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26 February The second “Enjoy Green Lighting” Salon tackled the topic of office lighting, as the Lighting Detectives tried to answer the tough question; What is comfortable, but enjoyable eco office lighting? Research on actual office lighting conditions and a presentation by guest speaker　Kouichi Kaiho of Nikken Sekkei, on the latest technology and natural lighting started the discussion on the future existence of office lighting. by: shunichi ikeda Now is the time for the “Eco Office” Results from the individual work space experiment. Meeting room at 300lx Guest speaker Mr. Kouichi Kaiho Keywords such as ecology, energy-conservation, and low carbon are all the hype across the globe, and now they are find their way into the office scene. In reaction to this paradigm shift, the Lighting Detectives sought out the latest in actual eco office lighting techniques and discovered these 5 points of interest. 5 Eco Lighting Methods Highly efficient sources of light -ex. LEDs or the latest in lighting fixture technology- Combination of task lighting ＋ ambient light -Reduce the lighting down to an individual level- Modulated light -Adjust luminance levels and color temperature according to usage.- Use of natural day light -Effective use of natural sunlight- Lower luminance level settings -Revise the amount of light actually necessary- From past attempts to incorporate day lighting to the use of LEDs and other new technology, several methods do exist and when used in conjunction with one another, can lead to…

Theme:Playback! Interviewer:　Bryan Yan This “coffee break” column is a bit different from all the previous ones. The change of style in this column is also corresponding to our interview topic – “Playback”! Since I have read the PAST issues, I decide to make some changes. Actually, the original topic is “Look back!”. After a discussion with Mr. Mende, “Playback” is more interesting. Playback – It’s straightforward. We are going to talk about the PAST. Everyone has their PAST. Some people are very afraid to look back and remember some bad memories. Bryan：Hello Mende-san! I’m long waiting to have a coffee break section with you today. People like you with a lot of achievements and experiences should have many things in the PAST that you would like to remember and look back. Taking this opportunity, I would like to listen to you because I love stories. Would you tell me which project you like the most in LPA’s thousand projects? Mende：Well, since I always try to enjoy and concentrate now and think about little bit near future, I am not good at remembering. However, if you ask me to choose, I would like to say it should be “Tokyo International Forum”. The reason is that it’s the first big scale project after LPA office was established. On the third day of establishment, we received a call from New York to invite LPA to be the lighting designer for this project. From…

28 Septmber 2007 Night Gazing in Yokohama …by: natsuko ueda It has been a long time since the Lighting Detectives have been walked Yokohama. This autumn evening 24 members participated in the walk, along with member of the Yokohama City & Urban Design Group. Our first stop on the tour was the Yokohama Marine Tower, not usually open to the public, but with special arrangements our group climbed to the top to view the night scene. The industrial area along the bay had an orangish glow from low-pressure sodium lamps, in contrast with the residential area, which had a whiteish glow from mercury lamps. The lighting surrounding Minato Mirai is a large part of the whole lightscape with signature lightmarks like the Landmark Tower, the colorful lights of the ferris wheel, and flood lights from the baseball stadium. Every direction in our 360-degree view presented a different story for the city. After climbing the tower and jumping aboard a boat to see the best of Yokohama nightscape from the water, our last stop was the newly opened commercial complex, Yokohama Bay Quarter, followed up by the all-important post-walk dinner and discussion. The Lighting Detectives were able to hear straight from Yokohama City & Urban Design Group about invaluable topics concerning the city and how the nightscape can become even more dramatic and dynamic. My impression was not just of a typical waterfront city with dots of light everywhere across the…

Interviewer: Yuta Shibata Shibata：Today I’d like to talk about memory and forgetfulness.   Since I started working at LPA, six months have passed.  Working as a lighting designer, I have found that memory is just as important as originality and creativity.   While working with several senior members of the staff, I have the impression that they have very good memorization skills.   I am not very good at memorizing things or trying to recall things. Mende：You sound like an old man.  Have you always been like that?  How about college entrance exams?  You have to remember a lot of boring facts and stuff. Shibata：Ever since I was young.  I had trouble remembering facts that would be on the college entrance exams, but I was good at math and physics, subjects where you think and solve problems through a thought process. Mende：I’m like that too.  I used to think that if I filled up my brain with arbitrary facts it would exceed capacity and I wouldn’t be able to produce new ideas.  But that’s completely wrong.  What is important for a designer is the power to imagine.  I have come to realize that memorization, good or bad, doesn’t really matter.  However, I am like you and had trouble with memorization and really suffered.  In grade school, history facts were always a problem and I made up phrases and rhymes to remember dates and events. Shibata：That is an interesting way to remember things.  I…

Did you know that there are over 1,200 members of the Lighting Detective spread across the globe? Seeking to foster connections among our international members, who rarely have opportunities to interact, we hosted our first-ever online talk event and YouTube video feed. For our inaugural event, we focused on the theme of “Nightscape in Your Town.” Four members from diverse locations—Swansea, Basel, Colombo, and Takamatsu—shared their unique perspectives on the night scenes of their respective cities. Our first speaker, Howie Ruan, is a doctoral student in Swansea, a seaside city in the southeast of UK. He shared beautiful photographs capturing the daily changes in the sky, the moon’s glow, and the long blue moment in this tranquil town. His presentation conveyed a deep appreciation for the distinctive beauty of European lighting, contrasting with his hometown of Guangzhou. Next, we heard from Michael Hübscher, a lighting designer based in Basel, Switzerland’s third-largest city. He discussed the evolution of Basel’s cityscape over its long history, as well as recent debates surrounding the sudden emergence of colorful façade lighting. I’m particularly intrigued by Basel’s unique carnival, where the city lights are extinguished and lanterns illuminate the streets. Our third speaker was Nilusha Rajapaksha, a lighting designer based in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. She highlighted concerns about light pollution and safety in popular tourist areas of Colombo, as well as the slow pace of LED conversion for street lighting. Her insights into…