so do jackets. More guests means more noise but it also means more coats on hooks to act as sound absorbers and to transform the clothes stands into constantly changing sculptures. Ida Præstegaard is an architect.
Collage provides the general lighting and connects the rooms in the restaurant. The white pendants match the black and white colour scheme beautifully. The transparent light and shadow play from the shades generates a beautiful, decorative contrast to the simplicity of the furnishings.
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Photo: Anders Sune Berg
The chairs were designed by Finn Juhl. The hatstand is made of black-stainedbranches from the apple trees in Søren Vester’s Limfjord garden.
On dark days, the PH 3/2 table lamp, with its distinctive opal glass screens, provides subdued, glare-free lighting that complements the excellent view of Sletten Harbour and the Sound.
Photo: Clearlight
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Photo: Philip Vile
Restaurant Madsen on Old Brompton Road
Making dinner sustainable with PH Red woollen blankets draped across the chairs outside are the ďŹ rst sign of a Danish presence. Scandinavians will rush outside at the merest hint of sunshine, even if it means wrapping up to keep out the cold.
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The inspiration for the Madsen Restaurant was thoroughly Scandinavian. The general lighting is provided by a Danish design icon – the PH5.
BY IDA PRÆSTEGAARD
When Charlotte Kruse Madsen was planning her restaurant on London’s Old Brompton Road, which opened a few months ago, there was no doubt in her mind that she wanted the design to match the Danish menu. “The first decision I made was actually about the lamps. They just had to be PH 5, which is for me the very epitome of Danish design. They provide the general lighting inside the restaurant. We installed energy-saving bulbs at first but the light was too strong, so I replaced them with incandescent ones,” the Danish restaurateur recalls. Charlotte derived much of her inspiration from Skandium on Old Brompton Road, and commissioned Pietro Graini-
ola, an architect at the design emporium, to work on her project. The restaurant has that touch of restrained cool that is so unmistakably Scandinavian, manifest in this iteration in almost minimalist simplicity, white walls and light-wood tables and chairs. Care for the environment permeates every aspect of Madsen Restaurant. All the furniture is made from sustainable wood, the paint is eco-friendly, outside heaters have been replaced with blankets and the bar, designed by Grainiola, has been fashioned from Corian. Although many people would dispute the environmental credentials of incandescent lighting, it is in fact a complex issue. The global debate about light
sources tends to overlook the fact that 100% of the waste from incandescent bulbs is disposable, while mercury from energy saving bulbs constitutes a rapidly growing environmental problem. There are advantages to using incandescent lights in a restaurant: the colour rendering is far better and the lamps can be dimmed to generate just the right atmosphere. Dimming by just 5% doubles the life span of incandescent bulbs. Last but not least, Louis Poulsen lamps never end up on the scrap heap. They are handed down from generation to generation. That’s what sustainable design is all about.
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L i g h t i n g
u p
B r i d g e n d
A dedicated developer
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BY RICHARD PORCH
Photo: Philip Vile
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Nick Hegarty also uses Louis Poulsen lighting in private. Sentry bollards illuminate the entrance to his home in the village of St. Brides Major. PH Copper Wall is mounted on the adjoining stables.
A dedicated developer With his passion for architecture and high-quality lighting, Nick Hegarty, designer and property developer, has made an important contribution in developing Bridgend, a small, Welsh town. BY RICHARD PORCH
Instances of an individual having a beneficial impact on a modern town centre are quite rare these days. This is an age in which planning and regulatory bureaucracy of all kinds has tended to supplant the dynamic individual as prime mover. So when we find such a person we should celebrate them. Nick Hegarty is a 41 year-old property developer whose main sphere of influence is in the small market town of Bridgend in South Wales, where he is born and bred. Bridgend or ‘Penybont’ as it is known in the ancient Celtic language of Welsh was founded at some point after the 15th century. It evolved and developed on the
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east bank of the river Ogmore and was (and is) surrounded by much picturesque countryside. The town is roughly equidistant between Swansea and Cardiff, the capital of Wales, both of whom benefited enormously from the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. Bridgend by contrast remained largely a market town whose local resources fed neither the smelting furnace nor fuelled the trains and ships of the industrial world. In a small-scale town like Bridgend the last thing you need are over-sized additions which drastically affect its scale. Instead, the low-rise town centre around the railway station has largely been pre-
served. The buildings, mostly from late 19th and early 20th century, have undergone some form of refurbishment to convert them from residential to retail and in some cases into office space. Twenty years ago Bridgend was rather run-down, but today, very much due to Hegarty’s influence, it is in the midst of a positive redevelopment. It is a truism that there is no good design without a good client, and as the prime mover in a number of projects that respect the scale and value, Nick Hegarty is proving to be a model patron for Bridgend in the 21st century. Hegarty has a degree from London’s UCL University and a Marketing Diploma from
The Kipp lamp emits symmetrical downward light. The slightly curved shades and the angle of the inner diffuser emit broad rays of bright, uniform light.
Nick Hegarty introduced Bridgend County Borough Council to Kipp when choosing the lampp for a small car park. The council went on to use Kipp for its general street lighting.
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Most of the Kipp lamps in Bridgend are fitted with two lamp heads per mast, each 150 W, 30 lux.
City University. He worked in advertising in London until being drawn back to Bridgend in 1993, where for some years he worked in the family computer software firm before transferring wholly into property development. Hegarty was introduced to Louis Poulsen about ten years ago, and since then he has developed a fruitful working relationship with lighting consultant Tony Craddock from Louis Poulsen, UK, who liaises with him on the use of outdoor and indoor lighting for specific schemes. Some years ago, Nick Hegarty was choosing lighting fittings for a small car park planned in connection with a conversion project. His choice was the Kipp lamp, designed by Alfred Homann. Bridgend County Borough Council was so pleased with the lamp that they decided to use it for general street lighting
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in the town centre. Kipp’s design and expression are in harmony with the local architecture and proportions, creating a visual denominator of the lighting. There was also a practical advantage for the police and population. Compared to the former street lighting, the Kipp is provided with lighting sources with excellent colour rendering to allow face recognition on CCTV during the dark hours. In Bridgend’s case, Kipp has two lamps per post, each with a 150W metal halide light source, giving an average luminous intensity of 30 lux. Today Kipp is installed throughout the majority of streets in Bridgend town centre – 300 lamps and growing! A neat three-storey Victorian property at 14 Wyndham Street is one of Nick Hegarty’s most recent redevelopment projects. The building contains a ground floor Italian restaurant, ‘Poco Poco’, with contemporary office
space above. The whole building has been renovated with a degree of finish that raises expectations all round. Both restaurant and offices which in 2008 received an award from the Civic Trust, create an atmosphere of understated elegance which the Louis Poulsen light fittings only serve to reinforce. At 5-7 Court Road nearby can be found two previously detached Edwardian houses, which have been conjoined by an impressive glazed link. The project is modern, but fits in quietly with the surroundings. In January 2008, the project won the prestigious Civic Trust award. Both projects have been designed by Hegarty in conjunction with local architect Peter J. Lee, who now runs his practice from 5-7 Court Road. Hegarty’s refurbishing expertise is also very evident at Nolton Court, originally
Photo: Kaslov Studio
Photo: Philip Vile
The facade at Nolton Court – a former hospital, now converted into offices – illuminated by in-ground Pharo uplighters.
The general lighting in the restaurant Poco Poco at 14 Wyndham Street is provided by the Toldbod pendant in cast burnished brass.
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5–7 Court Road comprises two Edwardian houses linked by a glass extension. In the evening, the glass part is illuminated by four Pharo blue LEDs.
The Court House extension features a transparent gallery. In the evening, the top floor is lit by SPR 35 with blue filters. Photo: Philip Vile
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Photo: Philip Vile
Photo
: Kaslo v Stud io
LP Charisma’s internal reflector optics directs light downwards. The shades prevent glare and stop light from spreading horizontally.
The hallway on the first floor of 5-7 Court Road is illuminated by two LP Charisma, designed by PLH Architects.
designed by local architect G.F. Lambert. The project involved the refurbishment and modernising of the former Victorian cottage hospital built in 1886. The building which had lain empty for ten years or more was refurbished under the guidance of Nick Hegarty and Simon Marett of LOM Architects and used Louis Poulsen lighting exclusively. Unusually for a property developer, Hegarty is also a collector of contemporary Welsh art. He has the largest collection of paintings in private hands of the internationally-acclaimed Welsh artist Kevin Sinnott (b.1947). Sinnott’s colourcharged figurative work exudes a Welshness which never lapses into self-parody or a mawkish sentimentality. It nevertheless successfully captures and defines a sense of place and identity which is
inescapably Welsh – and proud of it. Something Hegarty is very aware of in his work as a property developer I suspect. Nick Hegarty lives on a converted farm at St. Brides Major out in the countryside beyond Bridgend. Although only two miles from the town, this is another world. Here the landscape is largely unprotected from the stiff south-westerly winds that blow in off the Bristol Channel bringing the weather with them. The main industry is agriculture and the landscape is dominated by field systems, isolated farms and dotted with prosperous little villages like St. Brides Major. Hegarty has used Louis Poulsen fittings extensively on the farm buildings that surround his home. Their minimal aes-
thetic and spare detailing finds a sympathetic setting amongst the weather patinated stable buildings of this rural setting. Hegarty thinks “Louis Poulsen lighting reflects the perfect balance of Danish beauty and attention to detail, with a subtlety of light source and light type. It is my opinion that a large percentage of the LP range has already attained iconic status”.
THREE RENOVATION PROJECTS IN BRIDGEND CLIENT: NICK HEGARTY WYNDHAM STREET 14 ARCHITECT: PETER J. LEE COURT ROAD 5-7 ARCHITECT: PETER J. LEE NOLTON COURT ARCHITECT: LOM ARCHITECTS, SIMON MARRETT
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Vilhelm
Lauritzen
A modernist masterpiece transformed
In
the
CHANGE light
of
BY MORTEN LUND
Vilhelm Lauritzen’s Broadcasting House in Copenhagen has been converted into a music conservatory but the vibrant nature of the building and its exquisite interior have been retained. Louis Poulsen supplied the lighting, as it did in the 1930s for the original project. Architect Vilhelm Lauritzen’s elegant building on Rosenørns Allé has reopened as a music conservatory. The building was previously home to the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, which has moved to new headquarters in Øre-
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staden where a dramatic Concert Hall by Jean Nouvel is the jewel in the crown of a major new building complex. The Royal Danish Music Conservatory has now taken up residence in Lauritzen’s listed building, considered to be one of
the major works of 1930s modernist architecture. The transformation from Broadcasting House to Music Conservatory began in 2006, with the announcement of an architecture competition for the contract
Photo: Jens Lindhe
Vilhelm Lauritzen was a magnificent designer. In collaboration with architect Mogens Voltelen, he designed the lighting for the Danish Broadcasting House, including the outdoor lamps. All of the lighting was produced by Louis Poulsen.
to refurbish the building. Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects and Alectia (Consulting Engineers) made their names with the building of the original Broadcasting House in the 1930s; for both companies, this particular building was part of the family silver. Inspired by the new project, they were determined to win the competition, and they did. The transformation is not apparent from the outside – the building still looks the way it always has. However, there is not so much as the merest hint of museum about this old building. The renovation project paid the deepest of respect to the original architecture but there was no easing up on the practical requirements and artistic demands placed on its physical framework by a contemporary music conservatory. The conservatory is an open and accessible
educational institution, warmly inviting to visitors – in its new role, the building is no longer subject to considerations of national security, for example. Students swarm around the main entrance, where the pavement is broader between the two wings of the facade, and lights burn late into the night behind the long row of windows. The newly appointed events manager has an important job at the conservatory – attracting audiences into the concert hall and the other studios for a lively and ambitious music programme.
The architecture Villiam Lauritzen was commissioned to design the Broadcasting House in 1934, not because he had won an architecture competition but because of his sheer brass neck. Within only a few
years of opening, the Broadcasting House of its day, Stærekassen (The Starling Box), had already made a name for itself as a scandal of a building. The studios fell victim to noise pollution and the combined concert and theatre hall failed to live up to the artists’ expectations for music or acting. Lauritzen was a modern architect, and his grasp of new media was based on unsentimental rationality and a sharp eye for the opportunities afforded by natural science. He was also a dynamic architect. Seizing his moment, he approached the Radio Council with his own proposal for a new Broadcasting House to replace the Stærekassen. His plans were based on the latest communications, construction and acoustics technology and coloured by contemporary international trends in architecture
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Vilhelm
Lauritzen
This VLA half-vase lamp in opal glass was originally used as corridor lighting throughout the Broadcasting House. Louis Poulsen reproduced the wall-light fittings in large numbers when the building was transformed into the Royal Danish Music Conservatory.
and art. The outbreak of war delayed the completion of the building, and it would be a decade before it was officially inaugurated; but the delay also meant that the architects were able to take all the time they needed to produce a meticulous design and perfect every detail. They fine-tuned the studios and the big concert hall like a Stradivarius. Throughout the process, they enjoyed the luxury of testing panels at full size, adjusting profiles and materials as required, and conducting acoustic experiments on a scale of 1:1 as the Concert Hall’s characteristic acoustic ceiling with its double-wave motif slowly evolved. The prolonged nature of the project also made it possible to develop the lighting for the Broadcasting House in close collaboration with Louis Poulsen. The aim was functional lighting, festive yet unpretentious. The incandescent source was screened off by shades designed according to a precise material and geometric concept. Lauritzen’s lamp design proved extremely durable, and the Broadcasting House fittings
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have long since become classics. The design of the old Broadcasting House was integrated to a degree that is not possible to replicate today. Everything about the spatial design, including lighting, fittings and furnishings, was ultra-modern – from the advanced nature of the concrete structure to the fixed installations, from the recording equipment to the ventilation. When it was finally inaugurated in 1945, Lauritzen’s building consisted of three main elements. The first was made up of two protruding wings fronting onto Rosenørns Allé, containing offices for Radio Denmark’s journalists and administration staff. Just behind this, the studios formed a closed block in the second element, which was screened from the road by the office wings and featured a roof garden with a thick layer of soil. The third element was the Concert Hall, with its striking fan shape and separate entrance from Julius Thomsens Gade. When it first opened, the two wings facing the road were the very pinnacle of flexible design, with two rows of of-
fices positioned around a central corridor. The efficient concrete construction provided an 18-metre, column-free span between the transverse partition walls and made it possible to be highly flexible with the modular design of work units on the inside of the facade all the way down to a breadth of only 90 cm. Electricity and telephones sockets for each module were fitted below the windows, and the dimensions of the mullions matched the thickness of the walls. The ventilation was built into the walls on the corridor side, keeping the ceilings free of fixed installations and maintaining the high level of flexibility. The studio block was the very embodiment of advanced acoustics and recording technology in its day. The cenThis beautifully shaped pendant was designed for the Broadcasting House in the 1930s. The opal glass shades, which enclose the light source so perfectly, are seen in many parts of the recently refurbished Royal Danish Music Conservatory, including the rehearsal rooms.
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Photo: Jens Lindhe
Vilhelm
Lauritzen
tral artists’ foyer cuts through the block and divides the studios into two groups. Comfortable sofas were placed in the regular rows of niches along the foyer so artists could while away the waiting time in a quiet environment before recording in the studio. The elegant lines of the furniture suggest it was designed by Finn Juhl, who worked for Vilhelm Lauritzen for the first decade of his career as an architect. Studio 2, where the Danish National Chamber Orchestra performed, is a large rectangular room with wood-panelled walls and ceilings that ripple in a zig-zag to distribute the sound and to stop flutter between the parallel walls. For the same reason, the other studios fit together like slanted crystals, with no parallel walls. Each studio has its own load-bearing structure, eliminating any bridges that might conceivably carry sound to other rooms. The sumptuous Concert Hall, which was also called Studio One, is a warm, friendly space covered in golden wood, with leather chairs in a light colour. Under its vaulted, rippling ceiling, audiences of up to 1,100 are never far from the music. The exquisite material used in the Hall endows it with a peculiarly Nordic quality reminiscent of Gothenburg Concert Hall, which also dates from the same period. Jean Nouvel’s passion for this tradition was evident in his design for the interior of the new Concert Hall, for which he used the same warm palette.
The transformation The transformation from Broadcasting House to music conservatory was epitomised by a deep love for Lauritzen’s original, the exquisite nature of which has been preserved in every possible way, all the way from the central concept to the smallest details. Only the Auditorium and Music Library have been endowed with a raw, dark 21st-century interior of their own, providing a crucial counterpoint to the original architecture. The transformation has eliminated the sharp division between the office block and the studio block containing the Concert Hall. Journalism moved out of the building along with the Danish Broadcasting Company, and the whole structure is now devoted to music. The studios and Concert Hall might have been tailor-made for a music conservatory, and some of them needed no major refurbishment. The main challenge was to put teaching rooms in the office wings. These classrooms, where the everyday teacher/student instruction takes place, are particularly important in a conservatory. More than forty were needed, each the size of an ordinary classroom.
Vilhelm Lauritzen and architect Mogens Voltelen provided a variety of lighting solutions for the Broadcasting House. The Radio Council Hall, which is still used for meetings has ceiling lights, supplemented by bracket lamps with opal glass mounted on a brass rail.
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Photo: Jens Lindhe
The old Broadcasting House is one of Denmark’s most exquisite modernist buildings. Many of its subtle details, for example on the stairs and railings, have been preserved.
The canopy over the main entrance to the Broadcasting House, now the Music Conservatory, is illuminated by metal lamps that reflect light onto the white underside.
The canopy above the public entrance to the concert hall is lit up by a series of chubby, opal-glass lamps reminiscent of radishes.
The ceilings in the hall and reception are leather-clad. The walls and floors are made of Greenland marble. The room is illuminated by dual fixture heads in opal glass, mounted on stands.
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Vilhelm
Lauritzen
The Concert Hall balconies have long rows of opal-glass lamps inspired by lilies-ofthe-valley. Minor variations in the suspension system give the lamps a vibrant, festive character. Photo: Jens Lindhe
For the concert hall, instead of suspended lamps, the architects used concealed lighting designed as an ellipsoid with two focal points. The light source was placed in one focal point, while the other reflected the rays.
The lighting The lighting was a unique element of the Broadcasting House and has been preserved as consistently as possible in the renovated conservatory. Wherever possible, the original lamps have been retained, with copies of the original models produced to replace those that were missing. Lauritzen designed the lamps for the Broadcasting House along with architect Mogens Voltelen, the head of lighting at the Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture for many years, and with Louis Poulsen Lighting. The collaboration helped Lauritzen to secure his status as one of Denmark’s leading lighting designers. His designs occupied a great deal of space in Louis Poulsen catalogues in the 1950s and 1960s. The design elicited an affectionate counterreaction from Poul Henningsen, particularly in his columns in this very maga-
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zine, where he used to put down any tendency towards sensitive formalism by his functional colleague. For Henningsen, it was essential that there was an explanation behind every design, preferably one that was rational and scientific. The explanation of the principles behind his own lamps were considered rational, despite the fact that not much light escaped from the 100 Watt bulbs they required. Thousands of customers all over Europe accepted the logarithmic geometry behind PH shades with great enthusiasm. Lauritzen and Voltelen sought a corresponding principle in the design of their lamps, and came up with the ellipsoid. In the Concert Hall, they wanted to avoid hanging lamps from the beautiful acoustic ceiling, as this would detract attention from the billowing surface and make it difficult to suspend microphones. They came up with the idea of
a lamp with a shade in the shape of an ellipsoid. An ellipsoid has two focal points. If a light source is placed in one focal point, the light rays are reflected through the other one. If the ellipsoid is then dissected crossways and half of it is raised above a surface with a hole that falls in the other focal point, all of the light reflected from the ellipsoid will be focused into the hole, continue to the other side of the room and spread like a cone. This principle was turned into reality, and a number of reflecting ellipsoid shades were hung in the space below the load-carrying concrete structure, above holes in the acoustic ceiling 15 metres up. The cones of light could be trained precisely, to within half a metre, so the conductor could be bathed in light without the audience in the front row seeing the merest hint of light through the hole in the ceiling. The
The Danish Broadcasting House Concert Hall opened in 1945 and remains much loved by audiences for its excellent acoustics and beautiful interior. Sixty years later, it inspired Jean Nouvel, whose design for the new DR Concert Hall adopted the same warm, wood colours. (see page 44).
Broadcasting House pendant, which was specially designed for the building, is a very simple construction consisting of a single shade made from opalised glass. The incandescent light source is completely enclosed by the shade, except for an aperture in the underside. The opalised glass spreads the light well, although the shape plays no role in the way it is spread. Every self-respecting architect has a glass pendant to his name. Arne Jacobsen designed one for Søllerød Town Hall, which was almost identical to Lauritzen’s. The artist was given free rein – and needless to say, Poul Henningsen made ironic reference to the lamps’ ‘sensitive silhouettes’. The Broadcasting House pendant was used in large numbers as general lighting in the Broadcasting House and hangs in public sector buildings and private homes all over Denmark and abroad. Large numbers
were produced for the Broadcasting House transformation project and they are now available on order to projects from Custom Design. Half-vase lamps made of opalised glass are used as wall-mounted supplements to the general lighting in the studio foyer and other corridors. The brass fittings that hold the tops in place were fashioned from piano wire and resemble refined jewels. Like the Broadcasting House pendant, the half-vase lamp was reproduced in large numbers for the renovation project. Re-named the VLA Half-vase Lamp, it is now available to projects from Custom Design. A variety of lamps are used in the Broadcasting House, each playing its own role. The balcony rows in the Concert Hall are decorated with long lines of opalised glass lamps, which have associations with lilies-of-the-valley. Minor variations in the suspension system
bestow a lively, cheerful air on this part of the lighting. Under the canopy outside the Concert Hall, small, chubby opalised glass lamps with little pointed noses welcome guests. Here, the association is with a bed of radishes. Lauritzen’s lamps are liberatingly festive and magnificently unceremonious. The lighting on the yellow ceramic skin of the facade comes from a simple lamp with a conical metal shade, which resembles a 1940s woman’s hat. The top has been removed, so light spreads across the facade and is emitted downwards at the same time. Lauritzen’s lamps are living classics, and those from the Broadcasting House are among his best. They complement his architecture in the most consummate manner, underlining the warm, playful ambience that so enchants us in spaces designed by him.
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36
Public-service city
New era for DR
BY THOMAS DICKSON
The Danish Broadcasting Corporation has moved into state-of-the-art premises in the new Ørestaden area of Copenhagen. Known as DR City, the complex continues the main Danish media corporation’s 75-year tradition of high quality, architect-designed buildings. Louis Poulsen supplied the majority of the lighting.
Segment 3
Segment 2
Segment 4
Segment 1
DR City consists of four large buildings, two on each side of the street Emil Holms Canal, with a 200-metre, glass-covered bridge – dubbed “Inner Street” – providing a link between them. The main contours of the project were inspired by the idea of the city within a city, and each of the four buildings, or “segments”, has a separate identity inspired by the Middle Eastern casbah. Segment 4 is the new Concert Hall, whereas Segment 1 houses huge television and film studios, scenery workshops, radio studios and large numbers of technicians’ and journalists’ offices. Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects designed Segment 1 immediately after they won the competition to design the master plan for DR City and it was the first part of the major construction project to be completed in 2006/7. Segment 1 is a jacent to Inner Street, which is six metres tall, two storyes high and bustling with people on their way in and out. The quieter “Studio Street” links up all the studios and workshops. A large number of journalists’ offices
Photo: Jens Lindhe
Visitors cross a small bridge over the canal to the Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s (DR) main entrance below Inner Street.
Left: The large studios in Segment 1 are surrounded by massive steel structures, which are made even more imposing by the reflection in the pool in front of the building.
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Photo: Anders Sune Berg
The new DR City provides ideal working conditions for television production. Segment 1 features three major studios in a row.
and studios also converge on tall, oasislike atriums in this otherwise compact edifice. Two distinctive big studio blocks covered with black-glazed tiles are positioned at the southern end of the building, as is the public entrance for TV shows. Tall white pillars are the distinguishing feature of the southern facade. The blocks containing radio and TV studios are highly striking – red and round, they protrude into the street. NYT asked the head architect on the project, Thomas Scheel, about the lighting in Segment 1. “Danish architects tend
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to concentrate on cultivating daylight because we have so little of it. It spurs us on as we work. That’s why we’ve put all the offices and editorial offices on the second floor or higher. Lower levels are used for parking and secondary functions less dependent on daylight,” he said. “Artificial light came second to daylight. We didn’t aim for accent lighting, concentrating on good, solid general lighting instead. In close collaboration with Louis Poulsen and the ceiling producer Rockfon we went as far as to develop a combined ceiling and lighting
system for Segment 1 called Fusion. The idea was to integrate all the items that are normally installed separately – lighting, ventilation, cooling, sound absorbers, sprinklers and signs.” Environmental friendliness was another key parameter. For example, the large studio blocks to the south of the building provide shelter from the sun, and dual facades create natural ventilation. Many of the lights have dimmers for use during daylight hours, and energy-saving light bulbs have been used wherever possible. The building is also free of PVC
The big studios are serviced from huge corridors illuminated by the highly efficient Herning industrial fixture, supplied by Louis Poulsen.
The basic lighting in the studios consists of Odense surface-mounted fixtures mounted above the projectors.
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DR employees are invited to relax in the two large atriums in Segment 1. Basic lighting is provided by Beat 222-155, fitted with 1x32 Watt fluorescent lamps. The spacious indoor streets of Segment 1, which extend the full height of the building.
Photo: Anders Sune Berg
SEGMENT 1 ARCHITECT: VILHELM LAURITZEN ENGINEER: CARL BRO A/S ELECTRICAL ENGINEER: CARL BRO ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS: BRAVIDA DANMARK SEGMENT 2 ARCHITECT: DISSING OG WEITLING ENGINEER: NIRAS A/S OG OVE ARUP A/S ELECTRICAL ENGINEER: NIRAS ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS: LINDPRO A/S SEGMENT 3 ARCHITECT: GOTTLIEB & PALUDAN AND NOBEL ARKITEKTER A/S ENGINEER: RAMBØLL ELECTRICAL ENGINEER: RAMBØLL ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS: NCC DANMARK CLIENT: DR
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Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects wanted to create a ceiling system for the DR offices that integrated the surface, lighting, ventilation and signage. The result is Fusion, which the architects developed in collaboration with Louis Poulsen, Rockfon and Lindab Ventilation.
and, as far as possible, all the materials have been screened for an optimal life cycle. A ground-water cooling system has been installed, along with 1,200 m2 of solar panelling on the roof, and rainwater collected in storage tanks supplies 70% of the water needed to flush toilets.
Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects have won three competitions to design headquarters for Radio Denmark: In 1934: The Broadcasting House on Rosenørns Allé. In 1959: TV City in Gladsaxe. In 2000, the studio won the competition to design the master plan and the first stage of DR City in Ørestaden. Fusion consists of long, unbroken surfaces separated by aluminium profiles that endow the ceiling with a beautiful, calm character. The fixtures – fluorescent strips, the ventilation and cooling system, sprinklers and nozzles – were all designed specifically for Fusion, and can be fully integrated and aligned with each other. Fusion won the Danish Design Prize 2007.
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Photo: Anders Sune Berg
Photo: Jens Lindhe
N ew
Co nce r t
H a l l
THE BLUE
CUBE BY THOMAS DICKSON
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The long-awaited DR Concert Hall opened in January 2009. Conceived by the Ateliers Jean Nouvel architects studio, it sets new standards for interior and exterior design in our part of the world.
The concert hall foyer consists of a magnificent atrium defined by Jean Nouvel’s signature and featuring raw details and sensually processed materials. The bare concrete walls are used for image projection.
The new DR Concert Hall is full of surprises and contradictions, and is the largest, most spectacular and most controversial Danish edifice of recent times. Jean Nouvel is renowned for designing some of the world’s most compelling and important buildings, including the Museum Quai Branly in Paris, the Reina Sophia Museum in Madrid and the Torre Agbar tower in Barcelona. He is particularly famous for his unconventional façades, especially on the Arab World Institute in Paris, built in 1987, which is notable for its advanced light-regulation system by means of iris screens on the south façade. The exterior of the new DR Concert Hall introduces another innovation – it is completely encased in the type of blue screens used for back-projection in television. Far from uninteresting in bright sunlight, the building is, however, at its most spectacular after dark, when all four blue façades are transformed into gigantic canvases onto which moving images are projected. Had it not been for the pressing need to keep construction costs down, the roof would also have been covered by a blue screen, and would have been visible from flights approaching Kastrup Airport. The blue material is made of a special netting that allows those inside the building to see out.
When the Ateliers Jean Nouvel studio won the architectural competition in 2002, the Ørestad district of Copenhagen was still undeveloped. There was an overall plan, but no actual buildings yet. This was an unusual situation, one architects seldom encounter, so it presented a considerable challenge – especially since Nouvel’s projects are often informed by their context. Instead, Nouvel had to devise a vision for the Ørestad of the future. The outcome is a tight cube, a fixed point of reference for a district that is expected to grow over the next few years. The Concert Hall’s nocturnal appearance depends on the images beamed from the big video projectors, which are discreetly concealed in small towers next to the building. This is Nouvel’s vision of a
Photo: Anders Sune Berg
From the outside
When the audience enter the 2,000-m2 foyer, they are met with a starry sky – a perforated metal ceiling, painted blue and lit from behind by spots.
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Photo: Anders Sune Berg
Jean Nouvel’s design for DR’s new concert hall was inspired by the wood lining and warm colours of Vilhelm Lauritzen’s 1945 (see page 45) Broadcasting House Concert Hall. Louis Poulsen supplied the staircase lighting which is turned up to direct the audience at the start/end of shows and during intermissions. It is dimmed during performances, serving as a guiding light.
modern laterna magica. Behind the blue façade is a busy mix of open and enclosed spaces, arranged in a far more complex manner than the exterior might suggest. There are four halls, also known as studios, in varying sizes. The largest, with 1,800 seats, is at the top of the complex, above the three smaller studios. Beneath these there are foyer areas, a bar, a restaurant, rehearsal rooms, music archives, instrument stores, etc. Aesthetically speaking, the building is characterised by huge contrasts. Behind the clean blue exterior look, raw concrete defines much of the building including the public entrance and working areas. The halls, on the other hand, skilfully employ a range of colours, lights and materials. From the simplicity of the façades, to the raw brutalism of the stairways and corridors, to the poetically sophisticated design of the halls, contrasting idioms throw up new surprises every time you open a new door and venture deeper into the complex.
Common areas The audience enter the large, 2,000m2
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foyer at basement level, and are met by a big blue starry sky, which consists of a perforated metal ceiling, painted blue, with spotlights shining through from above. A little further into the space is a spectacular atrium with a 30-metre-high glass ceiling. This is an urban space, characterised by raw detail and the sensual use of materials – one of Nouvel’s signature motifs. Images are projected onto the walls, which may well be prefabricated concrete, but are anything but ordinary. The moulds used were lined with plastic foil that wrinkled a little during the process, giving the concrete a soft, cracked surface that resembles elephant hide. Most of the other prefabricated concrete walls were cast in the same way. The inventory is raw too. For example, the big self-service cloakroom in the foyer is made of the same material as the kind of robust flight cases used by touring musicians. Various sizes and colours of square light panels with rounded corners cover the walls in the public areas, like over-dimensional versions of the traditional warning lights used in recording studios. A large
number of Munkegaard lamps in different sizes are arranged on the ceiling panels in random, ‘disordered’ patterns. Strips of light are embedded in the concrete foyer floors, while the floors in the corridors and offices are semiglossed metal made from galvanised steel plates. The dominant look in the corridors and working areas is technical in nature, albeit with aesthetic touches. The ceilings, pipes and fittings in the long corridors and workrooms are painted bright orange, nicely offsetting the elephant-hide concrete walls and metal floors. The ceiling also features occasional decorative touches, e.g. giant images of musical instruments.
The halls All four halls have their own architectural idiom. The main hall, Studio 1, is a huge floating space, the bottom of which is approx. 10 m above ground level. The orchestra pit is almost in the middle, like in an amphitheatre, and surrounded by seats on many different levels. Nouvel himself refers to this type of hall as a terraced vineyard. The developer insisted that Nouvel adopted
THE BLUE
CUBE
The stair lighting consists of an aluminium rail with mounted warm, white LEDs. A mounted colour ďŹ lter ensures that the light matches the concert hall’s colour scheme and mood. The LEDs have a frosted acrylic surround, for protection and light diffusion.
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THE BLUE
CUBE
Photo: Anders Sune Berg
High-ceilinged lounge areas near the concert hall provide relaxation space for staff and artists. The general lighting consists of Munkegaard fittings, lightly strewn across the ceiling.
this method of building a concert hall, as spaces like this have special acoustic qualities – e.g. Hans Sharoun’s Berlin Philharmonic, completed in 1963. The hall is not symmetrical along the longitudinal axis, as would normally be the case, and the orchestra pit is in a slightly ‘off centre’ position for acoustic reasons. This hall does not contain many straight lines. The ceiling and walls are curved, and all the balconies and panel walls are in wave patterns. The materials were carefully selected to optimise the relationship between the architecture’s visual appearance and its acoustic properties. Large panels of laminated and stained wall covering made of birch and belinga wood with tracks cut into them alternate with a variety of profiled and perforated plaster products. A warm colour scheme predominates, with the many velour chairs upholstered in numerous shades of orange and red. The classic design of the chairs
Munkegaard comes in four sizes, from circumference 115 to 525. Mounted ‘at random’, the fittings form an organic pattern that is a delightful contrast to the room’s symmetrical design.
and their variegated colour scheme is a tribute to the old concert hall at Rosenørns Allé, as is the large, centrally positioned organ. Unusually, virtually no light fittings are visible in the hall, which was a conscious decision on the part of Nouvel. Spots in the ceiling train direct light on the stage, while all other light is indirect and can be turned down when necessary. Most of the indirect light comes from fixtures in the floor and in crevices inserted under the stairs. The colours are intensified by the golden lighting, resulting in a warm, copper-like lustre, which is a stark contrast to the building’s blue casing and the slightly fractious and harsh light in the foyer area. As a further means of integrating light into the architecture, Nouvel also created zones in and around the building where natural light predominates. All of the studios function as multi-faceted performance spaces. Each features an ingenious individual acoustic system capable of easily switching from hard to soft sound and coping with everything from chamber music to rock. The three small halls are located in the basement, but all let daylight in. Studio 2, the second biggest, has
room for 540 people. It slightly resembles an old Hollywood film studio, complete with hand lamps dangling from the ceiling. The walls and chairs are black, while the 38 acoustic baffles along the walls are made of natural birch veneer, and each of them features a large portrait of a musician who has particular historical significance for DR. Studio 3 has room for 170 people and is defined by extreme contrasts – chalkwhite and alternating gloss and matt black, a clear allusion to the keys of a grand piano. A system of shutters provides variable acoustics as well as dramatic visual impact. The last studio, No. 4, seats up to 300 people and has bright red walls lined with stylish slats of lacquered aluminium. These too can be adjusted to meet specific acoustic requirements. All of the studios have small spotlights more or less concealed in the ceiling.
DR - SEGMENT 4 CLIENT: DR ARCHITECT: ATELIERS JEAN NOUVEL ENGINEER: NIRAS A/S ELECTRICAL ENGINEER: NIRAS A/S ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS: LINDPRO A/S
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New products, new showrooms The sheer size of Targetti Poulsen’s product range in the Nordic Region has necessitated a revamp of the showroom in Oslo and a completely new showroom concept in Stockholm. Ta rg et ti Poulsen, Oslo Targetti Poulsen has a new 400 m2 showroom next to the company’s offices in Lilleaker, close to the heart of Oslo. The building has been thoroughly revamped in a minimalist style to complement the furniture, fittings and exhibition modules. The building’s three storeys house exhibits from the whole of the Targetti Poulsen Group’s huge product range. A complete ex-
On display in the Norwegian showroom are, among others, Collage, F+P 550 and PH 50 from Louis Poulsen, and the Polifemone pendant by Esedra.
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BY CLAUS ØSTERGAARD
hibition of Louis Poulsen’s retail range is complemented with the most famous Targetti, Esedra, MLE and Neri products. The showroom is a combination of “living showroom”, with staff using the fittings as they work at their desks, and an exhibition hall that affords numerous opportunities to demonstrate items, including RGB/LED products from Targetti.
Photo: Jiri Havran
Ta rg et ti Poulsen, Stock holm During the Northern Light Fair in Stockholm in 2009, Targetti Poulsen opened the doors to its newly renovated showroom in beautiful penthouse premises on Gävlegatan. Targetti’s acquisition of Louis Poulsen expanded the product range to such an extent that it necessitated a refurbishment of the showroom. Room has been found for all of Targetti Poulsen’s brand names, although the full product range is too large for everything to be included. The exhibition includes a large wall for demonstrating the effects of RGB/LED controlled lighting. The designers succeeded in retaining the showroom’s light, bright decor despite the fact that the number of products has increased by 50%.
Photo: Åke E:son Lindman
Targetti Poulsen’s Stockholm showroom is housed in a penthouse on Gävlegatan and has both indoor and outdoor fixtures on display.
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The PH Artichoke Gold – comprising 72 leaves gilded with 24-carat gold – was introduced in Los Angeles in March 2009. It was also presented in Turin, Copenhagen, Moscow and Belgium.
Photo: Henri Khodaverdi photography
The anniversary edition of the PH Artichoke was presented in the exclusive dkVOGUE design store in Los Angeles.
PH Artichoke turns 50 The PH Artichoke celebrated its 50th anniversary with 400 guests in Los Angeles on 18 February. It was the culmination of a series of events to honour the famous light fixture. The centrepiece was, of course, the PH Artichoke Gold, produced by Louis Poulsen in a limited edition of 50 to mark the occasion. The PH Artichoke is one of the greatest icons of lighting design in the world. The famous fixture is particularly popular in America, as was evident from the 400 guests from as far afield as Las Vegas, Santa Barbara and San Francisco who accepted Louis Poulsen’s invitation to celebrate the occasion in the exclusive design shop dkVOGUE on Beverly Boulevard, West Holly-
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wood. Demetrios Eames, film producer, author and director of Eames Office, which was founded by his famous parents Charles and Ray Eames, gave a speech paying tribute to the design classic. The PH Artichoke Gold had its world premiere in June 2008, when it was exhibited at a reception in Palazzo Madama in Turin, while the city was World Design Capital. This was followed by receptions at Louis Poulsen’s headquarters in Copenhagen, the Kortrijk Xpo Fair in Belgium and the International Salon Interior Show in Moscow.
Photo: Kaslov
The two photos above: The PH Hold Artichoke was presented at the beautiful Palazzo Madama in Turin, during the ‘Torino World Design Capital’ event. Right: Louis Poulsen’s headquarters in Copenhagen was the setting for the PH Artichoke’s anniversary celebrations.
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Louis Poulsen Lighting A/S Gammel Strand 28 DK-1202 Copenhagen K Tel.: +45 70 33 14 14 · Fax: +45 33 29 86 19 E-mail: lpnyt@lpmail.com · www.louispoulsen.com Editor-in-chief: Hans Lindeberg Editor: Ida Præstegaard Layout: Mette Andreasen Lithography & Printing: Garn grafisk ApS & Zeuner Grafisk A/S English translation: Translation Centre, University of Copenhagen, AdHoc Translatørservice Item no.: 5701026469 Reproduction, in part or whole, of articles published in NYT is only permitted by prior written arrangement with Louis Poulsen Lighting A/S. ISSN 1396-7231
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w w w. l o u i s p o u l s e n . c o m
For half a century, the PH Artichoke has proven that it suits a wide range of interiors. It complemented Turin’s exquisite Palazzo Madama beautifully.
PH Artichoke Gold adds an utterly new dimension to the fixture. Where the copper version appears with a brushed, slightly matt surface, the anniversary version has a high-lustre finish. The lustrous finish gives PH Artichoke Gold a graphic, exact idiom. At the same time, the gold finish intensifies and augments the warm, pleasant light distribution of the fixture. The leaves of PH Artichoke Gold are first made in copper. The gilding process requires a shiny, flawless surface, and the 6 x 12 leaves are superfinished before being gilded. The gilding itself is a catalytic process. An accurately controlled current is sent through the leaf, and the pure gold precipitates cathodically to the surface of the copper. As the final touch, the leaves are coated in clear varnish. The inner leaves are also gilded, but subsequently painted white to ensure optimum light distribution and illumination of the fixture itself.
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