Passion for light: How it affects my (and your) world.

Retief Coetzer, MIESSA (ALP)

Beka Schreder

PO Box 120, Olifantsfontein, Johannesburg, 1665 e-mail: r.coetzer@beka-schreder.co.za

Phone: 011 238 0191

Abstract The paper will discuss how passion in a broad sense affects any subject from inception of an idea to the evolution and development thereof. It will show that nothing worth doing is done without passion and will finally discuss how passion for light and the science of it, affects the designs produced by lighting designers, such as myself and inevitably all lighting designers globally. 1. Introduction

The objective of this paper is to provide lighting engineers and lighting designers… and in a sense any person with a passion for what they do, a better insight and understanding in how important passion is. Not only in a notional sense of being passionate for something but rather also how important a role it plays in the inception of ideas, the development of ideas into tangible, beautiful and functional designs/products and how passions’ very nature can (and almost always is) be contagious. 2. Passion

According to the Oxford dictionary, passion is “An intense desire or enthusiasm for something”. Passion, in a broad sense, is common place in every single person in the world. Be it passion for flying, playing golf, painting and sculpting, cooking, the list is inexhaustible. It is, in my opinion the single most powerful emotion that can drive people to create the most amazing and awe-inspiring products/designs/art that has ever been seen. It is a creative force that allows the one experiencing the emotion to be creative for the sake of creativity, and not for the sake of monetary or any other form of reward. Passion is the reason we, as a species, have been able to do things that are not natural to us. In fact, without passion I am almost certain that no technology today would’ve existed. We would not be able to fly, drive, see at night, go to space, communicate over long distances, enjoy art, enjoy food etc. etc. 2.1 Passion as the driving force for technology It would be almost impossible for me to delve into passion for every topic and technology, so I am going to choose one topic specifically, the humble lighter. I hope to show that passion, and not simply necessity, played the biggest role in changing the delivery of fire from bashing 2 rocks together to what we have available today. I will, in quick progression, try and show the evolution of the lighter and the delivery of fire, and therefore heat and in turn, light.

2.2 Humble beginnings. Smart beginners. Johann Wolfgang Dobereiner was a German chemist, who had a very humble beginning in life. He was born 13 December 1780, the son of a coachman. He was apprenticed to an apothecary where he discovered a love and passion for science. He eventually became a professor at the University of Jena in Germany and is best known for his work that foreshadowed the periodic law for the chemical elements. It was not his passion for creating fire that created one of the first lighters but rather his passion for science, which took him on one of many ventures that eventually led to the invention of one of the first commercially available sources of self-contained ignitors. Dobereiner's "Lighter", invented in 1823, was known as "Dobereiner's lamp", which was also called a "tinderbox" or "Feuerzeug" in German. Its process used zinc metal reacting with dilute sulphuric acid in order to create hydrogen gas. When a valve was opened a jet of hydrogen was released onto a platinum sponge which catalayzed the reaction with atmospheric oxygen, heated the catalyst and so ignited the hydrogen, producing a gentle flame. It's said that in the 1820's over a million of these "tinderboxes" were sold. Unfortunately the “tinderbox” was also quite dangerous and volatile. One wonders how many fires might have been caused by it? 2.3 Evolution of the lighter, in quick succession. After Johan Wolfgang Dobereiner’s invention, the proverbial floodgates were opened and a reasonably quick evolution of the technology ensued. In 1903 Ferrocerium was patented by Carl Auer von Welsbach. Ferrocerium is often misidentified as flint. When Ferrocerium is scratched, a large and hot spark is produced, which can then ignite a range of fuels as used in lighters today. Using Welsbach’s “flint”, companies like Ronson developed practical and easy to use lighters, such as the Pist-O-Liter released in 1903 and the “Wonderlite” in 1910, which was a permanent match style of lighter. The legendary Zippo lighter company was founded by George G. Blaisdell in 1932 and has not changed much in mechanism or design even today. The only major change with regards the Zippo was the fuel used. Originally it used Naphta and in 1950 was changed to Butane. The Zippo also still carries the Life Time Warranty and is marketed as Wind-Proof. Using this new fuel is also said to have led to the use of the piezoelectric spark, which meant the need for a flint wheel was negated. Piezoelectric discharge refers to the compression of certain materials (such as crystals) which results in the build-up of an electric charge and the eventual release thereof. This invention eventually led to the use of this technology in what is today referred to as the “electric lighter”.

There follows a range of technologies in this industry, and each one more ingenious than the other. Other technologies are Flameless lighters, Catalytic lighters, Automobile lighters and

Electric Arc lighters. 2.4 It took passion! I know I chose, what some might consider a very boring technology, to make a point quite clear… And that point is that, was it not for Johann Wolfgang Dobereiners passion for science, and his willingness to pursue the inception of the ideas that the love of science instilled in him (and many others like him), we might not have the technologies available today to ignite a lighter or a light-bulb in the many variations of ignition. It took “an intense desire or enthusiasm” for science, for the sake of science in order for this and many other technologies to evolve and improve in both concept, design and functionality. 3 Lighting design – Richard Kelly On 10th January 1906, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) was established as a non-profit learned society in New York City. Their mission statement to this day still is “to improve the lighted environment by bringing together those with lighting knowledge and by translating that knowledge into actions that benefit the public”.This is an amazing statement and one that smacks of passion for light, lighting and the proper application of the knowledge of light and lighting to the various environments that would benefit from it. Richard Kelly was one such a lighting designer. He had an absolute passion and deep appreciation for the artful, skillful and correct application of light to the environment it was to be purposed to. He is also quoted as saying “There weren’t lighting consultants then. Nobody would pay for my ideas, but they would buy fixtures”. Its so very important to realize how much that quote is actually implying. It shows that those who bought the fixtures really only associated value to the fixture itself rather than to the application of it. And once one realizes that it is in the correct application of the fixture, that the purpose of both the fixture and the environment to be lit, is realized. Therefore the “idea” or today rather the design, is to a great extent much more important in realizing the fixtures full potential than the fixture itself. Richard Kelly was a man so dedicated to his work, and he carved out such a name for himself in his specific field of lighting design/consultancy that after his death in 1977 the IES established the Richard Kelly Grant in his name, in order to encourage creativity in lighting among young people. I would like to propose that creativity is the offspring of passion. And that without passion, creativity would find no foothold in anyone, for anything, ever. By the 1950’s Richard Kelly’s work in lighting design had led him to coin the terms ‘focal glow’, ‘ambient luminescence’ and ‘play of brilliants’ to describe particular effects in lighting design. Some of his most notable lighting design projects include

the David H Koch Theatre (then New York State Theatre). Glass House. Kimbell Art Museum. Seagram building.

David H. Koch Theatre at night - Exterior

David H. Koch Theatre at night - Interior

The Glass House – New Canaan - at night - Exterior

Kimbell Art Museum – Interior

Seagram Building - Exterior

Richard Kelly “Lighting is such a large part of the visual arts-architecture, most of all - that I’m sure the best

we can do today will be inadequate tomorrow...” Richard Kelly, 1958. 4 How passion for lighting affects my world As you can see in the images above, I am sure you will agree that none of the brilliant (and purposely functional) visual effects and emotional responses would have been possible, was passion not the key driving force. Passion by the architect, the artist and the lighting designer. In this case I would like to focus on the lighting design aspect and more specifically, me, and how passion for light and lighting have influenced and influences still, my life as a lighting designer. I can’t go anywhere anymore without looking at lighting installations and having an opinion, most of the time audibly, about them. Some installations are wonderful, others simply functional and then, unfortunately a lot of them seem even to the untrained eye to be haphazard and makeshift. This mindset I think is now forever part of me, as a lighting designer in training. Having started my adventure on the path of knowledge of lighting and application thereof at Beka-Schréder, I have come to realize that I know nothing. I have only started chipping away at the proverbial “Ice-Berg”, yet I intend to carry on, indefinitely. This is because I love every aspect of it. My passion for lighting has had a very positive effect on my world. It affects me at home and at work, and mostly it challenges me, as an individual, in my character and approach to everything. You see, lighting design has at its core, a very methodological approach. First we assess what needs to be accomplished, then we formulate a plan of action. We look at the tools available to us in order for us to efficiently and as quickly as possible, realize the project. Tools such as the luminaires (both HID and LED), the software packages (AGI32 and ULYSSE, Relux, Dialux and a variety of CAD programs) and finally the environment itself.

At the start of my tenure at Beka-Schréder my designs were crude and fraught with mistakes. This showed my lack of knowledge and understanding of light. But with good guidance and self-critical analysis, this all started to change. I learned and applied, and like any good shampoo would indicate, I repeated if necessary. I started growing in my knowledge of application and the theory behind it. I love learning about everything that lighting design must incorporate and take into consideration. Things like daylight, carbon footprint, lighting power density, reflectance factors, maintenance factors, V-Lambda curve and the list goes on. 4.1 Crude beginnings When I first started designing my approach was very basic and simply functional. I tried doing what was required and worked only to be as fast as possible whilst trying not to make any mistakes. The designs were very basic in both the way it was presented and with regards the information available for the client to digest. Below is an example of one of my very first street lighting designs.

Only kidding, but Im sure you’ve seen installations very similar to the one above and wondered to yourself, what was the point? The following image is one of my first designs.

Plan view of design

4.2 Getting there… Now, almost 3 years later my approach still takes time into consideration but also my thought process has changed to take into consideration how the presentation looks when first opened, what information is displayed, can I build a decent 3D model without wasting time, will the client understand the information presented etc. Below are a few examples of what my designs look like now, and how I try to present something that could potentially be understood easier by someone who relies on our knowledge and might not themselves, have the knowledge to interpret lighting applications and calculations.

Plan view of design

Magnified Luminaire and Calculation summary

Magnified Luminaire Location summary

Plan view of 3D rendering

Isometric view of 3D rendering

Street level view of 3D rendering

Perspective views of photometric web particular to optic defined

As you can see, the information available now, 3 years on, is substantially improved compared to the first design 3 years ago. The client can get a “feel” for what the installation will look like once installed. The client will understand how the optics within the luminaire system help to optimize light spread and so increase spacing between poles, cutting costs. With the 3D renderings the client can also better interpret the setback position of the pole, although with Ulysse 3.3.1 which we use in conjunction with AGI32, in order to accurately determine best spacing for an installation, the client will have no confusion as to the setback, outreach and overhang. And these are only the Road lighting designs. I have not touched on Facades, Industry, Commercial etc. This paper will become too long should I go into all of it.

5 How passion for lighting affects your world Finally, I would like to discuss how passion for lighting as a lighting designer, affects the world for everyone else. There is quite obviously a need for lighting design. But good lighting design is something completely different than simply determining how many luminaires to use in a room… Passion for lighting enables the lighting designer to take into account the total cost of the installation and how with optimization, the client can realize savings with regards initial capital cost and ROI period, before eventually realizing continued savings. The lighting designer also takes into account how other factors can influence the client’s “pocket” and he/she tries to lessen that financial impact at every turn. We use daylight to reduce the illuminance produced by the luminaire during the day, further cutting down on costs. We recommend best practice such as lighting controls and programmable ballasts, again to further reduce costs. Passion for lighting allows the designer to try and promote cost effective design for the client, whilst still providing installations that provide and promote visual comfort, reduced glare, safety, beauty and function. It is of paramount importance that the installation the lighting designer works on adheres to standards in order to facilitate safe movement and practice, whilst in very many designs also being beautiful and complimentary to the architecture of a building or area, without the luminaire becoming the “centre of attention”. Light, in my opinion must almost always be purposely complimentary, enhancing and delicate. 6 Conclusion

Passion, along with necessity, drives everything and drives it well Nothing worth doing is done without passion Passion for lighting can create some of the most wonderful works of art Lighting designers need to be passionate Lighting design is essential to good installations Passion for lighting is the key difference in designing something and designing it well Lighting design affects all where the design has been applied

7 References

1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/johann_wolfgang_dobereiner 2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/lighter 3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/piezoelectricity 4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/illuminating_Engineering_Society_of_North_America 5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/richard_kelly_(lighting_designer) 6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/david_H._Koch_Theatre#/media/File:New_York_State_Theater_at

rium_by_david_shankbone.jpg 7) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/david_H._Koch_Theatre#/media/File:The_David_H._Koch_Theat

er_at_Lincoln_Center_photo_D_Ramey_Logan.jpg 8) https://www.google.co.za/search?q=the+glass+house&espv 9) IES Instructors handbook