The controvery continues… Howard Branston, lighting designer extrordinaire from New York- with 50 years experience under his belt- has taken a serve at compact fluoro lamps in today’s Wall Street Journal. He’s not wrong in his points about the quality of compact fluoros, of course, however I can’t help thinking that his final point about “…re-evaluate our nation’s energy legislation so that it serves people, not an energy-saving agenda.” is wrong given that it’s Howard’s grandchildren who are going to be dealing with the legacy of his nation’s energy legislation. It looks like saving energy is going to require some sacrifices, …maybe one of them is lighting quality? Or maybe designers need to be smarter…
Archive for August, 2009
Banning the bulb…
Monday, August 31st, 2009Glow Paint
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
Glow in the dark paint just got better!
I came across a blog post from Injoy Design about MPK CO’s new longer lasting (15 years), non toxic, inexpensive, no recharge GloPaint. Could you see Electrolight specifying a product like this? John from our office told me that they did test a glow paint for use on a large exterior job but it just didn’t work, but for use in controlled dark spaces like theaters it could be great.
What caught my eye was this photo from the MPK CO website. Most of us in the Electrolight studio are riders and are constantly fining new lights and ways to light the road or make ourselves visible. Could Glow Paint be our answer?
‘Moving’ Ringwood Art Project Launch
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
Moving has been launched. A community arts project organised by Village Well to help enliven the old Ringwood shopping area.
Congratulations to the team at Village Well and thank you to all the supporting organisations, such as Concord Sylvania who has supplied the coloured fluorescent lamps you see in the picture. Electrolight’s part in the project was to design the lighting to help activate the empty spaces, through vibrant colour we have been able to link the shops as part of the one project. There is a call out to artist to exhibit their work in the vacant shops. This work will then replace the coloured lights.
“artists are being offered a vacant shop window … to show their work with the aim of enlivening the area and offering a rich cultural and artistic experience for residents and visitors.” from Village Well website.
If you would like to read more about the project or be part of this exciting project visit the Village Well website.
Normal Service is Resumed
Thursday, August 27th, 2009After 6 weeks of bleary eyes and morning-after banter we are all relieved that the England-based Ashes series is over for another 4 years. Mark has been especially quiet this week following England’s deserved victory to reclaim the urn. We can now return to early nights and peaceful dreams (hearing Warney’s voice just before bedtime never bodes well).
Electrolight officially cool (almost)
Friday, August 21st, 2009Our work on the Melbourne Rectangular stadium has been featured on the Cool Hunter web site. We unfortunately didn’t quite get a mention (we only designed the LED lighting scheme after all). Check out the article, scroll down and there you go, straight into another Electrolight project: the MTC Theatre and Recital Hall. Again, no mention of Electrolight. Maybe we need as better PR agent…
Moving to Ringwood
Friday, August 14th, 2009Last night Amelia and I made a trip out to Ringwood to play with some lights! Electrolight is supporting our friend and neighbour Village Well through designing the lighting for the launch and ongoing presentation of Moving. Moving is a community arts project located at a number of currently empty shops close to Eastland Shopping Centre. The project will breathe life into these spaces and celebrate Ringwood’s rich history, at the same time identifying with the transition that a proposed redevelopment will bring into the future. Below is a sneak preview of one of the spaces that we were playing in last night.
This project has been made possible through the generous support of Concord Sylvania who have lent us all the fabulous equipment. Thank you on behalf of Electrolight and everyone else involved with the project.
Hard at work 2…
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009It’s all go here at the moment. We are always a favourite of the sales reps and are often the first to see all the cool new lights that are imported into Australia. Today’s offering was out of the box altogether. We were told that it was too big to carry up the 2 flights of stairs to our studio so we went down to the street for a peep. We were not disappointed. Is this what all street lights will look like in the future? Very cool from Siteco, thank you Sylvania for showing to us.
Siteco LED street light and our team in Hardware Lane
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
Monday, August 3rd, 2009
MRS Night Shot
At long last (we have been working on this for a year) we are able to tell the world of our involvement in the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium project.
The MRS is a 31,500 seat stadium under construction in Melbourne. It will be home to Melbourne Victory football and Melbourne Storm rugby league teams.
Electrolight responded to a brief that was issued by Major Projects Victoria to design an artistic feature lighting scheme that:
- created a spectacular entry statement to Olympic Park Boulevard (Swan Street)
- provided a visual asset to Melbourne after dark
- was complementary to the iconic architecture
- referenced the traditional owners of the land
- communicated the energy and excitement of the game to the wider Melbourne population
Our response was to design an LED lighting system featuring a reg/green/blue LED at each of the intersecting nodes comprising the facade system - around 1600 nodes in total. Each of these LED nodes is able to be individually addressed and hence controlled to change colour, dim up and down.
We worked alongside artist, actor, theatre producer and sorts fanatic Bruce Myles in generating the content, a snapshot of which may be viewed in the movie (best viewed with sound).
The system was launched yesterday by the Minister for Major Projects, Tim Pallas.
Tim Pallas and Daniel Grollo at the media launch