Light Lines Mar/Apr 19

BRIGHT FUTURES

SLL Young Lighter: 25 years

FIRST CLASS PROJECT

A lesson in co-designing masterplans with children

SECRETARY

Brendan Keely FSLL bkeely@cibse.org

SLL COORDINATOR

Juliet Rennie Tel: 020 772 3685 jrennie@cibse.org

EDITOR

Jill Entwistle jillentwistle@yahoo.com

COMMUNICATIONS

COMMITTEE:

Gethyn Williams (chairman)

Rob Anderson

Iain Carlile MSLL

Jill Entwistle

Chris Fordham MSLL

Rebecca Hodge

Eliot Horsman MSLL

Stewart Langdown MSLL

Linda Salamoun MSLL

Bruce Weil

All contributions are the responsibility of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the society. All contributions are personal, except where attributed to an organisation represented by the author.

COPY DATE FOR NL 3 2019 IS 15 MARCH

PUBLISHED BY

The Society of Light and Lighting

222 Balham High Road

London SW12 9BS

www.sll.org.uk

ISSN 1461-524X

© 2019 THE SOCIETY OF LIGHT AND LIGHTING

The Society of Light and Lighting is part of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, 222 Balham High Road, London SW12 9BS. Charity registration no 278104

PRODUCED BY

FROM THE EDITOR

‘Give me a child until the age of seven and I will show you the man,’ as the quote, variously attributed to Aristotle and Ignatius Loyola, has it. Putting the sexist implications aside for the moment, we all know that the early years of childhood have enormous influence and significance. It is why it is so crucial that education should be rounded and balanced, running the gamut from art to zoology.

It has been recognised for some time that those formative years are crucial if people are to be educated about light and lighting, and certainly consider it as a career. There has been some solid progress through SLL intiatives such as the educational exercises that have run parallel with Night of Heritage Light. Individuals have also spread the word through the broader Stem programme. But as YLOTY 2018 Emma Beadle points out in the summary of her award-winning paper on co-designing with children (see p8), there is still much to be done. ‘To

keep the lighting industry and profession growing we need to inspire children at this young age and start to educate them about lighting earlier,’ she says. ‘These are not just children, they are the adults and the designers of tomorrow.’

The SLL Young Lighter competition turns 25 this year. GIven Aristotle/Loyola’s somewhat misogynistic pronouncement, it is gratifying to note that Emma won in an all-female final. Elsewhere in this issue we feature Pavlina Akritas (see p11), named in the Telegraph’s top 50 women in engineering. And look out for the launch of a women in lighting website this month.

JILL ENTWISTLE

JILLENTWISTLE @YAHOO.COM

CURRENT SLL LIGHTING GUIDES

SLL Lighting Guide 0: Introduction to Light and Lighting (2017)

SLL Lighting Guide 1: The Industrial Environment (2012)

SLL Lighting Guide 2: Hospitals and Health Care Buildings (2008)

SLL Lighting Guide 4: Sports (2006)

SLL Lighting Guide 5: Lighting for Education (2011)

SLL Lighting Guide 6: The Exterior Environment (2016)

SLL Lighting Guide 7: Office Lighting (2015)

SLL Lighting Guide 8: Lighting for Museums and Galleries (2015)

SLL Lighting Guide 9: Lighting for Communal Residential Buildings (2013)

SLL Lighting Guide 10: Daylighting – a guide for designers (2014)

SLL Lighting Guide 11: Surface Reflectance and Colour (2001)

SLL Lighting Guide 12: Emergency Lighting Design Guide (2015)

SLL Lighting Guide 13: Places of Worship (2014)

SLL Lighting Guide 14: Control of Electric Lighting (2016)

SLL Lighting Guide 15: Transport Buildings (2017)

SLL Lighting Guide 16: Lighting for Stairs (2017)

SLL Lighting Guide 17: Lighting for Retail Premises (2018)

SLL Lighting Guide 18: Lighting for Licensed Premises (2018)

Guide to Limiting Obtrusive Light (2012)

Code for Lighting (2011)

Commissioning Code L (2018)

SLL Lighting Handbook (2018)

The SLL Young Lighter 2019 competition is open for entries (see p6). It is now in its 25th year, and we have changed the entry format to open the competition to encourage everyone involved in any aspect of light and lighting to enter. This year’s entry deadline is 10 May.

The 2019 Jean Heap Bursary is also open for application. The bursary was launched in 2014, a tribute to the commitment to lighting research and education that Jean demonstrated both in her work with the society and throughout her career in the lighting industry. The judging panel is looking for a specific piece of lighting study or research designed for the benefit of both SLL members and the industry at large.

The call for applications is open to everyone with an interest in lighting. Applicants are asked to outline their proposed research project, including the specific topic to be studied, the methodology, the timescale and the clearly stated aims and objectives of the research. The successful proposal will also include an outline of why the applicant needs funding and how the funds will be used in carrying out their research. This year’s bursary has a value of up to £4000. The deadline for entry is 30 March.

In the coming months the LightBytes series will travel to the Engine Shed Bristol (28 March), the Royal Society Edinburgh (25 April) and the Royal Society London (9 May). This season’s LightBytes is supported by Fagerhult (Les Thomas), Thorlux (Richard Caple), Xicato (Roger Sexton) and Zumtobel (Graeme Shaw). The four topics to be discussed include: How to Specify a Luminaire, Retrofit and Upgrade, Emergency Lighting and The Internet of Things. The series has been developed with the CIBSE Facilities Management Group.

We are looking forward to this year’s Ready Steady Light with Rose Bruford College on 26 March. We hope to see many of you there to enjoy light, learn about lighting and, of course, compete for the trophies.

We trust that many of you submitted

entries to this year’s Lighting Design Awards. The awards will take place on 16 May (also the International Day of Light) at the Troxy in east London. Good luck to all our members who have entered this year and hope we will be able to congratulate you on the night.

The new Lighting Handbook has been well received and is being downloaded at a rapid rate by members, with many of them purchasing the hard copies to keep on their desks. If you would like to purchase a copy at 50 per cent member discount you can do this on the website by logging in, clicking ‘Publications’ and following through to the payment process.

We welcome Wila back to our Sustaining Membership programme. The programme is important to us, allowing the society to carry out and support events such as Ready Steady Light, the Jean Heap Bursary and the Young Lighter competition, and we are very grateful to all Sustaining Members for their contributions.

We hope you are busy renewing your 2019 SLL and CIBSE membership subscription. If you have any difficulty renewing, or any query regarding your membership and benefits, please do get in touch with us.

Finally, SLL Light Lines is hosted on issuu. If you wish to receive the link to view the magazine online just contact sll@ cibse.org and you will get a link every two months to download the magazine.

‘The 2019 Jean Heap Bursary is open for application. This year it has a value of up to £4000’

Contents

EDITORIAL

SECRETARY’S COLUMN

NEWS

Steve Fotios joins other academic peers in honouring Peter Boyce

A LIGHTING CHANCE

The SLL Young Lighter competition marks 25 years with a new name and entry format

SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

Emma Beadle, YLOTY 2018, outlines her winning paper on co-designing with schoolchildren

INSPIRED CHOICES

Juliet Rennie talks to Pavlina Akritas of Arup, one of the Telegraph’s top 50 women in engineering

SOLAR PATH

Martin Shardul and Debajit Palit report on the Lighting a Billion Lives anti-kerosene initiative in rural India

A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE

Iain Carlile looks at the latest LR&T papers examining people’s preferences

EVENTS TRIBUTE THAT SPEAKS VOLUMES

COVER: Jeroen Henneman’s Two Lamps at the Amsterdam Light Festival 2018-2019

Janus van den Eijnden

NEW ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING DESIGN DEGREE GOES LIVE

The new BA (Hons) Lighting Design for Architecture degree has now gone live on the Rose Bruford College website and applications are open through UCAS.

The new programme starts in September 2019 in partnership with the Lighting Education Trust (LET) ‘offering a unique pathway into studying lighting for architecture and environment at undergraduate level’, says Rose Bruford.

The BA (Hons) Lighting Design for Architecture course will involve close collaboration with industry and education partners from across Europe and beyond to offer students opportunities to have a period of study abroad. Current international educational partners for the programme are Jönköping University, Sweden, and HAWK (University of Applied Sciences and Arts) Hildesheim in Germany.

There will also be placement opportunities across the architectural lighting industries, alongside the college’s established training and professional links in the creative industries. The college was established in 1950 as the Rose Bruford Training College of Speech and Drama. The new degree sits alongside its theatre lighting design course, sharing some of its teaching and core practices while offering students specialist training, industry placements and project work in the built environment sector.

‘”Performance” now provides a vital and productive way to think about, make, and light architecture,’ says academic programme manager and lighting designer Hansjorg Schmidt.

• Rose Bruford College will be holding a Lighting Design Summer School from 22-26 July. The week-long course will provide students with an introduction to the design of lighting for stage, events and architecture.

www.bruford.ac.uk/courses/lighting-design-for-architecture-ba-hons/ www.bruford.ac.uk/courses/an-introduction-to-lighting-design/

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE...

Concrete is a Marmite material, viewed as brutalist by some and sublime by modernists. The recent practice of incorporating light has undoubtedly cheered it up, and now California-based designers Zhuoxin Fang and Qianqian Xu have producd the first prototype of their ‘conQrete light-city’ series.

An irregular concrete hexahedron, it features fibre optics illuminated by

LEDs running from the inside to one surface of the outside where they generate a light pattern with hundreds of subtle light spots. Sand from San Diego, coloured white, yellow and black, is added into the concrete mix. ‘We thought it is a good way to show respect to nature as well as to highlight the local environmental features through our design’, explain the two designers.

CANCER DRUG CENTRES ON CIRCADIAN SYSTEM

A new study regarding an experimental drug to fight cancer confirms the complexity and importance of the circadian system.

According to New Atlas, the study by scientists at the University of Southern California and Nagoya University reveals that a new drug can stop cancer cells from growing by disrupting their internal circadian clock.

While the body’s biological clock is primarily regulated by the brain, more specifically the pineal gland, recent research has suggested that many other cells also have their own independent circadian rhythms.

As there is evidence that disruptions in the body clock might increase a person’s risk of a variety of diseases, the theory was that circadian rhythms could be modulated to disrupt the growth of cancer.

‘In some cancers, the disease takes over the circadian clock mechanism and uses it for the evil purpose of helping itself grow,’ Steve Kay, one of the researchers on the new study, told New Atlas.

https://newatlas.com/cancercircadian-clock-experimentaldrug/58182/

TRIBUTE THAT SPEAKS VOLUMES

As Peter Boyce steps down as editor of LR&T, Steve Fotios joins other academic peers in marking his considerable contribution

In 2018 we published the 50th volume of Lighting Research and Technology, with issue one of Vol 50 appearing a year ago last January. For that issue the editorial board asked leading experts to write articles describing significant developments in key themes of lighting and lighting research over the past 50 years. The final issue of Vol 50, number eight, included an article marking another significant event in lighting research – the many contributions of Peter Boyce over the past five decades.

Peter joined the Illuminating Engineering Society (a forerunner of the SLL) in 1966 when he worked at the Electricity Council Research Centre in Capenhurst. In 1990 he moved to New York to join the Lighting Research Centre (LRC) where he developed the field of research concerning human factors in lighting. After returning to the UK in

2004, Peter soon rejoined the editorial board of LR&T, having been chairman before moving to the US, and in 2008 he became the editor.

For many years, each annual volume of LR&T comprised four issues and together they contained around 400 pages. That has increased during the past decade and the eight issues of each volume now contain more than 1000 pages. There is also a backlog of papers accepted and posted online while waiting to be printed. This shows that more researchers are choosing to publish their work in LR&T. A major factor in this enhanced status is worldwide recognition of Peter: he has a broad knowledge across the spectrum of lighting and is known to be fair when giving consideration to submitted work.

Two years ago, he announced his intention to stand down as editor at the end of 2018. We chose to use that to mark not only his

work as editor of LR&T but also his long and excellent contribution to lighting research. Two events were planned in secret.

First, several people from the research community, including myself, wrote a brief review of their favourite of Peter’s many papers and their experiences of working with him. Thanks to Kit Cuttle, Kevin Houser, Yvonne de Kort, David Loe, Naomi Miller, Mark Rea and Jennifer Veitch for doing this. Their reviews are published in Vol 50 Issue 8 and the articles they refer to will (for a short time) be available to download for free from the LR&T and Leukos websites. Thanks to Martin MacDonald and John Devereux at Sage Publishing for helping with this.

Second, we planned a surprise gathering at which to present the article to Peter. We met at Peter’s local pub, with members of the editorial board joined by some of Peter’s former colleagues – Mark Bertinat from Capenhurst and Mark Rea from the LRC. That they travelled such a long way shows the esteem in which Peter is held. One person who could not make it was Warren Julian from Sydney, Australia. Instead, he arranged for us to be entertained by flautist Phoebe Bognar, one of his neighbours, who by coincidence was attending a flute masterclass just a few miles away.

Peter will be missed in the lighting research community. But there is some good news –he has agreed to continue working as editor of LR&T until the end of 2019, giving time for the new associate editors to settle in and take over the submission process. To find out more about Peter’s career, read his interview with Kynthia Chamilothori on BrightLights.

• www.cibse.org/society-of-light-and-lighting-sll/ lighting-publications/lighting,-research-andtechnology-(lr-t)

• http://brightlights-research.blogspot.com

A LIGHTING CHANCE

The SLL Young Lighter competition celebrates 25 years with a new name and improved entry format

With a change of name and with new entry criteria, the SLL Young Lighter competition celebrates its 25th year in 2019.

One of the great strengths of the award is that it is wide open to anyone under 30 with an interest in light and lighting. The theme of presentations can encompass lighting and product design, architecture, landscape, interiors, engineering, research, art, or any topic in light and lighting.

The modifications to the entry criteria have been introduced to underline that message and make it easier for people to enter, says SLL secretary Brendan Keely. ‘The entry format has been changed to make it more approachable and to encourage more participants from a wider field,’ he says.

In the first round, participants will be asked to describe their paper in six Powerpoint slides, which could include video, images with annotation, sound or whatever they feel best represents their idea. The second round will then be an extension of the first, including face to camera. ‘It’s all about you putting forward your ideas or case study,’ says Keely.

Following the final presentations at LuxLive in November, a winner will be selected, receiving a cash prize of £1000 and the title SLL Young Lighter 2019.

As numerous previous winners over the past quarter century have testified, the competition is an invaluable exercise for both career and professional development. It is a golden opportunity for young lighters to make a name for themselves.

‘Over the years we have seen some incredible projects and notable winners, cementing this competition as an invaluable stepping stone for lighting professionals at the early stages of their career,’ says Keely.

The competition is now open for applicants. More details are on the website: www.cibse.org/society-oflight-and-lighting-sll/sll-young-lighter-2019

p The SLL Young Lighter competition is open to anyone under 30 with an interest in any aspect of light and lighting

‘Taking part in YLOTY brought me confidence, which certainly helped me as my career moved forward’

– Jeff Shaw, past SLL president

Entry Stage One

What you need:

• 6 introductory Powerpoint slides outlining your entry

• These can include images, illustrations, animations, text and so on

What you should consider when creating your slides

• Title for your entry

• Why is it relevant?

• What will it involve?

Entry Stage Two:

If your Stage One entry is shortlisted you will be asked to expand on your initial ideas with a

three-to-five-minute piece to camera. This can be in whichever format you feel illustrates your entry best

Suggested formats:

• Expand on your initial slides (with a maximum of 25 slides in total)

• Write a written paper (not exceeding 3000 words)

• The SLL is open to discussing alternative formats, should your entry be submitted

Stage Three:

Finalists will be selected and invited to deliver a 15-minute presentation in front of an audience at Europe’s biggest annual lighting event, LuxLive, in November

PREVIOUS WINNERS AND FINALISTS

p Arfon Davies

p Despina Tselegkaridou

p Lorraine Calcott

p Sabine De Schutter

p Stephen Cannon-Brookes

p Steve Fotios

p Vasiliki Malakasi

p Maida Hot

p Rachael Nicholls

p Ruth Kelly Waskett

p Gerardo Olvera

p Jeff Shaw

p Kerem Asfuroglu

p Christopher Knowlton p David Robertson

SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

Emma Beadle, YLOTY 2018, outlines her winning paper, which looked at the mutual benefits of co-designing lighting masterplans with children

Light is important. It plays a crucial role in everyday life with the potential to transform a city, as well as inspire and improve the wellbeing of its citizens. Yet the field of lighting design is unheard of within schools and not well known in the adult world. To boost future interest in lighting design, the SLL has encouraged lighting professionals to work with schools and teach young children about the basics of light and design thinking.

One way of approaching this is through co-design. The benefits of children’s participation in lighting projects are twofold: it introduces lighting to a young audience while enabling the lighting designer to experience the new, innovative ideas allowed by children’s uninhibited imaginations.

The aims of this project, therefore, were to raise awareness about lighting design among children, to highlight the importance of co-designing with them and to provide a template for other designers. Furthermore, the project aimed to gain an understanding of which children’s co-design methods worked best, and to develop lighting games that could help children understand lighting, while also having fun.

The project was based on working with children to redesign urban third spaces in the west of Edinburgh, using the topic of utopia. Subsequently, the information gained from these ‘utopian’ workshops helped to create the summer lighting club where children aged between five and 12 years old became my design partners. Together we created the Children’s Tool-Kit of Light, which can now be used by other children to play and understand more about the complex subject of light.

The idea of children’s co-design originates from 1943, but it was not until the 1990s that their participation in co-design projects became more valued, when the concept that children can see the world differently, and often have a wider and richer imagination than adults, became appreciated. Since then they have become more and more involved in co-design projects leading to the adaption of adult co-design methods. Current children’s co-design methods include ethnography, observation, interviews and workshops. These approaches have been employed by several co-designers, for example, computer scientist Allison Druin (University of Maryland), Veronica Lambert (lecturer in Children’s and General Nursing, Dublin City University), Emilie Saure Hagen (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), and others.

I also interviewed four lighting professionals with links to lighting education: Alison Ritter (head of educational concepts and programmes at VIA-Verlag), Malcolm Innes (senior lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University), Kevan Shaw, MSLL (design director of KSLD) and Jeff Shaw, FSLL (associate director of Arup and SLL past president). The aim of the interviews was to understand university-level lighting teaching methods, which I then adapted and combined with children’s co-design methods to create the workshops.

The aim of the workshops and design club was to actualise the children’s utopian visions through the medium of light. The first workshop was used to understand the children’s ideas of utopia, and the second for the children to realise those visions

q Experimenting with torches and stencils CHILDREN & LIGHTING

q The glowsticks game introduced the idea of light as art p University-level lighting teaching methods were adapted and combined with children’s co-design methods in a triangulated approach

using light. The children were introduced to the project and given explanations of key terms: third spaces, utopia and urban. Utopia was described to the children as a favourite place or somewhere they would want to spend a lot of time.

The first workshop involved the children expressing their visions of utopian spaces through drawings and modelling with plasticine, allowing them to realise their ideas both on paper and in 3D form. Some children needed a little help, but most enjoyed the activity and created many diverse images and models. These drawings and models were used to create the utopian stencils for the second workshop. Light was then used to project the children’s visions (see above left). They experimented with different stencils, using them to create stories and making the stencils interact with each

other. Coloured filters were then added to further represent their ideas. This activity illustrated to the children how light can be shaped, and that light can be fun.

The workshops identified which children’s co-design methods worked best, and this led to the creation of lighting games. The aim of each game was to engage and motivate the children in a playful way while also allowing the flexibility for ideas for changes that were suggested by the children.

The lighting games workshops were undertaken by two Brownie groups and the lighting club. The objective was to identify which games were most enjoyable and effective in introducing light to children, with the intention of adding the games to the Children’s Tool-Kit of Light.

Each game was designed to introduce the children to a different aspect of light. The

‘Where’s the light?’ game was inspired by the popular children’s game, Where’s Wally? This got the children to study well-known paintings and to think about where the light was and where the light was coming from. Most games were highly successful, especially the handson ones. The glowsticks game (opposite) added a little bit of competitive spirit to the workshop as the children were split into groups to create a light sculpture with the glowsticks, introducing the idea of light being used to create art. The material box game introduced the children to light manipulation with cut-outs and showed how light reacts differently with certain materials. This activity illustrated how some games needed to be adapted to make them more accessible – in this case the box sides could have been cut before the workshop to allow younger children more time to experiment. The stencil game was also well received (top far left and above left), particularly when the coloured filters were added. This game came from the utopian workshops, reusing the children’s stencils to point up how light can be shaped and used to create stories.

‘To keep the lighting industry growing we need to inspire children at this young age’

Other games introduced novel materials and involved experimenting with bubbles, blocks and light in different ways (see above).

t Skills learnt in lighting workshops

q The blocks and bubbles game generated innovative ideas, such as filling the translucent block with water to discover the effect

q Children created different stencils

This generated some innovative ideas – for instance, one girl suggested putting water in the translucent block to see how the light reacted differently with the addition of a new material. The next game, which involved the children drawing a picture of light, aimed to reveal that every child actually knew something about light and highlighted how diverse their opinions of it were.

Feedback forms were created to identify what the children considered to be the best games and what they had learnt about light. These revealed that the children chose the glowsticks sculptures as their favourite game, and the coloured filters, CD and mirror card as their favourite materials. The forms also showed that they understood how light can be used in a playful manner and in different ways, and demonstrated that the workshops created a fun and engaging environment for them to learn in.

The Children’s Tool-Kit of Light (see below) was developed in the second workshop of the lighting club. The kit was designed by the six children of the lighting club (see above) and myself, four of those children being involved in the full process, beginning with the utopian workshops. After testing all the lighting games, each child created and designed their own tool-kit, deciding which games they wished to include, based on which would best teach other children about light in a fun way.

To effectively co-design with children it is clearly essential to understand which methods work best. Workshops appear to be the most successful method identified,

as they incorporate several methods and create an environment for development and exploration. Working with the children as design partners gave them control over what they learnt and generated more confidence around their design opinions. My research also highlighted that education on lighting is important for children, as they not only learnt about some of the basics of light but also developed valuable social and mobile skills, along with critical design thinking and problem solving (see graphic p9). It revealed that for children to learn successfully about lighting a playful kinaesthetic manner needs to be employed.

The Children’s Tool-Kit of Light demonstrates the results of a design-partner relationship within a children’s co-design

t The Children’s Tool-Kit of Light which resulted from the project and which can now be used by other lighting designers

project. It can now be used by other designers to help better understand and visualise the ideas of children, or used solely to introduce some of the basic principles of light to them, thus allowing them to develop skills involved in lighting design. The future of co-design with this age group, primarily within lighting, is uncertain, as there are only a limited number of lighting projects at present that involve working with children. However, with the continuation of lighting clubs and further workshops in schools the profile of lighting design may be increased.

The project highlights the importance of children in lighting design and their ability to produce unique ideas. Co-designing with children can bring a new, fun and different perspective to a project, one that adults may not be able to imagine. It also introduces the concept of lighting to children, which will allow them as the adults of tomorrow to know what lighting design is and understand the role of a lighting designer.

To keep the lighting industry and profession growing, we need to inspire children at this young age and start to educate them about lighting earlier. This project demonstrates how light can inspire future generations to reimagine the city. These are not just children, they are the adults and the designers of tomorrow – so why not work with the adults of tomorrow to educate us today?

As well as winning the YLOTY award, Emma Beadle’s presentation, Children’s Utopian Visions of the City: co-designing lighting masterplans through play and exploration, was also awarded Best-Written Paper. Beadle is currently a lighting engineer at WSP

q The lighting club design partners

q The Broad contemporary art museum, Los Angeles: Arup’s strategy for drawing in natural light while protecting the art was central to Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s design. Hufton+Crow

INSPIRED CHOICES

Juliet Rennie talks to Pavlina Akritas about the decision to become a lighting designer and her achievements so far

Recognised in the Telegraph’s top 50 Women in Engineering in 2017, Pavlina Akritas is an associate lighting designer for Arup. She joined the SLL and CIBSE as an affiliate in 2011, upgrading to member (MCIBSE and MSLL) the following year. She also became a chartered engineer (CEng) in 2012. She was chosen to feature in the Royal Academy of Engineering campaign, This is Engineering, a Stem initiative aimed at attracting 13-18 year olds to a career in engineering.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME A LIGHTING DESIGNER AND WHAT PATH DID YOU TAKE TO ACHIEVE THIS?

Light has always been a very important part of my life. I was born and brought up in Cyprus, a country bathed in sunlight. This gave me the opportunity to observe the many ways that light can affect our mood, senses and way of life.

I received my bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2006 and found myself at a crossroads. I had to decide whether to continue with my electrical engineering studies or specialise in something more experiential, something that had a direct relationship with the way people observe and feel a space. My fascination with the way people react to light fuelled my desire to pursue a graduate degree in lighting consultancy. For me, it was an

exciting area to study, a unique combination of science and art.

I completed my master’s degree in Light and Lighting at University College London in 2007, and since then I have been working at Arup’s London office as a lighting designer.

WHAT IS THE MOST ENJOYABLE ASPECT OF YOUR JOB?

There a number of things I enjoy in the work that I do at Arup.

I like the variety of the projects in which I become involved. Every project is different; it is vital to understand the client’s aspirations and give their interest the highest priority. What drives me is delivering imaginative solutions with quality outcomes that exceed the clients’ expectations.

I also enjoy educating students about the value of Stem subjects and the variety of disciplines for which these subjects can be used. Over the past two years I have led more than six masterclasses organised by the Royal Institution where I inspired secondary school children by showing them real-life applications of Stem subjects, hopefully encouraging them to further their study after GCSE.

I am actively involved with several Royal Academy of Engineering initiatives; for example, I was one of the protagonists for Series 1 of the This Is Engineering* campaign which seeks to rebrand engineering for people aged 13-18.

WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT TO DATE?

I think developing a system for the Gagosian Gallery in London’s Mayfair to reproduce the exterior lighting conditions, simulating a naturally daylit space in the interior.

The client had a strong desire for daylight to feature in the space, but due to site constraints, it was not possible to integrate skylights into the galleries. After conducting extensive research to understand how daylight changes both in colour and illumination level with the weather and seasons, I developed an electric lighting solution which is used to present artworks under realistic real-time conditions.

High-quality LED strips of different colour

q The Gagosian Gallery in Mayfair, London, for which Akritis developed a system that replicated external lighting conditions

temperatures are used to backlight a series of glazed laylights. An external light sensor on the roof of the building records the brightness and colour temperature, and transmits the measurements to the control system. Based on the data, a computer calculates the mix of colour and dimming levels required and the LEDs then simulate the external lighting within the gallery.

Seeing my original concept work so well in practice was one of the most fulfilling moments of my career. The client has been hugely appreciative of the result.

WHAT ONE PIECE OF ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE THINKING OF EMBARKING ON A CAREER IN LIGHTING?

Be passionate about what you do; this will help you remain driven in doing things as best as you can, and better than have ever been done before.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO BECOME A MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF LIGHT AND LIGHTING?

‘Being a young lighting consultant, sometimes you can fall into the habit of focusing on computational analysis alone’

I was encouraged to achieve a professional qualification early in my career. Achieving this is a valuable asset as it demonstrates that, through experience, I have gained the knowledge, understanding and competence within the field of building services that meets UK and international standards of practice.

WHY DID YOU WANT TO BECOME MCIBSE CENG?

I wanted to take this step as this professional institution recognises a wider field of building services engineering.

My registration with CIBSE acted as an indicator of professional standing. This gave Arup confidence in my knowledge and expertise, and showed I could take a wider responsibility in projects and within our team.

Being professionally registered is also important for Arup as it helps demonstrate the professional capability of the firm. Many of our clients differentiate competence from the professional standing of our key people.

HOW WAS THE APPLICATION PROCESS FOR CENG, AND WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHERS CONSIDERING APPLYING?

I found the process useful as it made me focus on the critical core competences that I had achieved up to that date and identified the areas in which I still needed to develop further.

Being a young lighting consultant, sometimes you can fall into the habit of focusing on computational analysis alone. The application process can act as a guide, reminding you that to become a leader

you need to develop your commercial and interpersonal skills as well.

I would advise others considering this grade to keep a record of the work they have done. This will make the application process simpler and illustrate which competences they still need to develop.

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP?

Prior to becoming chartered, one of the main benefits of a membership is that detailed guidance and support is provided for individuals to achieve professional qualification.

Post chartership, a membership can provide structure for personal training and development, and a network that allows you to learn from a wide range of other people across the profession. CIBSE also gives access to publications that offer comprehensive technical guidance.

WHAT IS THE MOST REWARDING ASPECT OF LIGHTING DESIGN?

It is one of the most vital means of affecting and stimulating humans, whether at work, rest or play. It changes moods and enables activities. It is a way to change how a space feels. It can link cultural, economic, social and political aspects of our global society. Architects are now looking to light as much more than a commodity in how they design, and so increasingly value knowledgeable advice on how to achieve different lighting effects.

*www.thisisengineering.org.uk/

q Renzo Piano exhibition at the RA’s new gallery spaces: the glazing allows uniform daylight while lighting exhibits from recommended angles

David Parry/Royal Academy of Arts

Joseph Asghar

SOLAR PATH

The Lighting a Billion Lives initiative has made huge inroads in helping to switch rural Indian households from kerosene to solar LED luminaires.

Martin Shardul and Debajit Palit report

q The net CO2 emission from a single kerosene wick lamp is 0.728 gram/lm-hour

India has experienced rapid development and urbanisation since the liberalisation and globalisation of the 1990s and the dot com boom of the early 2000s. However, living in the shadows of India’s development, more than 500m people in the country remained deprived of an electricity network.

A majority of this population lived in rural areas and used traditional kerosene wick lamps for basic lighting. Consequently, they were directly exposed to household air pollution resulting from burning kerosene. According to estimates from an article published in the journal Energy for Sustainable Development (entitled Evaluation of various energy devices for domestic lighting in India: technology, economics and CO2 emissions), the net CO2 emission from a single kerosene wick lamp is 0.728 gram/lm-hour, which aggravates the challenge of climate change.

Realising these challenges, and as an early proponent of access to clean lighting for all, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) took up the mission of translating these challenges into opportunities for the energypoor. A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step and TERI took its first step in this direction in 2007 by committing to facilitate sustainable development of communities and enable a million people in India’s rural areas to meet their lighting needs from solar technologies. This was during the Annual Assembly of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). Later, in 2008, TERI launched its flagship initiative, Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL), with the aim of addressing energy access challenges of the world’s energy-poor through solar technology.

q

In the early years of LaBL, TERI worked with technology manufacturers, grassroots institutions, communities, and government agencies to design a village entrepreneurshipbased model that could trigger the shift of households and villages from kerosene wick lamps to solar lighting products. At this time, TERI’s technical team worked closely with the very few solar product manufacturers available at the time for the introduction of LED lamp-based solar products, and product features such as battery indicators and dimming options.

Later, the introduction of the LaBL sticker on solar LED-based lighting products approved by TERI’s lighting laboratory in New Delhi worked as a quality marker and made it easier for rural consumers to distinguish between good quality products and the locally available imitations. Throughout, the technical team made conscious efforts for improvements in products and procedures to ensure enhanced service delivery, low installation costs and high-efficiency products. It also looked to improve the quality of illumination through integrated system optimisations based on the accurate selection of low-power-consuming LEDs and efficient luminaire designs.

Going forward, between 2012 and 2015, with support from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the LaBL initiative initially nurtured a pool of villagelevel entrepreneurs who owned and operated LED-based solar facilities and provided lighting-as-a-service to households and rural enterprises, focused on market creation approaches for provisioning energy access

The LaBL initiative nurtured villagelevel entrepreneurs who owned and operated LED-based solar facilities

such as the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (BRLPS), DFID and Power Finance Corporation (PFC), the LaBL team has provisioned access to solar lighting to more than 50,000 self-employed women who are engaged with the BRLPS/ Jeevika Trust.

in rural India.

As part of the DFID-TERI partnership, LaBL facilitated the institutionalisation of energy enterprises (EEs) that undertook retail sales of solar lighting products and provided after-sales service to last-mile rural consumers. These EEs began their operations with business opportunities already in their kitty. For example, they were connected to manufacturers which were already empanelled with LaBL. They were also delegated the responsibility of providing after-sales service to LaBL’s existing solar facilities in their respective territories.

‘Since its inception, the initiative has benefited more than five million lives’

This approach not only favoured the consumers, who could now purchase a quality solar product from a nearby shop, it also benefited the manufacturers and statelevel stockists of solar LED-based lighting products by emerging as their local point of contact. With relevant capacity building and handholding, slowly the installation of solarbased LED street lights and solar micro-grids in remote areas and difficult terrains of the country began to be undertaken.

Access to consumer finance and enterprise finance are two important ingredients for fostering the uptake of solar LED products in rural areas of the country. Hence, over the years, the LaBL has partnered with a range of micro-finance institutions and Regional Rural Banks, and facilitated the introduction/scaleup of clean energy solutions into their lending portfolios through the roll-out of customised financial instruments.

In Bihar, with support from organisations

Very recently, India declared all census villages electrified and is now undertaking its ambitious time-bound Saubhagya scheme for providing electricity connections to all households in the country. Unlike kerosene wick lamps, solar LEDbased lighting products will not lose relevance even after the commissioning of the grid network as they can be used as a back-up solution, and the mobility of standalone LED lighting products is certainly an attraction for those living in villages. Over the years, access to clean solar LED lighting has outpaced expectations by augmenting livelihood opportunities, accelerating green entrepreneurship opportunities for men and women, including the youth. Most important, it has improved the quality of life of households that were previously left in the dark. Since its inception, the initiative has benefited more than five million lives and surpassed the goals that were set at the Annual Assembly of the CGI back in 2007. Today, LaBL has its footprint in more than 20 states in India and over 13 countries globally.

Well ahead of urban India, the country’s rural population had endorsed LED-based lighting products as an important element of their living space, kitchens, common areas and bedrooms. Initiatives such as the LaBL share the credit of boosting consumer confidence in solar LED lighting products. Going forward, LED-based lighting products will play a vital role in containing the rise in electricity demand that results from massive use of energy inefficient incandescent lamps.

This is a modified version of an article by the authors first published in the inaugural issue of IllumiNation The Lighting Magazine and subsequently published in the TERI newsletter. Debajit Palit is director of Rural Energy and Livelihoods at TERI and Martin Shardul is an associate fellow

A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE

Iain Carlile looks at the latest online papers examining people’s preferences

Focusing on user preference in interior lighting, Khanh et al present two papers: the first presents a model for user preference and sets out an experimental method, while the second presents the results from the authors’ experiments.

In conjunction with considering differing influencing factors on a person in the space – including objective factors (time of day/ year, weather, location, spatial distribution of light, dynamic lighting, and so on), subjective factors (age, gender, culture, and so on) and their effects (visual performance, subjective and emotional assessment, wellbeing, alertness, and so on) – the authors also investigated the concept of intelligent luminaires with integrated microcontrollers, sensors and communication systems. This was for the purpose of developing a comprehensive user preference model of intelligent luminaires.

A series of experiments was conducted in which subjects viewed the lighting of different table tops with a white tablecloth and different coloured objects. The participants assessed their visual impressions of brightness, visual clarity (VC), colour preference (CP) and scene preference (SP). During the experiments the horizontal illuminance, correlated colour temperature (CCT) and light source chroma enhancement were systematically changed.

From the results of the experiments the authors found that to achieve what were assessed as ‘good’ levels of VC, CP and SP attributes, illuminance levels of between 1100 and 1800 lux were required, depending on the particular attribute and CCT, and that illuminance levels such as 500 lux typically related to ‘moderate’, or ‘moderate-good’ for the SP attribute.

The authors note that the experiment was conducted in an office-style environment, without spatial variance of luminance distribution. In addition other factors such as absence of daylight, weather, geographical

location, age, motivation, state of health, and so on, were not considered. However the results suggest that higher luminance ranges than are typical in current lighting practice are preferred, although note that further visual experiments are required to validate the experiment findings.

Also considering user preference, Huang et al’s paper presents a study of two psychophysical experiments on colour preference and colour discrimination, with specific reference to the presentation of blue jean trousers. Different CCT LEDs were used in the experiments, ranging from 2500K to 6500K, with colour rendering index (CRI) values between 79 and 91. A preference rating experiment looked at the colour preference of blue jeans, while an FM-100 Hue Test was conducted to optimise colour discrimination capability for the blue region of colour space.

From the results of the experiment the authors found that a CCT of 5500K made the jeans look more attractive in terms of colour, while also allowing consumers to discriminate best between the colours. It was also found that female participants in the study had a greater sensitivity in discriminating hues and were more critical when judging the colour of jeans. The authors do note that the study only

considered blue-coloured objects, and that the study participants were exclusively Chinese, and therefore recommendations cannot be made without further validation due to regional and cultural differences found in colour preference scales.

Looking at lighting-quality metrics for interior lighting, Bodrogi, Vinh and Khanh investigated metrics of brightness, colour quality and melanopic effect.

From the study it was found that there was a strong correlation between metrics for brightness and melanopic effect, but not with colour quality metrics. The authors describe the use of a potential two-dimensional diagram, which could be used to decide if a lighting system fulfils the basic requirement of general user experience. Proposals for future expansion of the two-dimensional diagram are also discussed with the intent of creating a comprehensive tool, in order to assist the design, optimisation and evaluation of modern lighting systems.

The authors note that the aim is to create a system to ensure basic lighting quality and general user acceptance, acknowledging that such a tool is not intended as a substitute for artistic architectural lighting design.

Iain Carlile, MSLL, is an associate of dpa lighting and current president of the SLL

p A common set-up to scale brightness and visual clarity (left) and scene preference (right): Towards a User Preference Model for Interior Lighting

Events

2019

4 MARCH

CIBSE training: Lighting – Legislation and Energy Efficiency

Lecturer: Liz Peck

Venue: CIBSE, Balham, SW12 training@cibse.org

25 MARCH

Junior Ready Steady Light

Venue: Rose Bruford College

Sidcup, Kent www.sll.org.uk

26 MARCH

Ready Steady Light

Venue: Rose Bruford College

Sidcup, Kent www.sll.org.uk

27 MARCH

How to be Brilliant (ILP)

Speaker: Luke Edwards, Cue Design

Venue: Body & Soul, London EC1 www.theilp.org.uk/brilliant

28 MARCH

SLL Lighting Knowledge Series: LightBytes

Venue: The Engine Shed, Bristol sll@cibse.org

9-14 APRIL

Euroluce

Venue: Fiero Milano, Milan www.salonemilano.it

25 APRIL

SLL Lighting Knowledge Series: LightBytes

Venue: The Royal Society of Edinburgh sll@cibse.org

26-26 APRIL

CIBSE Technical Symposium 2019

Transforming Built Environments: Driving change with engineering

Venue: University of Sheffield cibse.org/symposium

9 MAY

SLL Lighting Knowledge Series: LightBytes

Venue: The Royal Society, London sll@cibse.org

16 MAY

Lighting Design Awards

Venue: London Hilton Park Lane awards.lighting.co.uk

19-23 MAY

Lightfair International Tradeshow and Conference

(sponsored by the IALD and IES)

Venue: Pennsylvania Convention Center www.lightfair.com

12-13 JUNE

Professional Lighting Summit (Organised by the ILP)

Venue: Life Science Centre, Newcastle jess@theilp.org.uk

5 JULY

CIBSE training: Lighting Design –Principles and Application

Lecturer: Liz Peck

Venue: CIBSE, Balham, SW12 training@cibse.org

23-26 OCTOBER

Professional Lighting Design Convention (PLD-C)

Venue: Rotterdam Ahoy! 2019.pld-c.com

LightBytes

The LightBytes Series is kindly sponsored by Fagerhult, Thorlux Lighting, Xicato and Zumtobel. For venues and booking details: www.sll.org.uk

LET Diploma: advanced qualification by distance learning. Details from www.lightingeducationtrust.org or email LET@cibse.org

CIBSE Training: various courses across the whole spectrum of lighting and at sites across the UK. Full details at cibse.org/training-events/cibse-training

26 MARCH: READY STEADY LIGHT, ROSE BRUFORD COLLEGE