18 minute read
Hope For The Future
Hope for the Future Created for the COP26 climate conference by Steuart Padwick with lighting designed by Buro Happold, Glasgow’s Hope Sculpture spotlights the global goals of the event with a 75% lower carbon build.
Alexia Gkika, Senior Lighting Designer, Buro Happold “T he Hope Sculpture started as a conversation with Ramboll and became a gift from 50 companies to Glasgow. It is a testament to the power of collaboration and dedication to deliver a better future” - Steuart Padwick. In terms of its lighting aspects, the Hope Sculpture project is one of the first to incorporate both CIBSE TM65 and TM66 assessments for the lighting equipment utilised. Concepted, designed and led by artist Steuart Padwick, the Hope Sculpture is a new permanent public art installation situated in the natural landscape of Cuningar Loop, part of Clyde Gateway, Scotland’s biggest and most ambitious regeneration programme. Visible from long and short distance views, the 23-metre tall sculpture rises above the woodland, overlooking River Clyde. The sculpture is topped by an age/gender/race neutral child figure with their arms reaching out to a greener, hopeful future. Linked to the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), the sculpture was constructed using low carbon, reclaimed, recycled or sustainable materials, of which, almost all have been locally sourced. It is a showcase for how leading industry partners are committed to build more sustainably, as we transition to a net zero future. The build demonstrates a 75% lower carbon impact. The Hope Sculpture aims to raise awareness of the fragility of both our environment and our mental health and the importance of our natural environment and community in supporting our mental wellbeing. The Hope Sculpture, alongside the Beacon of Hope and Hope Triptych, is part of a trilogy of urban installations situated at key locations across Glasgow. Buro Happold Lighting was approached by artist Steuart Padwick to work as part of the team and to provide a sensitive and environmentally conscious lighting design scheme for the night-time illumination, respecting the natural context. The fundamental question on the need to apply lighting was among our initial conversations with the artist. Over time and as the hosting environment for each installation was defined, it was agreed that the Beacon of Hope and Hope Triptych will not receive dedicated illumination as the ambient light conditions were deemed bright enough to support viewing the installations and additional lighting would need to compete with surroundings. Therefore, the following information focuses on the illumination of the Hope Sculpture on Cuningar Loop.
Design Narrative
From the design to the construction techniques and implementation delivery, the primary design principle was to promote sustainability and environmental care with the aim of a reduced carbon build. The following key strategies were followed on a project wide basis: • Collaboration with local consultants, suppliers • Use of reclaimed materials (i.e recycled gas pipes for the piling) • Use of existing upcycled equipment/ samples • Use of materials with low embodied carbon content (e.g. 100% cement-free concrete) • Use of construction processes with low carbon footprint Working as a team and with sustainability embedded in every aspect of the project, we strived to promote the fulfilment of delivering something new through the creative reuse/repurpose/upcycling of existing materials and sustainable manufacturing/construction processes.
PROJECT DETAILS
Artist/Designer: Steuart Padwick Project Director: Natalie Alexopoulos Engineering and Marketing Support: Ramboll Area Management: Clyde Gateway Lighting Design: Buro Happold Lighting Manufacturer: Stoane Lighting Lighting Controls: Studiotech
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1. The age/race/gender neutral child sculpture is constructed of bespoke, cement-free concrete - a 70% reduction in carbon footprint compared to standard concrete. It also includes 20% recycled glass aggregate, which gives the sculpture a sparkling finish. (Pic: © Fourteen) 2. The sculpture is illuminated using minature adjustable luminaires from Stoane Lighting, integrated on outreach brackets and mounted on the capping plate that carries the child figure. (Pic: © Keith Hunter Photography) 3. The 23-metre tall sculpture rises above the surrounding woodland, overlooking the River Clyde. 4. Buro Happold used the new TM66 CEAM-Make metric to assess the sustainability of the fixtures specified.
Key Materials
The bespoke cement-free product has been developed by the Aggregate Industries’ technical experts in close partnership with the project team. This high strength product is part of their ECOPact Max green concrete range and reduces the carbon footprint by more than 70% compared to a standard concrete mix. Also incorporated in the concrete mix is recycled steel rebar. The cement-free concrete mix utilises a local Duntilland Dolerite aggregate and sand, and the cast child includes 20% recycled glass aggregate from Dryden Aqua, who recycle about a quarter of Scotland’s glass.
The Lighting Approach
At Buro Happold, we strive for our designs to be sustainable, sensitive towards nature and to contribute positively to climate resilience. As individuals, we are curious and conscious of our footprint paved by our design decisions. This leads to research and systematic actions supporting Buro Happold’s sustainability framework and commitments. Exterior lighting is a considerable contributor in the energy demands of the built environment. If not designed appropriately, lighting has adverse effects on climate resilience. Despite its undoubted benefits, uncontrolled lighting creates light pollution. In turn, light pollution results in a chain effect including energy wastage, disruption of ecosystems, season shifting and effects on human physical and mental health. In alignment with the project’s ethos and with sustainability at the forefront of our lighting principles, we designed the lighting for the Hope sculpture with respect to the natural environment and our planet. We utilised programmable light sources of low power and high efficacy, reducing the operating demands. We sought to use existing or re-purposed lighting equipment from local Scottish manufacturer Stoane Lighting, minimising embodied carbon emissions. The equipment’s small scale, premium built quality, interchangeability of components and the commitment for future service of components contribute further to reducing direct and collateral embodied carbon aspects of the lighting installation and the project in total whilst enhancing the equipment’s advanced circularity. Reminiscent of the chimney stalks that once littered the East End of Glasgow, Steuart Padwick’s deconstructed chimney design is made of six elegant, angled columns, creating a dramatic 20-metre high pedestal for the child of hope. The base of the sculpture is paved using locally quarried Caithness stone slabs with engraved poems and words delivering messages of hope. Linking our built environment with improved mental wellbeing, the artist worked with Mental Health Foundation on all messaging. Words of Hope have been written by some of Scotland’s favourite voices, writers and poets. Four monolithic stone benches are placed around the sculpture, allowing people to sit, rest and reflect. The need for environmentally considerate night-time illumination of the sculpture was part of our brief. As the hosting environment is a relatively dark context, we did not need to apply a high intensity of light to ensure sufficient illumination. Conscious of the light wastage and given the height of the structure (23-metres above ground level), we excluded the conventional way of uplighting from ground level via recessed luminaires. Instead, the child figure is illuminated using miniature adjustable luminaires integrated on outreach brackets and mounted on the capping plate carrying the child figure. The multiple small-sized luminaires with low output and tight optics provide
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Figure 1 Embodied carbon calculation for Tadpole luminaire and 1/10 LED driver with pie chart indicating breakdown of results (pie chart extracted from TM65 calculation, courtesy of Stoane Lighting/ Buro Happold). Figure 2 Embodied carbon calculation for Mole luminaire and LED driver with pie chart indicating breakdown of results (pie chart as extract from TM65 calculation, courtesy of Stoane Lighting/ Buro Happold).
flexibility in adjustment for uniform illumination of the organic form, while minimising light spillage towards the night sky. The pillars are illuminated via a single downlight housed on the joining surface at the top of the columns with downward light emission and narrow optics. As the light reaches the ground, it creates a soft shadow-play in a star shape generated by the casting shadows of the surrounding pillars. The lighting is warm white (3000K), dimmable, controlled separately and does not operate overnight. All control components are housed remotely in an overground feeder pillar for easy access and future maintenance visits.
The Sustainability Calculation Methodologies
The Hope Project lends itself as an ideal opportunity for our scheme to be assessed using two sustainability metrics: CIBSE TM 65, Embodied carbon in the MEP equipment, 2021; and CIBSE TM 66, Circular economy in the lighting industry, 2021 (Beta version of CEAM-Make). These technical memorandums describe two different calculation methodologies; one focusing on the embodied carbon on a product level and the other of the circularity aspects of the product. TM65 has not been widely used for the assessment of luminaire products yet. TM66 was formally released in Q4 2021 but luckily, we had access to an early beta version of the calculation tool (CEAMMake) that enabled Stoane Lighting to input product information and supporting evidence. The TM65 calculation took into account all luminaires and control components. The calculation method is based on total weight of the assessed system and material composition. The total estimated carbon emissions are 90kg CO2e. This figure reflects the worst case scenario as the drivers have been considered as an electronic component in their entirety and therefore bearing high embodied carbon content for their total weight (embodied carbon coefficient: 49kg CO2e/kg). Therefore, having the breakdown of the material composition of the driver component would have resulted in lower embodied carbon content of the total system. At the time of the calculation, the driver composition information was not available, highlighting the need to encourage lighting manufacturers and control component suppliers to take action now. Ultimately, having the base information publicly available will reduce the time required for the calculations to be performed and offer a more accurate impression of the performance of the system. TM65 and TM66 cannot be compared or characterised as more/ less complete as they are used for assessing different aspects. However, as TM66 is solely focusing on assessing lighting equipment, the calculation method is more detailed and specific to the manufacturing, materials and processes associated to lighting. The products are assessed under four main categories: Product Design, Manufacturing, Materials and Ecosystems. Through a series of questions for each category, the lighting manufacturer is asked to give a rating (from 0-4) based on the level of evidence at hand and action towards a circular economy. Points are collected for each category and summed up reflecting the overall performance of the product. Lastly, using a simple traffic light system, the score reflects the level of circularity of the product. The lighting equipment utilised for the Hope Sculpture ranks within the ‘Excellent circularity’ range (2.5 to 3.5) scoring 2.7. The above findings were fed into the project-wide sustainability assessment led by Ramboll, one of the key supporting partners along with Glasgow City Council, South Lanarkshire Council and Clyde Gateway.
Next Steps
The project offered us a great opportunity to test the above sustainability metrics in a real project. Throughout the process, we engaged with our collaborators to source the information required. As the lighting industry is at the early stages of development on these aspects, there is plenty of room for improvement on all fronts. This project will remain as a reference point in our ongoing endeavours to design, specify and provide consultancy services towards sustainable and considerate projects. Our next steps include continued engagement with forums, manufacturers and clients and including carbon and circularity input in our project deliverables. Since the installation’s completion, all project collaborators have discussed the positive impact of the piece. Steuart Padwick said: “We all need to address this new global agenda so our young can embrace a future of hope. It is very simple, why would anyone want to poison their future?” Natalie Alexopoulos, Hope Project Director, added: “The most remarkable thing about this project has been collaborating with these companies and individuals. Their integrity, drive and commitment to make a difference has been inspiring.”
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Better Together
Lights in Alingsås returned for its 22nd edition this winter after a year’s absence to bring a festival of light and togetherness to the small Swedish town.
Site 5: Plantaget (Pics: Patrik Gunnar Helin)
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he 2021 edition of Lights in Alingsås – the 22nd instalment of the light festival, brought the international lighting community together once more this October. This year’s theme of Together was chosen in reflection of the global pandemic. “The world has changed quite a bit since the last ‘normal’ edition of Lights in Alingsås was held in 2019,” said event organisers. “The pandemic may not be over yet, but the time has come to slowly start reconvening, albeit at a safe distance. Lights in Alingsås wanted to kindle that sparkle of hope by turning on its lights and creating opportunities for visitors to gather once again.” And so it did, with a remarkable 70,000 visitors recorded visiting the Swedish town during the five-week event. As a result of the 2020 festival’s cancellation, this year’s event welcomed back the same seven lighting designers that were scheduled to participate in last year’s workshop. Sara Ortega, Architect, Lighting Designer, Technology Teacher and Researcher from Barcelona, Spain; Anuj Gala, Finnish Indian freelancer for Lighting Design Collective (LDC) and multiple projects in India; Rogier Hengeveld, Project Manager for Lighting at Lighting Business Consultancy in Utrecht, Netherlands; Craig Spring, Principal at Luminosity – Architectural Lighting Design in Colorado, USA; Rodrigo Muro, Program Director at KTH and Lighting Designer; Luciana Alanis, Lighting Designer; Jessica Krometis, Senior Designer for Hartranft Lighting Design; and Sebastian Studnitzky, German Composer, were joined by 50 lighting design students from KTH Royal Institute of Technology and the Jönköping University. This Autumn’s light trail covered approximately 3km and featured six installations spread throughout the heart of Alingsås. Guided tours were offered again this year, along with the option to use the
Site 1: Lilla Torget Bron - Bridge The Gap Site 6: KV Klockan
Site 3: Brunnsparken Site 4: Christinae Kyrka
dedicated Lights in Alingsås app for independent walks. Site 1, hosted by Craig Spring, was located on the bridge at Lilla Torget square. As described by the team, this site presented: “Bridge the gap: building a link to cross the gap between us, the divide that separates us from one another.” Spring’s focus was to light up the bridge, but also create a focal point of light in the middle of the river. The stairs represent a space to bring people together. The installation hoped that passers-by would stop in their tracks and reflect for a while. The group’s creation is a nod to the dyeworks that used to operate in the neighbourhood and sometimes released colourful dyes into the water. The installation is accompanied by an instrumental track that lasts for five minutes and 20 seconds. Site 2, Landskyrkan church, was created Rodrigo Muro and his team. Muro felt inspired by the word ‘Together’ in this year’s theme, linking it to its homophonic sibling ‘to gather’. His starting point was movement: a circling ripple effect on the surface of the water. The waves make it seem like something is expanding. Muro wanted to evoke a feeling of togetherness; of belonging to the same source. He invited visitors to follow the light to the church, where there was a field of light. Weak at first, the light became brighter and brighter as it looped, before fading once more. The church itself was lit up as well, but not as the main focus. Arriving at Landskyrkan from the south (via Landskyrkoallén), visitors were met by warm lights that welcomed them to the park that surrounds the church. Spectators felt drawn to the sight, with the aim that they would want to be embraced by the glow of the lights in the grass and the trees nearby. Hidden among the grass were pulsating lights that led the way up to the church. Both the trees around and those behind the church reinforce the feeling of being gathered in embracing arms. A spotlight licking the foot of the church tower like a flame directs upwards, to where the tower is lit up against the night sky. Site 3 - Brunnsparken - The Jetty, was hosted by Jessica Krometis. This installation evoked fireflies and bioluminescence – the light all living creatures emit, and was broken down into a four-act play, with the jetty lit up during the opening scene. Moving in closer, among the trees, fireflies darted to and fro, communicating with one another. They sent each other poetic messages from far away and close by, appearing to dance together in flight in the moonlight. Light flicked from one tree to the next, like glowing creatures chasing each other. Finally, the light moved upwards, accentuating the canopy of the trees, and journeying across the heavens like the Northern Lights above Alingsås. This site’s group wanted to encourage visitors to lie down on the jetty to experience the artwork from a unique and magical perspective. Site 4, led by Luciana Alanis was located at Christinae church. This site was a bustling place with activity and movement. The team observed that some people were simply passing by – walking, cycling, or driving, while others were heading in or out of the church or the parish hall to take part in some activity. Very few stopped to consider the parish hall itself – which is why this installation wanted to draw its attention to the hall, making passersby pause. The church was subtly lit up, to allow the parish hall to glitter and sparkle like a diamond. Its rounded shape evoked a feeling of movement; it encouraged spectators to anticipate what’s around the curve. Alanis’ interpretation of this edition’s theme of Together was: “Come together, gather round, to rediscover the beauty of this place and heed society’s true values. Two different eras and stories, two architects
Site 3: Brunnsparken
Site 2: Landskyrkan Barnens Light
and their buildings, past and present, united in this public place.” Site 5, Plantaget Park, by Sara Ortega, took its inspiration from people as social beings. Feeling part of a group is crucial to our identity. A sense of community and belonging in our tribe or herd fulfils our perception of ourselves. There are many ways to feel community and belonging today. Physical separation does not always mean being alone, and technology has played an important part in creating new types of relationships between each other. Technology brought us closer to people far away and distanced us from people closer to home, leading ultimately to vibrant gatherings. This installation sought to shed light on failed communication and the spark inherent in meetings. The scene was in the central part of the park, which consisted of a grassy space in between two areas that were in a state of imbalance. On one side, there was a fountain and a chessboard, on the other, a gravel surface. The installation aimed to link these two parts and show how attempts at contact are made and finally succeed. A beam of light was sent from one side, with no reaction from the recipient. Another beam was sent from the other side, again no reaction from the recipient. Suddenly, there was light from both sides, creating contact and a meeting. The display became especially effective in rain or mist. The final workshop site, Site 6, was led by Anuj Gala and Rogier Hengeveld at the Klockaren neighbourhood. This site took its inspiration from fire and its historic importance to humanity. Fire has been at the centre of meeting places since time immemorial. Fire was used to protect us and chase away our fear of darkness at night. It was an important tool for expanding and developing communities. It served as a source of heat and relaxation. Stories were told around fires and passed from generation to generation. Thus, a campfire stands at the centre of the installation. When visitors merely gaze at the fire, it just glows. Rope lighting in the ground led audiences to duckboards surrounding the fire that invited interactivity. As people stepped on a duckboard, a flame shoots up from the fire. The more they were stepped on, the higher the flames – mimicking a gust of breath on the embers of a real campfire. The background surrounding the campfire was lit in shades of calming blue above the river and by the building toward Västra Ringgatan. Barnens Lights, the children-specific installation, which is sponsored by Sparbanken Alingsås, was held in Museiparken. Designer and drama teacher Malin Wallin returned to create this child-friendly installation. “You and me a little bit mingled”, a quote from Linnéa Krantz Westergren formed part of this site’s inspiration. “To meet is to mingle. Mixing and making room for our similarities and differences is one of our greatest joys.” This year, Malin wanted to take visitors to a magical pond. “Let’s meet there. Creatures and people great and small. Everyone has something they’d like to ‘share in the mingle’. A longing or a worry, silence or laughter, a thought, a dream or maybe a game.” In addition to the festival’s light-art installations, during the spring of 2021, Margartha Stenmark of Alingsås Energi created a new, permanent lighting installation at Brunnsparken. This area has been renovated by the Municipality of Alingsås; the space was cleaned up, and a new terrace added closer to the water, which thereby created a new footpath over the waterfall. New seats were built on the new stone wall. The waterfall has been illuminated and the stairs and the new footpath have been accentuated, plus lighting under the benches welcome visitors, to sit down and relax, even after dark.