the digital turn : new technology applied to lighting in...

The digital Turn :

New technology applied to lighting in urban environment

A framework exploration to make sense

Aalborg University - Copenhagen

Faculty of Engineering and Science

Department of Architecture, Design and Media technology

MSc in Lighting Design and New technology

9th Semester - Internship report

Supervisor

Mette Hvass

Student

Laurence Bourghol

20th December 2017

Laurence BourgholAalboorg University / Master in Lighting Design and New media / LID9 3

TABLE OF CONTENT

INTRODUCTION 3VISION 5RESEARCH QUESTION 5CRITERIA - HYPOTHESIS 5

PART 1 : DIGITAL LIGHT, TECHNOLOGY AND SPATIALE APPLICATION 6

A: Digital light and Smart technology 61 / Lighting technology: the new digital state of light 62 / Miniaturization : Integration into architecture 73 / Adaptability via programmation 84 / Performativity through Light and ubiquitous computation 9

B: The Media Age : Space and Light 111 / Architecture : Light as Formgiver to Media Architecture / Smart material 112 / Light from visual-perceptual tool to time base and relational mediator 13

PART 2 : LIGHT AND THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE IN THE DIGITAL SHIFT 17

A: Embodiement through vision and spatial perception in darkness 171 / Visual space in dark environment 172 / Perceptual space : the phenomenological approach 18

B: Production of space in the digital Age 191 / Space to Place: spatial theory 192 / Event Space : designing place through exeprience 203 / Temporal space : designing with the times of the night 214 / Dynamic space : designing with data 26 PART 3: REFLECTION ON DESIGN PRACTICE 28

A: Lighting Design, an interdisciplinary roots 28B: Lighting Design at the Architecture edges 28C: Lighting Design towards new fields of practice 30

CONCLUSION 31


INTRODUCTION

Deeply attached to the built environment, the light has always been an essential element involved in the definition of the space as a sensible experience. On an individual or collective level, light plays with our senses and shape the connection to our surrounding, a quality as important than making our environment visible.

In his book ‘American technology sublime’ (1994), David E.Nye has described how the apparition of electrical lighting, in transforming the nocturnal city scape, opened to new experiences of perception and possibilities to live at night. He examined how technology, with electricity seeping into the everyday life, had impacted our life, and demonstrated the social impact and meaning of technology. As Sylvain Bertain resumes in his paper about ‘Light as a Medium’ : ‘Electric lighting initiates a new relation with the urban psychogeography and a mutation of architecture’s traditional function. (Bertin, 2015, p.2).

If electricity marked a change of society, we are nowadays facing a new technological change with computation and digitalisation sipping into many aspects of our life . For architecture and urbanisme, standing out as dynamic and open environments, the raise of pervasive computational technologies, are transforming our spatial experience into the new realm of ‘Media space’. Time and space are extending in a “performative” way, raising new concerns about the relationship of human beings with their environment.

The last evolution of the lighting industry follows this direction too. Its digitisation allowed the minia-turisation of light and its connection to sensors and network based technologies in place in the city. This new configuration is reshaping, not only the way to design with light, but also the way to experience it. From the ‘Formgiver’, of pioneers like William Lam, to the nowadays Media Sphere, light stands today at a cross-section point, merging spatial, social, technological and media concerns. If the social and perceptual impact of electrical light on our urban experiences has been studied from many angles, way more less can be found about the new digital state of light, when ones want to learn beyond its purely technical or aesthetic aspect.

From a design perspective, technology per se is not enough. Despite the raise of interest and use, dig-ital light and computation technology in architecture and urban context are lacking of a theoretical ground to understand their impact on our environment and behaviours. To investigate in this way, the digital shift of light needs to be contextualised and explored beyond the technical aspect. If we aim to be responsible when designing, digital light cannot be understood without considering the computational evolution of architecture and urban environment, as well as the social meaning and impact on human and their envi-ronment.

The first part of this paper will present an overview of the new lighting technology, under the LEDs form, and the potentials embedded in this technology for its application in architectural and urban context.

Drawing on this overview, the second part will focus on the conceptual implication of this shift and out-line the human consequences in term of perception and production of space. Bearing in mind the notion


of individual or collective spatial experience, this part will introduce the human mechanism of vision and perception in a dark environment and the different implication of the digital age in the production of space.

Finally, considering light from theses new perspectives, will be the occasion to reflect on new trajecto-ries and perimeters for a professional practice. Born from many disciplines, the new influence of interactive design and computation are opening up on a new and additional breeding ground that can inspire a lighting approach, defined as an independent, but extra-connected, Design discipline.

This paper is an exploration related to the question raised by the light merging with the new possibilities of technologies. The topic in itself is a huge territory for research. The aim of this paper is more about set-ting up an initial frame of theoretical references and revealing areas for further investigation, rather than stating on any results yet. While pursuing my Internship in the Architectural Lighting Design firm 8’18” Lum-iere in Paris, this has been the occasion to gain insight, reflect and position myself in the field in mutation, I am entering as a new professional.


VISION

What if light could fully merge with the digital possibilities beyond technology per se and transform our perception and experience of the urban space in a more engaging way ?

RESEARCH QUESTION

The new technology of light coupled with pervasive computation are seeping into architecture and the urban space, profoundly changing the environment we are living in, as well as our spatial and perceptive reality. Influenced by this technological shift, our relationship to the urban space through the meditaion of light is moving, without relevant or specific framework of references to guide the design practice.

From the angle of this technological change, how can the exploration of a theroritical ground, coming from other fields of research, help to understand this transformation beyond the thechnical and guide to-wards a design practice focusing on sensorial, social and spatial engagement with the urban environment?

CRITERIA - HYPOTHESIS

1 : TECHNICALHypothesis 1 > An understanding of the thechnical aspect of digital lighting coupled with emergent

sensor and network based technologies, could help to identify potential for new spatial practice linked to lighting design in urban environment.

2 : HUMAN PERCETION AND SPATIAL ENGAGEMENTHypothesis 2 > An exploration of visual, perceptual and spatial theories could define a framework in

which the potential from the technological shift of light could find a ground for a meaningful design practice.

3 : DESIGN PRACTICEHypothesis 3 > The technological shift of light, opening to new way of interaction with space and time,

the design practice could gain to look at other disciplines, more traditionally linked to computation.


PART 1 : DIGITAL LIGHT, TECHNOLOGY AND SPATIALE APPLICATION

A: Digital light and Smart technology

1 / Lighting technology: the new digital state of light

Since the its discovery in the 60’s and introduction of the white LED for commercial use from the 90’s, LED technology has rapidly gained ground in the lighting industry, taking on the place on more traditional lighting technologies developed over the previous 100 years, like incandescent, fluorescent, and high-in-tensity discharge lamps. A brief history and technological background will help to understand the nature and potential of this new type of light technology.

Introduced in 1962 by Nick Holonyak, engineer at General Electric, as a practical electronic compo-nent, the early LED versions was emitting a low-intensity red light. This low-powered LEDs started to be used as light indicator on circuit boards. From the late 60’s to the mid-70’s, they were mainly used on electronics displays, like calculators or electronic swatches. Green and blue LED’s were also developed in parallel, but the first technological breakthrough occurred in the mid-90’s, when a high-intensity and blue LED coated with phosphor gave birth to the first high-intensity white light. The layer of phosphor fixing the colour distribution, the process to achieve a white tone became relatively simple, eliminating the need of electronic controls to balance the output of red, green and blue LEDs. This type of high-intensity white LED open a whole range of new applications and made it possible to compete with the other traditional light technologies in place.

Light Emitted Diode (LED) is a semi-conductor device that emits light. When a diode is switched on, en-ergy is released in the form of photons. This effect is called electroluminescence. When these photons are released, they have similar energy, hence the emitted light within the a narrow bandwidth, that gives the LEDs their monochromatic characteristic. The wavelength (colour) of the light is achieved by varying the type of material used as the semiconductor. The LED chips are very small in size, usually turning around 5 x 5 mm. When used on a luminaire (vs.light strip), they are integrated in a component, that comprises optical elements used to shape the radiation of light.

Figures 1Schematic view of white LED

Lens

Phosphor

Substrate


Many efforts have been made by manufacturers to produce LED with higher efficiency and flux, better colour rendering, and at lower cost, so they could compete with traditional incandescent and fluorescent lights. One of the most commonly cited advantage over other light technologies, that lead LEDs to replace them, is their low energy consumption and longer lifetime. However, the potential embedded with LED technology goes far beyond energy saving, and as Addington and Schodek question in their study about Smart materials and technology, ‘rather than trying to make this new technology behave the same way as the existing, can we not begin to explore how it might be different? ‘(Addington and Schodek, 2005, p.191).In her PhD thesis about digital lighting, Susanne Seitinger identifies three mains exploration axis, directly linked to this new state of light: integration into architecture, adaptability via programmability, interactivity via network and sensor based technologies (Seitinger, 2010). We will review these points to get a better understanding of the opportunities offers by this change of technologie.

2/ Miniaturization : Integration into architecture

Traditionally light is designed ‘with respect to the delivery of light to designated surfaces.’(Addington and Schodek, 2005, p.192). The compactness and long lifespan of LEDs allow them to be directly inte-grated into the buildings, taking place in parts that would not have been possible with other light sources, because of their size or maintenance concern. With the miniaturisation of LEDs, Susane Seitinger states :

‘[...] one of the most liberating aspect of lighting design today is the greater ease with which light can now be embedded or attached to the multiple surfaces forming our phys-ical environment.’(Seitinger, 2015, p.23)

This lead to consider the light as an integrated material that can be discreetly placed anywhere into the buildings, opening up the new possibility regarding its interplay with surfaces. I have been frequently con-fronted to this concern in my internship at 8’18” Lumiere. The problematic of designing bespoke details for lighting solutions has been a current practice during my stay. This work take usually place after the lighting concepts approval. The design of architectural details, to integrate light into architecture is then part of on-going discussions engaged with architects and the lighting manufacturers, to determine the most efficient way to seamlessly embed LED into the building. The success of the project lies in the perfect integration of light within architectural configuration, so it is not designed as an afterthought added layer.


3 / Adaptability via programmation Furthermore, LED technology presents other potentials that are totally unknown to the traditional light-

ing technologies, ‘how best might we take advantage of dynamic control as there is no other lighting technology that offers both dynamism and transiency? The transiency is unparalleled - any color at any intensity at any time, at the size of a pixel to that of a large surface.’(Addington and Schodek, 2005, p.191). LED being easily programmable, with instant switch capability and gradability, they have open up new possibilities, to work with colour and intensity change, ‘that can have a profound impact on our perception of our surroundings, [allowing] a luminous articulation that is not possible with any other lighting system.’ (Addington and Schodek, 2005, p.178). Couple with sensors and wireless network of communication, light is becoming an adjustable material able to evolve over time in tailored effects specific to a certain type of stimuli. This flexible programmability coupled to data communication is marking a paradigm shift in the lighting industry. As, Rankel points out in his paper about the future of lighting in the cities, this digital shift is marking a radical change in the way to comprehend light:

‘LEDs carry with them the idea of “digital light paradigm. This technology is no longer part of the “lamp culture” in lighting, but offers a new digital light model, thus shifting the balance between light and information.’ (Rankel, 2014, p.3)

Figures 2 and 3These CAD drawings are some exemples of architectural details I have been designing as a tool of conception and communication with architects and LED fixture manufacturers, in order to integrate the light seemlessly into the architectural project.


4 / Performativity through Light and ubiquitous computation

In parallel to the lighting technology revolution, datas collection, their storage and distribution through sensor computing, wireless communication and network based technologies, have pervaded the urban environment, with a significant impact on the way humans experience architecture and urban spaces. In 1991, in his visionary article, Mark Weiser described computers seamlessly integrated in everyday life and proposed the term “ubicomp” to refer of how environments will become saturated by microprocessors and wireless communication (Weiser, 1991). Idiomatic of the transition from an industrial society to the Information Age since the mid-90s, ubiquitous computing and digital technologies are forming the back-ground of a major societal change. Focusing on a seamless and cognitively integrated services to users, ‘pervasive computing environment assumes a number of invisible sensing/computing entities that collect information about the users and the environment, and provide customized services accordingly.’ (Ye et al, 2010).

Due to their digital nature, LEDs can be used in hand with these “ubicomp” and wireless network tech-nologies, and become an active player of this global move embraced by the contemporary forms of archi-tecture and urbanism, where digital technologies ‘ [...] weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it.’(Weiser, 1991, p.94). The possibility to connect LEDs to a network, that incorporates communication between various inputs and output providers, is unic compare to the other lighting technologies. Often refers as ‘Smart Lighting’, this type of lighting control system integrates sensor, micro-controller and network communication protocol to provide malleable lighting solutions. To understand how light becomes part of a bigger system, we will briefly review the different parts of this one.

To get inputs from the environment, datas need to be collected. The spread of digital communication technologies through the city offers a broad potential to gather relevant information about citizen behaviour and their use of the space (Hebert, 2017). Another way to get datas from the environment is through the use of sensors integrated into the environment. The term ‘sensor’, derived from the word ‘sense’, is a de-vice that detects or responds to a physical or chemical stimulus ( e.g., motion, heat, or chemical concentra-tion)’ (Addington and Schodek, 2005, p.127), in producing an output signal (datas) that can be interpreted or used as a basis for measurement or control. They are many different types of sensors. One of the way to differentiate them is either to think accordly to the type of energies they use ( mechanical, thermal, elec-trical, magnetic, radiant or chemical), or to the type of usage they imply ( proximity, sound sensors, etc…). (Addington and Schodek, 2005, p.129). We will restraint ourselves to name some of them as an illustration of the diversity of stimuli that can be drawn from the environment: light sensors, sound sensors, thermal sensor, humidity sensors, touch sensors, position sensor, motion sensors, etc.

The stimuli that the sensor responds to, need then to be communicated as a digital signal to control the lighting features. This is the task of computation, under the form of a microcontroller (hardware) that executes the actions of a program (software) stored in its memory. The communication protocol between the micro-controller and the light can take divers forms, from the traditionally used in architecture as DMX and DALI ( wired lighting control) to the wireless ones, in place in the city, like Zigbee, Bluetooth, Ethernet


and Wi-Fi.

This new configuration, often called “Smart lighting”, position the light as the dynamic output into a system of communication, based on datas gathered from the environment. ‘Smart’ referring to the notion of ‘intelligence’, can be translated as a responsive system ‘with the ability to sense changes in their cir-cumstances and execute measure to enhance their functionality under new circumstances.’ (Worden, et al, 2003). This definition set the ground for reflection on new potentials for lighting, based on dynamic, performatif and interactif set up, that are emerging from this configuration.

The lighting design profession is aware of the changing current coming from this technological shift. In their conference at PLDC 2017 on ‘What is smart - Lighting Design, a profession in transition’, Allan Ru-berg and Christian Klinge, from the firm AF Lighting, argue that the lighting business should connect with the digital revolution, to avoid being ‘the next field to be seriously disrupted’ ( given as an example how “Kodak” missed the digital turn to its own detriment). They also point out that ‘light installation in the city have been identified as a potential infrastructure for smart technologies, carrying all kind of equipments on luminaires and poles’, which potentially places lighting at the core of the “smart revolution” taking place in the cities. They concluded their talk calling for a change of perspective, to adapt the lighting design practice to this new reality stating: ‘For so many years conditions have been stable, but now we need to develop new ways of working to embrace the complex and challenging reality we are facing.’

To grasp the change that lighting is facing as a spatial design element, we need to understand what this technological change implies when related to spatial experience. The next part will explore this topic.

Figure 4Diagram showing the embedded system in which light is acting as a ‘Smart Material’


B: The Media Age : Space and Light

1/ Architecture : Light as Formgiver to Media Architecture / Smart material

From its recognition as a spatial element by pioneers like Richard Kelly and William Lam, ‘Light as a Formgiver’ (Lam,1977), has been used with purpose to shape, structure and hierarchise the built environ-ment. Deeply involved in our spatial perception, architectural lighting based its practice on the relation of light with space and human needs, balancing quantitative and qualitative criteria. In the preface of his sem-inal book, William Lam explains that his approach to lighting started by looking at perception through ‘the real problems of man in relation to his total environment’ (Lam, 1977, p.3). The evolution of light, from a fixed set-up to a tunable and integrated element, possibly part of a data communication system, is chang-ing the way light interfer with the human environment. Lighting extends beyond its visual and perceptual functions, transforming the space through the realm of change and defines a new framework for its relation to architecture. As Dr. Rune Nielsen pointed out in his 2017 PLDC intervention :

‘the recent evolution of “digital technology has allowed to use light to deconstruct archi-tecture [...] [pointed] towards a shift in the way we perceive our built environment - from solid and unchangeable to a fluid, constantly changing architecture, fusing digital tech-nology with physical spaces in what is emerging as a new architectural paradigm: media architecture. ‘ ( Nielsen, 2017)

Because light is one of the most frequently used modality of what is gathered under the umbrella term “Media architecture” or “Media Space”, it is a central element in this category (Brynskov et al, 2013). Me-dia architecture is defined as ‘concept that covers the design of physical spaces at architectural scale, incorporating materials with dynamic properties that allow for dynamic, reactive or interactive behavior’ (Brynskov et al, 2013) . The new state of digital light, as exposed on the precedent chapter, seams to fit perfectly with this definition. To understand this new paradigm and how digital light is playing a major role in this type of architectural and urban space configuration, it is important to grasp some specificities of the so called ‘Media Space’.

Dr. Gernot Tscherteu, founding member of the Media Architecture Institute, highlights several main characteristics to media spaces. First, they are ‘hybrid form, combining features of the digital as well as the physical space’ (Tscherteu et al, 2012, p.12). As they bring together in the same built environment, light source, network infrastructure and ubicomp, he stresses out that their ‘integration shall be seamless so the building is not a screen but communicates as a whole’ (Tscherteu et al, 2012, p.12). As this remark suggests, communicative function of architecture is put on the forefront with media architecture. This is however not new, as communication has always been part of architecture perception as symbolic rep-resentation. However, what has changed, is that architecture is “beginning to shift from a static condition to a dynamic process” (Baeur, 2017), which assigns a new dynamic component to architecture becoming a real-time related form. This is where LED technology marks the decisive step. Seamlessly embedded in


architecture, they allow the surfaces to be permanently changeable. For the media theorist Lev Manovich, the fact that an architectural surface is constantly changing is a

symbol of the Information age, as it illustrates one of the ‘key effect of the computer revolution: the substi-tution of every constant by a variable’ ( 2006, p.234).

The miniaturisation of LED, sensors and computing technology, through the use of microprocessors, allow to entwin them into architectural surfaces and express the renewed interest for the skin of the build-ings. More flexible, cheaper, reliable and durable than any mechanical systems, the integration of light into the surface follows the liberation of the facade from the building structure, as an independent subject with new potential for architecture. The external walls extend their potentiality, a level beyond functionality (thermal and weather protection, ventilation, etc…) and visual experience of the building. Considering the surface within critical theory of architecture, Amanda Reeser Lawrence and Ashley Schafer in a special issue of Praxis, the Journal of writing and Building ( 2007) note :

‘‘Expanding surface’ insinuates itself into this discourse by focusing on the specific means by which surfaces - after years of being burdened with the task of representation [...] - have become sites of performance and effect. [...] More pointedly it refers to the physical and conceptual appropriation of the surface as a territory for architectural invention.’

This understanding of the surface as a performative element is also underlined by Lucy Bullivant:

“Electronic billboards have been around for decades, but now the concept of connectivity has also literally seeped into the skin of building in a new way [...] One of the most crea-tive innovations in responsive architecture has been the treatment of a building’s surface as an interactive skin, onto and through which information and ambient effects can be streamed. “ (2006, p.19)

Lighting has been used for decades in facade illumination. But the change brought by the mean of new technologies, places it at the core problematic that architecture is facing itself, moving from a durable and permanent to a transient and fluid conception of the spatial experience. Through this angle, the tunable and integrated LEDs embody the ability ‘to respond to multiple states rather than being optimized for a single one, [...] since buildings are always confronted with changing condition’ (Addington & Schodek, 2005, p.17)‘

The dynamization of light, through different level of connection with the environment, changes the way architecture is perceived, as well as the meaning of the light used to mark the presence of the building at night. From a medium able to shape spatial configuration, organising focal points into the dark, light has taken the leap towards streaming information, and by this way, should also be considered through the spectrum of communication. But to forsee beyond, Dr. Tscherteu argues that , ‘it is important to see the whole interactive sphere around the building itself in order to understand that it is not a neutral channel for communication, but is itself an expression of that communication [...] in order to understand the meaning of what is going on’( Tscherteu, 2012, p.13).


2/ Light from visual-perceptual tool to time base and relational mediator

The evolution from fixed set-up to tunable medium is considerably widening the scope of light when shaping the relation of people with their environment. Light is no longer merely a visual and perceptual tool, concerned by creating a safe and comfortable atmosphere. Entwined with computational possibilities and embedded in our cities, light is moving beyond visual and perceptual function towards “relational” ones. With time-based practice allowed by the programmability, and connectivity, light becomes a medi-ator, changing the way people connect and engage with the urban environment through different type of spatio-temporal experiences. Through a litterature review, we distinguished three main types of engage-ment with the environment using light : ambient dynamic, responsive, interactive.

Ambient dynamic

The concept of “Ambient”, that can be identify with the concept of “atmosphere” is not new, but is re-emerg-ing as a central concern in a context of “sensory and culturally sensitive approaches” (Bertain, 2015, p.2). The majority of light set up in urban environment does not call for our explicit attention, but rather set the con-dition of our visibility at night. The programmability of light adds a new temporal parameter in the light con-ception. In this configuration, light changeable features are pre-programmed. Illumination change does not rely on input coming from the environment. However, the change of light provides the image of a shifting environ-ment, amplifying and making visible the dynamic of a space through transitory states.

The regulation of public lighting, with the raising con-cern of light pollution, has taken advantage of this con-figuration, managing the light levels at different time of the night, accordingly to the evolution of needs through time, where ‘variations become localized, bounda-ries shift and ‘hierarchies’ are fluid.” (Petresin, (2015), p.255).

Fig.5 - Illustration coming from Seitinger & Weiss, light for public space ( 2015)


This is the type of problematic have been working on with several projects during my internship at 8’18”. When working on urban projects, it is common practice to understand, at least, the temporality of the night, regarding of the uses of the spaces and the illumination coming from the the inside of the building and urban lighting. On the following project realized for the future Parc de la Chapelle Charbon in Paris, we proposed two states of illumination for the park, depending of the time. This sustainaible management of the light is not new, however, it is important to highlight that by introducing the notion of time through data sent to the light, the illumination offers two different representatioon of the same place.

Fig.6 & 7 - Lighting plans for the project Parc Chappelle Charbon in Paris, showing two different states of illumina-tion accoring to the time and use of the space.


Responsive environmentIn the case of light responsive environment, datas

are gathered with different type of sensors from the en-vironment, and used as input to affect the light features over time (Seitinger & Weiss, 2015). The dynamic light output is not conditioned by pre-programmation, but in-stead, is the manifestation of rules based, site-specific design. Light, tuned with the flow of the environment, is part of a real-time feed-back loop and mediates the interaction between people and their built environment. Further the time consideration, this system rely on an “event-based” spatial conception, where environment or people are the triggers of change and reconfigure the nocturnal urban realm.


Dynamic street lighting system, is a simple example of a light responsive environment. This form of “light on demand” is gaining ground on the urban environment, with the ambition to create more sustain-able cities.

Interactive and Participatory environment

In this case, the light output is consciously and ex-plicitly modulated by people through different kind of interfaces. Public engagement is push forward in in-viting people to take initiative and have an impact on their environment with light. The concern with social and space engagement through participation is not a new topic in architecture. Drawing inspiration from “participatory architecture”, practice explored through the 60’s and 70’s, as a mean to develop better so-cial connection with the environment, the concept of “placemaking” find a new breath with the digital tech-nologies in media-spaces. Based on participation, the aim is to integrate the users into a collective spatial design process to foster community feeling. Bodily en-gagement is often at the center of this kind of practice, and therefore raised question about the interrelation with the light experience.


“Cities have the capability of providing some-thing for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody”.

Jane Jacobs (1961), The Death and Life of Great American Cities


“Cities have the capability of providing some-thing for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody”.

Jane Jacobs (1961), The Death and Life of Great American Cities

We overviewed in this part how the original function of light, as a visual and perceptual tool, is inheriting of an additional one, as a time based and relational medium. Influence by the new technologies, the sub-ject-space relationship through the mediation of light is moving. At the center of the new configuration, “at-mospheric qualities”, “memorable or significant experience”, “embodied design process into architecture”, “experiential effects of built environment” are examples of the some keys concepts that the technology claim to provoque, or at least to foster.

Reflection on light as a medium, question the plurality of mediation forms and their significance. ( Ber-tin, 2015, p.1) . The technological shift embodied by light are changing, not only how the light is set up on space, but is also redefining the perception and relation of people to their environment. In all the new light-ing configuration briefly presented (ambient dynamic, responsive and interactive), the sense of physical presence and connection to time is essential.

If we want to design with a meaningful goal when using technology, we need to set a theoretical ground for such light experiences, so technique will be used further than ‘just because we can’. As Tscherteu states: “As in every other cultural setting, meaning is not an inherent feature of a certain artifact but is is something that is produced by the interaction around it .” ( 2012, p.13). As the human body is placed at the center of such new type of lighting experience, we argue that the exploration of light through phenomenol-ogy, spatial and media theories will help to gain insight on the way to use technology in a meaningful way.


PART 2 : LIGHT AND THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE IN THE DIGITAL SHIFT

A: Embodiement through vision and spatial perception in darkness

Light shapes the way we perceive our environment. It structures our relation with our surrounding, and change our notion of space and time. Therefore light is a medium. “Understanding light as medium implies understanding its social and cultural interpretation emerging from the milieu that it creates. “ (Bertin, 2015, p.2) Considering that the new lighting technology is able to create ambient dynamic, responsive or interac-tive environments, we would like to investigate vision, spatial perception, and social construction of space to extract a conceptual framework on which a design practice could take ground.

1 / Visual space in dark environment

In his study about the visual space, the anthropologue Edward T.Hall argues that ‘the structure of the eye has many implication for the design of space’ (1966, p.73). After describing the ‘seeing mechanism’, he gives some examples where the knowledge of vision mechanism could help to design better spatial configuration with consequences on people’s behaviour. However, his study makes little reference to the night. The lighting designer Roger Narboni, specialised in urban lighting, gives further guidance when de-sign takes place on the darkness. For him,understanding the mechanism of nocturnal vision, when dealing with human and their urban environment, is a critical point, as he reminds that the nocturnal vision has its own specificities :

‘ Our nocturnal vision is very different from our vision by day, and it changes our per-ception of the city, that may looks like another one at night. With nocturnal vision, the luminous points of urban lighting and contrasts are becoming very important.’ ( Narboni, 2012, p.20)

As digital light can perform faster change of colours and intensity than any other light technology, it would be interesting to understand in what extend it could impact our the visual system, as it could have implication on the design process.

The human eyes is composed by three different parts performing different visual functions: fovea, mac-ula and the peripheral vision. The fovea, on the center of the retina, contains a high density of photore-ceptors called cones, each ones linked to an optic nerves carrying the information to the visual cortex. Cones operates under high level of light, in a range of illuminance associated with daylight. The are coloured sensitive and enable sharp vision discerning small details. Around the fovea, the macula, contain cones in a smaller density, mixte with an other types of photoreceptors called rods. Rods are are sensitives to a much lower level of illumination, and they don’t provide any colour information. However, peripheral vision is very sensitive to motion and brightness changes. Using these different anatomy parts, the eyes adapts to the level of illumination, defining three ranges of human vision: photopic ( cones vision), mesopic


( cones and rods vision) and scotopic ( rods vision).

At night, when the level of illumination falls, this implies that the vision mainly in charge of our perception is the scotopic one. Knowing that, the peripheral vision becomes an important perceptual element to take into account, whereas the colour differentiation becomes less evident. However, under dim outdoor space, it is relevant to note that the eyes adapt and change, according to the level of light in the space, between the scotopic and the mesopic vision. The adaptability of the eyes to brightness contrast and motion per-ception looks like critical parameters to take into account when designing for the nocturnal vision. As these two parameters are parts of the flexible features allowing by LEDs, it might be useful to keep them in mind for the design using this technology.

If the mechanism of vision gives some clues about the perception of the space, the visual process is far more complex

‘ In any discussion of vision it is necessary to distinguish between the retinal image and what man perceives. […] Few people realize that vision is not passive but active, in fact, a transition between man and his environment in which both participate.’ (Hall, 1966, p.82)

Referring to several transactional psychologists (specialised in the study of sensorial conditions) like James Gibson, Hall argues that the visual field, “made up of constantly shifting light patterns-recorded by the retina-” are ‘sensory data’ that need to be interpreted and internalised through the body to become a ‘visual field’ and convey spatial sensation. In other words, “seeing” is made from the interplay between vision and body awareness, which leads us to consider the phenomenology approach, to deal with the perceptual world.

2 / Perceptual space : the phenomenological approach

‘ All consciousness is perceptual...The perceived world is always presupposed founda-tion of all rationality, all value and all existence.’ ( Merleau Ponty , 1945, p.13)

Phenomenology can be defined “as the exploration and description of phenomena where phenomena refers to things or experience as human being experience them”. (Seamon, 2008, p.158). One of the important aspect of the phenomenology approach is the rejection of the cartesian dualism between body and mind. It highlights how engagement with the space passes through the world of perception via the body. From a phenomenological point of view, the meaning of space lies in the experience of the place that focus on the sensorial experience as a function of a built environment. As a reference, the ‘embodiment approach’ defended by Pallasmaa, focuses on the way a sensorial experience leads people to engage with their surrounding, to ‘reconstruct the experience [..] in which we are not mere spectators, but to which we inseparably belong.’ ( Pallasma, 1996, p.28)


By its unique nature, light is entwined to the body and the field of perception, mainly visual. As light and space are shaping each other, our body condition the experience of their relation. Light can never be unbounded from what we see, therefore the light can only be explored through a relational perspective of space and the human experience.

This brief introduction shows that the study of light, considered through the prism of body-space per-ceptual experience, places the phenomenology as a fecund ground for environment-behaviour research.Space studied through phenomenology offer a useful conceptual frame to grasp how architects started to explore the potential of light through experiential resonance. The pioneers in the field of lighting design came from this legacy. For the architect Louis Kahn: ‘I sense light as a giver of all presences, and material as spent light”(1969, p.229), whereas William Lam claims ’light is the ‘principal medium which puts man in touch with his environment.’’( 1977, p.10).

Traditionally, this approach has mainly dealt with the experience of natural light and interior space. Few research are engaging with artificial light on a phenomenological level. It seems like it is missing a “mag-ical aura” to be considered through this angle. However, the technical evolution of lighting, coupled with the ubicomp revolution, could change the situation. With the new technical possibilities (refer to part 1), lighting design is moving towards a more holistic and human centered approach based on performativity. This shift implies a more ‘event-based’ relationship to space, emphasizing embodiment. Because phe-nomenology acts on the existing interaction between the human and the built environment through em-bodied perception, it seems to be a relevant approach in supporting a user-and-context sensitive lighting practice. The control of the light is evolving towards more computation. The malleability of the effects and connectivity it allows, appear as a potential mean to foster emotional relationship with individuals through different level of perception. The current theoretical development in human-computer-interaction has ex-tended phenomenology into a new definition of embodiment, where ‘embodied interaction is the creation, manipulation and sharing of meaning through engage interaction with artifacts’ ( Dourish, 2004, p.126). According to this definition, the light, seen as ‘artefact’, could help to engage people so they can share meaning through experience.

B: Production of space in the digital Age

1 / Space to Place: spatial theory

The phenomenological approach focuses on the individual relationship to space. When extended to the urban environment, the concept of “place” as a shared spatial experience arises, mixing the physical and social aspect into spatial theory.

Nowaday, many architects and urban designers are using the term ‘place-making’ to promote a more socially focused environment, calling for a more responsible and ‘human-centered’ practice. The notion of ’place’ is at the center of contemporary urban problematics, and media Space research (Ciolfi, 2003). Light


being an important element conditioning the urban realm at night, as well as deeply involved in the defini-tion of Media Space, it does not escape this trend. One of the last publication about ‘Media Space’,named ‘Media Architecture Compendium - Digital placemaking’ ( 2017), testifies of it, in compiling many examples and thoughts about the use of digital lighting with the aim of “place-making”.

The concept of “place-making” is coming from ‘spatial theory’, and combined different disciplines in-volved in the socio-cultural production of space. Developed in the 70’s by pioneers like Henri Lefebvre, it challenges the notion of space as a passive and given container and proposes a theory mixing physical, social and mental conception of the space, emphasizing its ever changing state. Rediscovered in the 90’s and known as the ‘spatial turn’, it recognizes that space and social relation are both producing and shaped by it, and therefore are mutually constituted. The spatial configuration is not considered ‘just as a “shell” or “container” for people to live in, but as a location ( physical or virtual) where complex social interactions can occur’ (Ciolfi, 1996, p.3). Dourish and Harrison define place ‘as a space which is invested with under-standings of behavioural appropriateness, cultural expectations and so forth. We are “located” in “space”, but we act in “place”. ( Harrison and Dourish, 1996, p.3, …)

2 / Event Space : designing place through exeprience

Lighting is moving towards a more ‘engaged’ form of design through different kind of settings: ambient space, interactivity, participatory design, with the aim to create a deeper connection between human and their environment. The inter-relation of space, light and human is now being redefining through compu-tation and the possibility to engage with light on a ‘reactive level’, where the action of the body or of the environment, trigger the features of the light. If the concept of ‘placemaking’ lies on ‘action’ with social interconnection, light becoming an ‘event-based’ element could play a role in this definition. This is at least what suggest the renewed interest of place-making and spatial theory in Media space and urban interac-tion research. But as Peter Dalsgaard reminds, the meaning lies of the user’s experience :

‘Whereas “space” denoted the three-dimensional structure of the world in which objects and events occurs, “place” would be the user’s experienced and meaningful reality, a space embedded with values. (2009, p.1)

Lucy Bullivant highlights the fact of learning from the experience to shape our spatial engagement :

‘The power of many of the responsive environments [...] is precisely that they are not purely reactive or entirely predetermined. Both, they and their users, learn from experi-ence and redefine their sense of place.’ (2006, p.17)

All these considerations lead to question the added value of the new possibilities brought by digital light on the user experience, when engaging with urban environment. Light has always been involved in shaping our experience of the space. However, when becoming ‘event-based’, or ‘smart’, it is not anymore a fixed setting that a designer conceive. ‘It is not just a new physical environment that we are ultimately


designing, but also activities and experiences within it supported and mediated by technology.’ ( Ciolfi, 2004, p.4). Designing light becomes the conception of a time-action-based experience, part of a bigger system; ‘If architects want to create a responsive environment, they need to think like designers of operat-ing systems’(Bullivant, 2006, p.12).

3 / Temporal space : designing with the times of the night

Considering light in urban environment as an added value to place through a ‘user experience’ leads to consider one fundamental aspect of the city, curiously often neglected by spatial theory and urban plan-ning: the Night.

Lighting designers are generally more aware of this dimension, as darkness is the space of their inter-vention. Beyond the purely visual concern of nocturnal vision, the understanding and experience of the space is completely different at night. The lighting designer, Roger Narboni expressed this point when stating that the ‘mental image of the city at night is usually very different form the mental image we have by daylight [...], and generally [the nocturnal mental image] is more abstract or fantasized’. ( 2012, p.19). Because darkness, identified by Merleau-Ponty as ‘pure depth’ (1945, p.330) erases contrasts, it impacts our ability to perceive the three-dimensionality of space. This is something that Roger Narboni explains clearly, when talking about the nocturnal perception of the different scales of a city:

For understanding a city at night, one must face two different scales for reading it: the distant vision, linked to the topography and urban site, that embraces wide parts of the citie and eventually outlines its shape, and the close vision that relies on the quarter or the visited place and this one is mainly built on the perception of the luminous atmos-phere . This is the addition in space and time, of these two perceptual layers that will compose, little by little, the mental image of the city. ( Narboni, 2012, p.23)

During my practice at 8’18” Lumiere, I found myself facing this night problematic. Either working on completely new project, where the only visual clue of the space rely on renderings or 3D models (usually done with bright and dreamy sun shining effects), or on existing sites, where pictures, visit on site or Goog-le Map, help to get an understanding of the space, one of the first conceptual step consists of imagining how does it looks like at night, from different distances and points of view. Drawings and digital image manipulation provide visual supports in this night mental mapping. This step is fundamental, and support the design process at different steps. First, on the conceptual level, this stage helps to frame the nocturnal spatiale condition of the project. Working on the ‘urban stage’ requires a context related-approach, where the space is mixing different layers of uses, at different times of the night. Urban projects, from facade to light master plan, usually implies composing with the surrounding lights, out of the design project perime-ter. Thus, understanding the use of the buildings around, can help to conceptualised the ‘lightscape’ of the project: the nocturnal reality of the space will be different with offices or residentials buildings around, as the temporality of their light needs differs. Comprehend the nocturnal spatiale reality, and integrate it as a data where the project takes place is fundamental, as the final design will be part of this realm.

Then, providing visual supports of this nocturnal mental mapping is crucial in the project communica-


tion. When working on urban space, the actors involved in the projects are divers, and not always used to conceptualise space like architects can be. Therefore they are even less used to think about how the urban ‘landscape’ looks different through the temporality of the night. To illustrate this point, I include here images I have been working on for a project in Pau (France). To present our concept to the municipality, we have been producing four images from an initial rendering provided by the architects. Our aim was to explain how our lighting concept will live among the other lights around, evolving within the temporality of the night.

Fig.10 - 8’18” Lumiere - Project : Pau - marche de la Republique - 2017 - Architectural contextDrawing made to illustrate the architectural concept of the site : where the light is coming from, typologies of the buildings, material used on the facades.


Fig.11 - 8’18” Lumiere - Project : Pau - marche de la Republique - 2017 - Urban contextGeneral plan showing where the light is coming from on the surrounding scale ( urban lighting around, inside light spilling out ), as well as the main angles from where the site will be perceived.


Fig.12 - 8’18” Lumiere - Project : Pau - marche de la Republique - 2017 - 6 pmIllustration showing the architectural project when night is just falling down. The market place as well as the offices on the both towers are provinding the luminous environment in which the the design project will take place later on the night time.

Fig.13 - 8’18” Lumiere - Project : Pau - marche de la Republique - 2017 - 7 pmIllustration showing the architectural project at the begining of the night, when the different spaces are still used, and therefore still provide light on the site, so the design starts to visually emerge from it, but, still, is read on the same level.


Fig.14 - 8’18” Lumiere - Project : Pau - marche de la Republique - 2017 - 9 pmIllustration showing the architectural project in a later night time, when offices are empty. The lighting design takes the visual predominance by contrast with the dark background and gives another presence to the both towers of the project.

Fig.15 - 8’18” Lumiere - Project : Pau - marche de la Republique - 2017 -11 pmIllustration showing the last illuninated state of the project, when the life around calmed down, and the lighting de-sign lies on the dark cityscape to define another visual reality.


This project was the occasion for me to approach how the night shall be comprehend, include and communicate in the design process as an essential element when the project takes place in the urban environment. It raised question about night beyond darkness. The geographer, and specialist of the night, Luc Gwiazdzinski claims that the night has its own specificities, and invites to consider the it as a “spa-tio-temporal” element, depending on geographical and cultural context (2017).

The night evolves in time and space with its own spatio-temporal dynamism. It has its own space and time borders, its own blurred edges. [...] In just two centuries, we have moved from a ‘city in stand by’ to a city by night’ with the extension of the nocturnal time, under the influence of the economy, network and media on streaming on a constant and continual time.’ ( Gwiazdzinski, 2017, p.1)

Following the approach of “spatial theory”, mixing social practice and production of the space, Gwi-azdzinski, chose however to focus on the night as a specific field of study by itself. He refers to the “im-ageability” of the city as an ongoing transformation process of places over time. This concept of transfor-mation through time is interesting for several reason. First, it leads to consider the spatiality of the night as a proper changing dynamic. Then, considering that the technology of lighting is moving towards dynamic, adaptable, performative or interactive setting, it raises question about how to work and fusion these rela-tion of movement and time in a coherent whole.

4/ Dynamic space : designing with data

Shifting from the traditional conception of architecture as a tangible and static condition to a dynamic process, urban space is nowaday conceived in a performative way, transforming ‘what Lynch referred to as the “image” of the city - its iconic recognizable and appearance - into a dynamic and programmable element of space. “ (Seitinger, 2010, p.46). If Kevin Lynch canonical ‘Image of the city’(1960) still remains a framework for city planning, his ‘What Time is the place’ (1972), written a decade after, foresaw the new realm of urbanity we are living in. In that time, Lynch was already calling for a focus on temporal change taking into account the dynamism of the city, to make the transformation of the environment legible and understandable. Building on this theory, Susanne Seitinger sees here an opportunity for dynamic light and ambient media, to explore the environment as a source of information about place and people. Leading to a new way of narrative fed by the traces (datas) let on the city, she sees here the chance to design a new type of spatial experience with light, extending the perceptual and cognitive condition of our connection to space.

On the same line than Seitinger, for the media theorist Lev Manovich, digital information can provide a valuable support for reading the city and make sense to the urban environment. He embraces the experi-ence of an hybrid space, where the physical reality is no longer the unic source of information, but become enmeshed with the intangible ones, talking about “the poetic of augmented space”. If ‘Media facades ac-commodate and materialise the digital in our cityscapes, and by motivating response and interaction can contribute towards revitalising our urban space. ‘ ( Baeur, 2017), we still however needs to understand the


conceptual shift that this position implies. From this perspective of design with datas, light inherit a new function; from one form or another, it

began to communicate information about people and/or the environment. Media theory advocates that our relations and experience of space and time, are dependent of the structure of communication, and therefore of technologies. Pioneer in this domain, Marshall Mcluhan, with his famous slogan ‘the medium is the message’(1964), claimed that through history, what has been communicated has been less impor-tant than the particular medium through which people communicate. To support his theory and develop its consequences in term of spatial conception and social relation, he chose the example of a light bulb, as a ‘medium without message’. According to him, ‘the electric light is pure information. It is a medium without a message ‘(1964, p.1). But by enabling people to create space during night time and create an environ-ment by its mere presence, it demonstrates the social effect of technology. Quite ironically, this situation is changing. The new digital technology applied to light transform it as a ‘medium with message’. Based on the the rise of interactive media in the last decade of the twentieth century, Holmes defines a ‘second media age’, that defines a ‘cultural shift in perception toward media environment’ ( 2005, p.14). According to him:

‘Consideration of information mediums as environments [...] constitutive of altogether new kinds of behaviour and forms of identity. That is to say, they are not just reproducing existing kinds of social relations, but bringing about new ones’ (2005, p.15)

To the highlights of Media theory, the fact that the new technology transform the light into a dynamic communicator, moving in real-time, according to information gathered from the environment, raises ques-tion about the type of social and spatial relation we will built on it. Seen from Media theory, it is hard to say, that it would be without consequences on our spatial and social connection. Light, placed as the core of Media-space, is the medium and media, through which information materialised itself into their surfaces :

‘While Media Architecture can achieve the characteristics of illumination, highlight, and atmosphere, it is also able to communicate messages via dynamic text, graphics or im-ages, well beyond what a screen is capable of. The possibility of controlling individual lights or pixels on a building facade offers new opportunities to work with light and materi-als. The transformative power of daylight alters the appearance of materials daily as well as seasonally. However, the change of appearance does not happen, unless otherwise augmented through the use of LED that allows controlled material change. ‘ ( Perella S., 1997, cited by Chatterjee, 2014, p.72)

This last quote from the hypersurface theory of Perella illustrates the paradigm shift light is facing. If lighting will still remains a traditional mean of illumination able to create atmospheres and change the spatial configuration of the city, it inherits now of an additional function, linked to real-time communication and performativity.

How to deal with this change as a lighting designer ? Is that redefining the profession, and if so in what way ? What are the relevant design methods to apply when moving from a the conception of spatial setting to event-based experience ?


PART 3: REFLECTION ON DESIGN PRACTICE

A: Lighting Design, an interdisciplinary roots

Born as an independent field in the 50’s, architectural lighting design is a relatively new profession. In her research about the professionalisation of the practice, Fiori highlights that the profiles at the origin of the profession, are coming from different backgrounds (2000, p.1). Most of the time self-taught, the first generation of lighting designers have been learning intuitively through experimentation from different fields like museography, theater or architecture. In their case, the cross-section of competences and knowledg-es coming from these different disciplines has been the ground of their lighting practice. Still according to Fiori, the second generation is constituted with more people coming from disciplines related to space, like architecture or landscape design, that have decided to specialise in lighting. She argues that in both cases, this is the acquisition of several competences that gives to the lighting designer a specific field of action: the technical knowledge and control of lighting distinguish them from the traditional actors of space planning, whereas a more holistic approach, coming from the design background, differentiate them from the techniciens.From this perspective, Lighting design is an hybrid field, where ‘the meeting of professional such as artists, architects, and engineers creates new preoccupations that bridge aesthetic, organization-al, and technical concerns’(Bertin S., 2015, p.5).

Even though the field of lighting is a mixture of different disciplines, the organisation in association like ACE (Association Française d’eclairage) and IALD ( International Association of Lighting Designer), or events like PLDC ( Professional Lighting Design Convention), testify of the community’s desire to struc-ture the professional practice. However, in his 2017 intervention, the lighting designer Tapios Rosario, from LDC, raised the provocative question “Is Architectural Lighting Design a profession?” He started his conference with a Linkedin research on the occurrence “ Lighting Design” to illustrate the association of the discipline with different kind of industries (Design, Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing, Construction, Entertainment, Architecture and planning, Mechanical or industrial engineering, events services, motion pictures and film, civil engineering.). According to him, this analysis shows that “the majority of lighting design is done at the edge of our particular industry and is indeed far removed from ‘our’ definition of this profession’ (2017).

B: Lighting Design at the Architecture edges

To pick up on this comment, it is true that the practice often lies at the edge of architecture. In France at least, competition stays the main way to get access of projects on public space. So the lighting design must be included into the architectural or urban project from the competition stage. This is one of the rea-son why lighting designers needs to be able to build and share their projects based on a common dialogue with others profession like architectes, urbanistes or landscape designer. For the french Lighting designer,


Francois Migeon, from 8’18”Lumiere, ‘the nocturnal interpretation of a building is a team-work construc-tion’( 2015). He explained in an interview :

‘We invent a specific language for a unic architecture which allow us to explore the light in all its dimension, in sharing reflection with architects, landscape designers and con-tractors, around the nocturnal vision far beyond the functional requirement of light. With each of them, we build a unic and engaging story. And if all have their own ‘societal’ vi-sion of architecture, our support with light must fit their personality and contribute in the same time, to give an unexpected interpretation.’ (2015)

If lighting design is used to support architecture and urbanism, navigating in between spatial representa-tion, users concern, societal vision and technical challenge, what about when Media-Space occurs, con-sidering that:

‘architects do not have direct influence on Media Architecture developments. It is still primarily the result of technical developments in electronics, computer science and op-tics [...]. Consequently, architects apply and use products designed and developed by others. ( Haeusler, 2014, p.74)

Architectes struggle to integrate the Media possibilities into their project, probably because of a cul-tural gap and lack of collaboration with influencer on this fields, more related to electronic and computer science. Which is not the case when considering the advancement in computational design and digital fabrication, closer to the structural culture and background of architecture, than the Media sphere can be.

So comes the question about what do we want to do with the current digital revolution reaching light ? How to avoid a lack of meaning project when designing with the new technology available. Francois Migeon warns on their negative impact if not used with purpose:

‘we have observed the negative impacts of a technology that offers an easy access to the “non-project”, taking away the creative power of all the profession. Turn the light on an architecture that will be seen by thousands of people is a responsible act. This is not the colour I question here, but its random use, and that leads us to temporality issue.’ ( 2015, Migeon)

How to use, within the “project” approach, intrinsec to a design culture, the potential of digital light as a ‘smart material’, seamlessly integrated into the built environment ? From the fact that they can be dy-namics and behave in response to input coming from the environment, they are not only changing the way we perceive architecture, but also how we conceptualise it, as the traditional ‘means of representation in architectural design privileges the static material. [...] One often designs with the intention of establishing an image or multiple sequential images. With a smart material, however, we should be focusing on what we want it do, not on how we want it look’ (Addington & Schodek, 2005,p.17). This comment guides the focus on the performance rather than the visual aspect. What do we want it to do ? How do we want it


perform and for what for ? Again, the issue here with light considered as a ‘smart material’ lies one the lack of people able to bridge the culture of light and material, more related to the design side, to the culture of electronic and computational system, closer to the engineering side.

‘Whereas architects choose the materials for a building, engineers routinely select the technologies and design the systems. Smart material are essentially material systems with embedded technological functions. [...] Who then should make the decision regard-ing their use ? ‘( Addington & Schodek, 2005, p.25)

C: Lighting Design towards new fields of practice

The opportunity might lies here to open the doors for a new lighting design approach. When we think of the light as part of a bigger system creating performativ environments with different level of engagement, we might look on the direction of ‘interactive design’. Coming from a graphic design foundation, the terme ‘interactive design’ is born from the need to adapt graphic design to their new application through app and website development for interactive devices such as computer, phones, tablets, etc. Focusing on interface and the user experience, ‘interactive design’ is born from the digital revolution applied to graphic design.

With the computing of space, this trend is moving toward spatial experience, and regarding as the projects labeled under the emergent field of “spatial interactive design”, we note that light is used, as part of the interaction in the majority of them. It would be interesting to investigate how can fuse the culture of architectural lighting, used to deal with the concepts of spatiality, phenomenological and societal aspect of the light with the field of ‘interactive design’, more inclined to design experience through performative system with different level of engagements.

Finally, I would like to highlight a final field of exploration : if the condition of performativity with light relies on datas gathering, then it raises several question related to computation and programming: how to use data in the design process ? which data for what purpose ? which algorithm to chose? How a data driven process can help to give sense to our light experience with the space ? From my experience with 8’18” Lumiere, programming is an external process when designing dynamic light set up. The desired effect is communicated to a programmer in charge of the technical part. But this way of working is not what we mean with “design by datas”. The incorporation of the data into a design system, so the light can respond in real-time is an other kind of programmation. And I believe, that as we are able to develop thoughts through the mastering of a language, learning to code could unveiled new possibility for the light-ing designer who dare to look in this direction.


CONCLUSION

Since the apparition of electricity, lighting has always been deeply attached to technological change with significant social implication. The digital revolution marks the next step for an industry in mutation. With the miniaturisation allowed by the digitalisation of light, LED’s are becoming a ‘smart’ material direct-ly embedded into the architectural skins. Because they are easily and instantly programmable, they are transforming our perception of architecture, from a permanent and durable to a transient and fluid form of spatial experience. Coupled with other ubicomp technologies in the cities, like sensors and network based communication, they are opening to new way of connection with space, time, and people. Through the mediation of light, the urban space is able to respond in real-time to changes on the environment, transforming how people connect to the urban space with different level of event-based experiences, like ambient dynamic, responsive or interactive space.

At the center of all these changes, the atmospheric, memorable and embodied experience define key concepts that the new technology is aiming to support. Perception, from the meachnism of vision to a phenomenolical approach, guide in understanding the individual relashion to space and time, that can be applied to the new light technology as a spatial mediator. From spatial theories, that should be considered through the nocturnal spatio-temporal complexity, we can draw some ground to understand how space be-come place, an important element when considering engagement and social connection in design. Finally, Media theories offers insight on the societal and conceptual changes that urban space is facing whereas being pervaded by computation and datas fluidity. They can provide a valuable support to make sense of this transformation, and explore the environment as a source of information for designing new type of spatial connection.

From all this exploration, it looks like, lighting design needs to redefine itself, if the profession wants to take advantage of the possible innovation offered by the digital shift. Rooted on a cross-disciplinary ap-proach, lighting design has the potential to welcome other field of research on his perimeter of action. If traditionally linked to architecture, light could find a path for innovation in computation or interactive design, in a time where the Media Sphere is transforming our city at a speed we can’t even fully perceive. Because the light largely mediate this transformation, we claim that it is our responsibility as designers, to take the leadership in this domain and propose solution to make sense and bring meaning in this technological revolution.


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Figure 1 ( p.6) - Schematic view of white LED - Laurence Bourghol

Figures 2 and 3 ( p.8) : Fig.10 (p.22) - 8’18” Lumiere - Project : Pau - marche de la Republique - Laurence Bourghol (2017)

Figure 4 ( p.10) - Diagram : system in which light is acting as a ‘Smart Material’ - Laurence Bourghol

Fig.5 - ( p.13) - Illustration coming from Seitinger & Weiss, light for public space ( 2015)

Fig.6 & 7 (p.14)- 8’18” Lumiere - Lighting plans for the project Parc Chappelle Charbon in Paris - Laurence Bourghol (2007)

Fig.8 & 9- (p.15) - Illustration coming from Seitinger & Weiss, light for public space ( 2015)

Fig.10 (p.22) - 8’18” Lumiere - Project : Pau - marche de la Republique - Laurence Bourghol (2017)

Fig.11 ( p.23) - 8’18” Lumiere - Project : Pau - marche de la Republique - Laurence Bourghol (2017)

Fig.12 to 15 ( p.24) - 8’18” Lumiere - Project : Pau - marche de la Republique - Laurence Bourghol (2017)

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