Lighting Journal February 2023

FOLLOW YOUR NORTH STAR

The latest ILP ‘How to be brilliant’ event saw Hoare Lea’s Juan Ferrari and Brad Joseph make an impassioned and uncompromising plea for lighting to step up and lead the change that’s needed to mitigate global warming, as the practice is doing through its ‘North Star’ commitment

By Nic Paton

The inaugural LiGHT 22 show and exhibition in November saw more than 3,000 people interested in light and lighting come together for what many felt was a much-needed return to physical networking and showcasing.

As we reported in Lighting Journal last month (‘Master class’, vol 88 no 1), central to the event organised by [d]arc media was two days of high-class CPD panel discussions. With the ILP being a partner, the first day concluded with a ‘How to be brilliant’ event led by Hoare Lea’s Juan Ferrari and Brad Joseph.

How to be brilliant, to recap, is the ILP’s programme of free, informal talks, presentations and lectures designed to connect successful, senior lighting designers with students, juniors and new entrants to the profession.

Juan and Brad’s discussion was focused on the idea of ‘how to be on it’ and was, in truth, something of a tale of two halves. Juan, project director at Hoare Lea, provided a passionate and compelling ‘call to action’ on responding to and mitigating climate change. Brad, by comparison, outlined how we can all be more ‘on it’ day to day in our work and

practice but also, within that, how we can also become more ‘on it’ in terms of articulating and promoting climate-change mitigation messages within lighting design.

Juan, opening the event, played a video where the legendary David Attenborough made it clear how tackling climate change is not optional. Even a temperature rise of 1.5 degrees centigrade will profoundly change the planet – yet containing global warming just to this level of increase will now be challenging. ‘It is within our power to do it; we can do it; we must do it. Then there will be a future for the planet,’ he warned.

Juan, in turn, had a message that was unapologetic in stating the situation he felt we find ourselves in. ‘Let me tell you one thing – we are the problem. The lighting design community is the problem. We need to start moving swiftly and quickly to the solution side of the court,’ he said.

‘We are at a moment that is quite complex – and lighting design is part of the solution. Lighting is not just about the things that make us feel good, it is about the things that do us good, and do good for the planet.

‘We are probably the last generation of people who will have a chance to revert this mess. I know I look like a preacher going “it is the end of the world”, but it is – we can laugh about it, but it is.

‘Get yourself in the driving seat quickly; make sure that the decisions you make and take are always the right ones, in lighting design terms, if you’re a lighting person. If you’re doing other things, make sure too that they are the right thing.

‘Make sure that you are among people who do good and not around people who do things in the wrong way or who are selfish. On a positive note, let’s talk about what we can do. What we, the lighting design community, can do and what we have been doing,’ Juan added.

Juan Ferrari during ‘How to be brilliant’. ‘We are the problem,’ he said, urging all lighters to step up in tackling climate change

Forge, a formerly vacant office block converted into a much more thermally efficient and modern working space. Photograph Jack Hobhouse

HOW TO ‘BE ON IT’

This was where Brad Joseph, principal designer at Hoare Lea, came in to articulate ten practical, positive ways in which we can all

more be ‘on it’ in our day-to-day practice. This, in turn, can enable us to be leading, directing and championing this absolutely vital climate-change conversation.

1. Steer the narrative. ‘I love a chat, but what you’ve got to do is steer the narrative,’ Brad explained. ‘You need to take control of this. If clients are telling you “we need to do it this way” but their way is not sustainable, it’s not ecologically balanced, you’ve got to start to steer that narrative. ‘It is quite hard, but try to do it; and you can often do it by humanising it,’ he added.

2. Have a worthy cause. ‘We need to think about the planet. We need to consider what lighting does and what the impact is,’ Brad emphasised. ‘This is something people can empathise with, in terms of what David Attenborough was saying, in terms of the fact that we are in serious danger.’

3. Change perceptions. ‘I love history and this is about taking these little snippets from history, doffing your cap to them, but making sure you are bringing that into the future,’ Brad said.

‘When you’re going back to, say, the 1800s, light sources were things that were cherished; they were protected; you carried them around with you. They weren’t these big and bright things, like how you get nowadays with office lighting.

‘I’m not saying we have to go around illuminating tables by candlelight. Because that would of course not be the thing to do. But can we look at history and make it influence the decisions that we are making in terms of our design in the present? I think it’s a good thing,’ he added.

4. Lead the journey. ‘Importantly, remember there are loads of people who are on this journey with us, in terms of the project – there are architects, interior designers, us, project management and client teams,’ Brad highlighted.

‘So, if we’re trying to change perceptions – and we’re trying to say we’ve got to be better here – we as lighting designers and the lighting design community, we need to lead that conversation.

‘There is no quick way up a mountain. You’re going to go up, down, you might have to go back on yourself, you might be in some treacherous areas. But you can get to the summit. And, when you get to the summit, it is so refreshing. When you see the journey from where you started to where you’ve ended up, you’ve got to bring people along that way, and you’ve got to hold their hands,’ Brad added.

5. Embrace the ‘fuzzy front end’. Brad conceded this might not be a term immediately familiar to many in the audience but argued it was essentially like when you get writer’s block. ‘It is when you run into something and you don’t know what the hell to do. It happens in every single design element, be it architecture or interior design, when you’re there and you’re like – I don’t know what to do here. I have not got a clue,’ he explained.

‘What you have got to do is embrace that. Because it happens. It is a design process. And when you find that golden nugget of information, that thing that puts your narrative together, it is the most satisfying thing in the world. It is amazing.

‘So, embrace the fact that you’re going to get stuck. Embrace the fact that you might do some complicated things here. And it might take a bit of brain power and a bit of effort. But embrace that, it’s a challenge; we’re trying to change perceptions,’ Brad added.

6. Make it designed by people for people. ‘This is the most important. That a project is designed by people – in

terms of all of us – but we’re designing it for people,’ Brad advised. ‘This is where you can humanise your narrative, make it relatable to people. If we forget that we’re designing for people, I just think we’ve totally lost the plot.

‘So, think about the people who you are designing the space for; it is all about the people,’ he added.

7. Make it welcoming, accommodating and approachable. ‘In order to do this – to design for people – we’ve got to be welcoming,’ Brad continued. ‘We’ve got to be accommodating. We’ve got to be approachable. We know that, in terms of what we’re

doing, we’re introducing new things. If we do it with a smile on our face; if we do it and we engage with our clients, if we engage with our architects, and we’re approachable and we smile, and we enjoy being in the room, people actually latch on to that and see it as a positive.

‘We like people who smile, we like people who are engaging; bring that to the table. And if you struggle with it, bring people who are like that with you.’

8. Focus on skills and individuality. ‘As they say, teamwork makes the dream work,’ Brad explained. ‘I love working with my team because we’ve all got different talents, we’ve all got different skills. But, as a collective, we put them all together and we are an absolute machine.

‘We can all look at people’s positive characters and mould them into our narrative to create something that makes the world better,’ he added.

9. Grow your idea. ‘A design or project idea often starts off with something small,’ Brad explained. ‘It can start off with a conversation, a sketch, it can start off however you want it to.

‘But grow it, cultivate it, use your team members, use people who are around you to make this idea bigger, to make it better, to make it something that is actually tangible. Make it something that someone thinks “yeah, I want that”.’

10.Be there. ‘This is for everybody in the lighting design community,’ Brad said, returning to the overarching theme of the event. ‘What we need to do is just to be there for each other. Sometimes there can be fights and cliques and things like that. We need to push that to the background.

‘What we need to do is hold each other’s arms and be there. As long as we’re with each other, push each other; if we push each other and bring each other up, we can change the world, I reckon.’

This page and overleaf: Hoare Lea lighting projects, illustrating the practice’s ‘North Star’ approach. This image: 245 Hammersmith Road, the sustainable and energy efficient new office building in the Hammersmith Business Improvement District, west London. Photograph by Jack Hobhouse

Brad Joseph outlines his ten tips to be more ‘on it’

CLIMATE-CHANGE CHALLENGE

Juan then returned to conclude the event and refocus minds back on the climate-change challenge we all face – both individuals and the industry as a whole.

‘We have a problem. We all know that we have a problem. We need action. We need a solution. And we need good communicators. Somebody who spreads the message that we are putting forward,’ he emphasised.

‘Without that, we’re going to fail. And if we fail, our life is at risk. You might not care about it, but I think I do care about it. I actually want us to have a planet to live on, and I want our kids to have a planet where they can live. And action starts today,’ he added.

Juan highlighted Hoare Lea’s ‘North Star’ commitment to lighting design (see panel overleaf) and argued this was something all lighting design practices can and should embrace. ‘I am happy for others to take the principles and make them their own. We need to remind ourselves that everybody needs to be on board when designing.

‘Because when we’re designing, too often we forget about certain things. We forget about the planet, we sometimes compromise, we sometimes go “well, yeah, that will do”. And that is the beginning of the problem. It is where we shouldn’t be, and the thing we shouldn’t do,’ he said.

‘If you can join us on this one, it will be really important for all of us. Because we need to do this. And we need to do it quickly. It means the world to us; it does mean the world to us,’ Juan said.

‘We need to spread the message. We need to talk. We need to communicate. We need to say where we’re falling short on trying to achieve. But also we need to do. We do need to do now,’ Juan added.

In other words, whether it’s about reviewing lighting requirements and guidance (which Hoare Lea has been doing with the Society of Light and Lighting, among others); maximising or promoting daylight; working to improve lighting in schools, communities

or the home; or promoting intelligent controls in street lighting – lighting and lighting design can lead the way.

‘We cannot keep designing to put things into a bin. Please, let’s stop doing that. I’m not Greta [Thunberg]. But I am asking you one thing. To please choose the direction that you want to move in. Because in your choice – and I am pretty sure that you should be making your choice now – is where we are going to end up being,’ Juan emphasised.

‘Having said that, I do think there is a future. I will remind you that David Attenborough, one of my idols, thinks that we can do this. So let’s actually do that. Let’s do the right thing, and we all know what that is,’ he added in conclusion

135 Bishopsgate, a refurbishment project enhancing the eastern entrance to the London’s Broadgate. It emphasises the creative use of daylight as well as decorative pendants designed to perform. Photograph by Jack Hobhouse

Hawley Wharf, Camden, which again prioritised a sustainable approach. Photograph by Jonathan Rush

FIND OUT MORE

Juan and Brad’s full talk is available to watch online at https://vimeo.com/777352290

You can also find out more about the ILP’s ‘How to be brilliant’ programme, including updates on plans for 2023 at https://theilp.org.uk/events/ how-to-be-brilliant/

The How to be brilliant programme is this year generously being supported by BEGA, which enables the ILP to keep them as free-to-attend events.

HOARE LEA’S ‘NORTH STAR’

Hoare Lea’s ‘North Star’ is the design practice’s very public commitment for responding to the climate crisis.

As the company has put it: ‘As built-environment experts, we have so much to contribute. Within us lies the power and the influence to truly make a difference. And the cliché is true: with that power comes great responsibility… A responsibility to the natural world and to society; both the people impacted by our projects and, of course, our clients.’

To that end, it has articulated five core tenets of being ‘human centric and planet conscious’ in the way its teams work, think and design. These are principles that, it argues, any individual or organisation that wants to lead the way in the future of responsible engineering and consultancy can also embrace. The five principles are:

1. Designing lighting for human experience, balanced against the needs of our planet, to create energy-efficient, sustainable, and people-centric spaces.

2. Extending ‘being on it’ and creative lighting design to diverse projects, not just those that are high end, so that the benefits are available to everyone.

3. Specifying products on the basis of energy efficiency, embodied carbon, refurbishment/reuse/ recycling capacity, ecological impact and human quality of life.

4. Sharing knowledge for the benefit of all to help clients, colleagues and collaborators better understand lighting’s role in environmentaland people-centric decisions.

5. Advocating for faster and more ambitious ecological and energy-efficiency policies across the industry – always mindful of the needs of people.