We come to the end of another year at Electrolight.  And what a year it has been.

2010 has been our busiest yet.  It started with us having a 3 week Xmas break.  I had the office phone diverting to my mobile which rang constantly for the last week of the break; it was a sign of things to come.

We have worked on a range of fantastic projects this year.  New commissions with existing clients as well as collaborations with new friends.  2010 has seen progress on some great projects:  the first lights installed in Harbour Esplanade, the opening of Duck Duck Goose restaurant, the new West Gate freeway, Dandenong Lonsdale Street nearing completion, 500 Bourke Street foyer, AAMI Park stadium and the new Westfield Sydney City project to name but a few.  We were especially pleased to receive awards for MTC Theatre and AAMI Park Stadium.

We have also been busy with some community projects including Midsumma festival back in January, The Meaning of Light as part of the Light in Winter festival, a mauve traffic light and the Carnival of Mysteries.

Our team has grown in 2010 and we are now 13 strong.  We have this year welcomed Dave Anderson, Joni Foster, Elisha Howard, Ben Luder and Stacey Mahar.  It is with sadness that we say farewell to Samantha Webb and Horatio Burton who are leaving us.

With a bigger team we have needed to invest in an improved set-up and we now occupy both level 1 and level 2 of our building in Hardware Lane.  We are in the middle of configuring the layout which will give us a little more room to move and more creative space.  In 2010 we have invested in new computers, software including Revit, meeting tables, chairs, desks, fridge, lights, server, phone system, cat 6 wiring and ducting, printers as well as adding to our reference library.  All in all, I think we have a pretty good set-up now and are very well placed to produce some excellent work in 2011.

This is a good time to say thank you to every one of our team, to our clients, collaborators and friends of the practice of which there are many.  We have something special going here and I am incredibly proud.

And for 2011 what will we see at Electrolight?  I’d say there will be some fantastic projects coming to fruition including the re-lighting of the Victorian Parliament Chamber, Lonsdale Street Dandenong, Crown east end and a very special restaurant or two.  And maybe a LightCycle competition as part of the State of Design Festival.  And involvement in the Light in Winter festival. Oh, and maybe a Sydney office at last. If time permits perhaps a book….

500 Bourke Street

West Gate Freeway Urban Design Features

Our team

Midsumma Festival: Some crazy-coloured fluoros

The Meaning of Light poster

The carnival of mysteries

The award-winning AAMI Park Stadium

I have been invited to present the award-winning lighting scheme for AAMI Park Stadium this Thursday evening 25 Nov, 6-8pm at IKEN furniture, Level 1, 125 Flinders Lane, Melbourne 3000.

All are welcome and refreshments will be provided.

I hope to see you there.  RSVP to michelle@theshapegroup.com.au.  More info see http://theshapegroup.com.au/broadcast/functions/letTthereBeLight/

On Friday evening Electrolight’s work for AAMI Park was recognised through the Award of Excellence in the Victorian Illuminating Engineering Society’s Lighting Design Awards.

Peer reviewed awards always mean the most and we were very humbled to receive this accolade.  This project really has been a journey for our practice.  We have poured so much of our creative selves into the project since the idea was born to place an LED colour changing light that is individually controllable on each node of the stadium’s facade. We were blessed in being supported by the creative talents of Bruce Ramus and Bruce Myles who help to develop and ultimately realise the creative concept and to Lightmoves for helping turn the dream into reality.  We also had a great client in MPV and MOPT, a cooperative ‘can-do’ builder in Grocon and excellent support from engineers Arup.  Of course it helps to have a beautiful building to light in the first instance and hence we are grateful for the wonderful work of Cox Architects, whose legacy to sports stadia in Australia is unsurpassed.

We hope that we have contributed to the history of Australian lighting design through our work on this project.  My gratitude and respect is extended to our project partners and of course our team at Electrolight (past and present).

On Friday I had the pleasure of attending the opening of the Bendigo Chinese Precinct.  And, despite the cold, it was quite an event with amazing dancers, costumes and of course fire-crackers galore.

This project has been very collaborative – we have worked very closely with landscape architect Rush Wright Associates, council and other consultants to produce a lighting scheme which, we hope, does  justice to the project.  Of course, this never happens in isolation and we acknowledge the contribution of others who helped us to realise our scheme.

On the day there must have been 200 people braving the weather to celebrate the opening.  And I have to say it was looking fantastic.

This the latest in a series of projects Electrolight has undertaken in Bendigo.  Previously, we did the lighting design to Hargraves Mall, Capital Theatre facade and cafe and Bendigo Town Hall council chamber for which we designed a custom chandelier.  The common thread running through these projects is one of our most loyal clients Mr Don Goldsworthy from the City of Greater Bendigo whose support is very much appreciated.

For reasons beyond me, there often seems to be an inordinate amount of time between dreaming up a lighting scheme and seeing it installed.  Case in point is Duck Duck Goose a new restaurant in the QV Centre in Melbourne.  It must be three years since we did the design for this project and I must admit that I thought for a while that the design was going to end up on the drawing board in the sky.  But lo and behold, the jobs complete, looking great and trading well.

We had a well deserved team lunch there last week to celebrate!