Spotlight

Rove Expo 2020 Hotel UAE

The only hotel situated on Dubai’s landmark Expo 2020 site, the Rove Expo 2020 Hotel features a lighting scheme created by Nulty. Located adjacent to the Al Wasl Plaza and its awe-inspiring coloured dome, the hotel has been designed as a vibrant centrepiece that reflects the Expo’s theme of ‘Connecting Minds and Creating the Future’. The hotel’s interior draws inspiration from the subthemes of the Expo, in particular the neighbouring Sustainability Pavilion. A sustainable consciousness runs throughout the LEED Gold design concept, including Nulty’s lighting scheme, which is all LED and controlled by a DALI system that allows individual areas to be adjusted throughout the day. Nulty worked in partnership with architecture practice RSP and contractors Arco Group to create a contemporary lighting scheme that evokes a sense of place by weaving in references to Dubai’s rich heritage and culture. Within the hotel’s expansive open-plan ground floor, where lobby, lounge and co-working areas merge with a bar and all-day dining café, layers of illumination add character and creativity to each individual area. The lighting scheme also brings a sense of rhythm and cohesion to the ground floor to mark the subtle transitions between each space. On entering, guests are greeted by the lobby area where industrial design details have been set against a warm but refined material palette inspired by Dubai’s urban and desert landscapes. Oversized orange pendants adorn each desk and complement a series of ornate metallic structures used to frame the reception area. Linear lines of light illuminate each reception desk to create a floating effect and are replicated across the ceiling to add further visual interest. The oversized orange pendants are a recurring theme,

Pics: Arco Group

extending to the neighbouring bar area, where they have been paired with intricate white metalwork to create a striking central feature. Linear lines of illumination pick out the materiality of the wooden bar and help demark the space as an area where guests can socialise and relax after a day at the Expo site. Contemporary ceiling pendants offer a further nod to the industrial Dubai theme and work alongside suspended track lights to strike the right balance between decorative and functional lighting. Within The Daily, the hotel’s all-day dining café, the lighting is deliberately pared-back to complement with blue and green textiles and a corresponding restrained approach to lighting. Diffused lines of light have been strategically placed throughout to create a comfortable and inviting working environment, while large blue pendants bring pockets of atmospheric illumination for focused work and get-togethers. www.nultylighting.co.uk

me + you USA

In celebration of its 175th anniversary, the Smithsonian Institution has reopened its long-closed Arts and Industries building with FUTURES, the National Mall’s first building-wide exploration of the future, which launched on 20 November and will run until July 2022. At the exhibit’s centre, in the 90ft high rotunda, sits light and artificial intelligence installation me + you, designed by artist and architect Suchi Reddy. To bring the design to fruition, Reddy invited lighting designer Levia Lew, Principal and co-founder of Reveal Design Group, onto the team as lighting consultant. “The sculpture comprises three illuminated elements: a shimmering cloud of light points at the ends of more than 1,000 translucent, glowing acrylic rods; nine dynamic hemispherical LED portals; and a 20ft high central pillar called the ‘totem’, composed of radiating fins with LED panels hidden within,” said Lew. Exhibit visitors are invited to speak their future vision in a single word into an LED portal. Engaging AI techniques, the artwork translates the vision word and reflects its emotion and tone into a unique, kinetic mandala of colour and light, which then flows up the centre totem, where input from the other eight portals is combined into an ever-changing expression of “collective futures”. The incorporation of AI into light objects was a new experience for Lew, who embraced the opportunity to expand her expertise and delve into the future. “When Suchi presented her incredible concept, I was thrilled with the opportunity to support her artistry as well as push my own creative boundaries,” she said. “Certainly, there are elements of the sculpture that could be quickly solved from a lighting standpoint, but there were other aspects outside of my usual parameters of expertise. “Custom-build LED light objects, along with processing and programming for real-time AI data interaction, presented a rare opportunity for a design challenge not often encountered in architectural lighting. Luckily, we know several brilliant designers and willing manufacturers who were game to join us on this journey to bring Suchi’s vision to life. Together, we pushed our own artistry and knowledge into the future of art and design.” www.revealdesigngroup.com

Design DNA USA

As part of its ongoing obsession with light and data, Light Collective was commissioned to create a new project to follow on from the previous iterations of the International Lighting Design Family Tree. Though each version of the Family Tree got bigger, none of the data had been realised in light until now. Design DNA is a project created by Light Collective in conjunction with US partners ArchLIGHT Summit and The Lighting Exchange. Seen as the ‘baby’ of the International Family Tree, it was envisioned as an opportunity for designers to find their own unique professional DNA signature. “Your professional DNA is something that either makes you stand out from the crowd or helps you identify those that you have most in common with,” said Light Collective. “Looking at career/experience, location, professional memberships, educational backgrounds and networks enables us to identify our differences and commonalities.” The idea for the installation was that attendees to the ArchLIGHT Summit, held in Dallas at the end of September, could compare these DNA strands with other attendees, as well as others in the lighting industry around the world, who could also input their data, even if they weren’t able to attend the show. Light Collective was invited to create something specific for the show by event strategy manager Cindy Foster-Warthen. The duo developed an idea that made the most of the opportunity to get data from in-person attendees, while

also including others unable to travel, and from there designed an installation that realised the data in physical form using light and colour. Design DNA was partnered by Jonathan Ayala, as his company, The Lighting Exchange, is all about connections. The Lighting Exchange has a bank of roughly 10,000 users that comprise all different areas of a sales process. Ayala created the results database and helped with the process of programming and translating the results into light. The installation consisted of linear programmable RBGW luminaires from Ligeo. As there are five answer choices for each question of the survey, each of the DNA strands was represented by a pentagon, and each pentagon is rotated by six degrees – a play on the six degrees of separation theory that also transformed the view along the pentagons into a shape similar to the DNA helix. After inputting personal data at the show, the user could see their Design DNA visualised in light. To enhance the experience, the number of pentagons was doubled to give two pentagons per strand – the installation was bookended by mirrors to create an infinity effect. Participants can still input data by answering a series of seven questions, with each answer having five choices and therefore the possibility of more than 16,000 different answers. Users can check out their comparative results at www.lightingdesignfamilytree.com. www.lightcollective.net