2011.08.09 Lighting Detectives Office Lantern Making Workshop, leaning process of design As a summer event for elementary school student, we had a children workshop titled “enjoy light of candle” 12 children joined this workshop and learned design process, and each of them designed their own lantern and chose and build one. And after finishing their work, we enjoyed summer snoozing party at balcony.

Shomei Tanteidan Salon Review of the Kamata night walk 2017/09/06　Noriko Higashi We had a review of Kamata-town walking which held on the Premium Friday in the midsummer, when the town flourishes the most. How was the impression of night in Kamata? Discussion was carried out with 18 participants. Group leader presented the summary of the walk. Many opinions came from the first participants as well. Slide comparing the streets around the west exit of the station. Eatery with Showa feeling was unanimously selected as a hero. Internally illuminated panel in the entrance of the arcade became a hero with soft coloring Every member in the group thought the park in the residential area was a hero. When I asked participants about the impression of Kamata, there were opinions saying “A place that doesn’t bother to go, and hasn’t been explored yet”, “There are many Pachislot and Pachinko stores jumbling around, but doesn’t have bold flashiness like Kabukicho”, “Very convenient for being able to use 4 lines”, “Yuzawaya”. How did these change or didn’t change after the walking? The characteristic of Kamata mentioned in the salon was “active town that is very lived-in feel and prospers with many people at night.” I didn’t see lightings with unified design, but many of the lightings that coming out from restaurants and stores were attractive and called out for a long way, which was not uncomfortable at all. The lighting mentioned as Villain of…

Nightwatching Tour：Hachijo-Jima Island Tour to Experience Natural Light That Never Happened July 2nd, 2017Written by: Noriko Higashi Hachijojima Night Watching Tour, which was planned on the 2nd and 3nd in July. We were all super excited as the Light Watching Tour was planned for the first time in three years. Guess what happens to us? Although there are clouds on other islands, the island can be seen Flyer for the tour　 Hachijojima which was supposed to be under the eyes was covered entirely with clouds and fog, and we could not see any part of Island Glowing mushrooms, fireflies, sunlight falling through tropical rainforest in the summer, the sunset falling into the sea, and starry sky. Expecting to experience various kinds of natural light, we decided to visit Hachijojima for this year’s annual night view watching tour. Although it was right in the middle of a rainy season, we were blessed with perfect sunny weather in　early summer. There was also a forecast that the day would become the hottest day this year in Tokyo. To board a flight departing Haneda airport at 7:30am, our group of 12 members met up at a boarding gate at 7:00 in the morning. One of our members, supposed to be feeling excited, seemed worried and said “We might not able to fly.” “I heard that flights can return to Haneda airport even if they fly” said another. Flight status display showed our flight was…

Night Walk:Kamata Search for borders of Kamata’s lighting where is four train lines’ intersection and experiencing transformation transient 2017/08/25　Tomoya Furukawa+Simeng Huang+Shiho Narimoto+Eiki Takeuchi Kamata Night Walk MAP Kamata has variety feces. Does the border of lighting exist in Kamata? We devided JR Kamata line area into four parts and researched them. Bourbon road that has the Showa feeling Teaching tips of night walk for 5 people participating first time Entrance of the Sunrise Road, arcade goes through for 400 meters ■Group 1: JR Kamata Station-West exit, Tokyu line Group 1 went from Granduo West Building→400 meters arcade, “Sunrise Kamata” →”Sun Road”, place where canopy was first provided in 1965→”Bourbon Road” which has many attracting restaurants. Members were surprised of how dark it was around the entrance of the station when they came out from the West Bldg. There were no light dust on neither on the road nor vertical surface, and it was about 10 lux. Down lights under the eaves were not lighting up. Many people felt lighting should improve for safety and reassurance. On the Tokyu Plaza Façade in front of the station, there was an advertisement with LED emitting strong light, and a banner advertisement. However, there were some opinions saying lighting quantity of a banner advertisement was way less than the other lighting of advertisement, and was not so effective. Sunrise Kamata was reasonably bright because of straight tube type FL that directly lines with the…

Worldwide City Lighting Report in Copenhagen / Stockholm December 2-9, 2017　|　Written by: Hu Lin and Simeng Huang Located in high latitudes on the Northern Hemisphere, northern European countries including Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark are known to be very unique in terms of the seasonal natural phenomena – the midnight sun during the summer, and the polar night during winter. In this December, we went to some of the cities experiencing the polar night during winter to research lighting environment. Considering extremely long night hours can affect circadian rhythm, are city lighting and residential lighting in those countries designed to eliminate the problem? In this trip we closely looked at the light environment that are unique to Northern Europe, gained through observation of public facilities and residential lighting. Here is the research results. Christiansborg Palace Pole lamps at bicycle parking outside the Danish Parliament Catenary lighting illuminating the roadway ■Copenhagen, Denmark In Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, classic design and contemporary design co-exist, each divides the city into visually distinctive areas. An area across a canal is on a new development with various kinds of new buildings are being constructed. If you walk in this city, you will feel the history of Copenhagen and be convinced how this city takes creative culture so important. ■Classical Lighting Copenhagen is a city where you can feel its history reflected upon the classical architectural design and how they use light. The city is…

City Survey: Tsukiji, Tokyo 2017/12/14,2018/01/12　　Nemoto Isao + Masafumi Yamamoto　 Night view from the opposite shore of Tsukiji, across the Sumida River. Tsukiji Market on the middle, Tokyo Tower and Tsukiji Bridge on the left, and Kachidoki Bridge on the right. In this Tsukiji survey, we visited the inner market, where mainly wholesale is taking place, the outer market, where visitors can shop and eat, and also the Tsukiji Honganji temple and the Kachidoki Bridge which are popular spots for tourists. ■Luminous Environment around Tukiji Fish Market From the Kachidoki area on the opposite side of the Tsukiji fish market, you can overlook the entire view of the market, buildings such as Kachidoki Bridge and Tokyo Tower across the Sumida River. While we notice white light that comes from the market and surrounded buildings, the warm-colored light of incandescent lamps emitted from the fish handling facility facing the Sumida River on the opposite shore. This view is quite impressive, and creates an emotional and beautiful view during the night.This warm light from the market brings the sense of the history of Tsukiji rooted in this area for a long time. In contrast, the white light emitted from the group of high-rise buildings in the background seems to symbolize the momentum of the rapidly evolving city. Outside the market, there are more than 400 shops, and many shops still remain open after evening.Various light sources and lighting fixtures are used in each…

Lighting Survey：Kagoshima 2017/10/25-10/27 　Shunichi Ikeda + Yuri Araki Kagoshima city is a city which its urban area is integrated with nature and magnificent scenery, and it is also a tourist attraction that is represented by Sakurajima. It has scenery unique to Kagoshima city such as a view to Sakurajima, Japanese modernization asset like historical buildings, and urban scenery with slanted green area in the background. We researched the light environment of this highly regarding scenery formation area with Sakurajima as a main axis. Night view of Kagoshima seeing Sakurajima. There isn’t any color lighting or building advertisement on city in front of the Sakurajima. It takes 1 hour to get to central area of city from Kagoshima airport. It was very exciting and felt good to have a drive looking at clear sky, rich water and greens, and magnificent Sakurajima with rising smoke. When we arrived at urban area, we started from researching about urbanscape planning, so we visited city hall that is a little walk from statue of Saigou Takamori. After that, we checked up main roadways in central areas and parks, history and culture area, commercial area, etc, and started preparing for a research about lighting environment. Night view of Central Kagoshima station from the same observatory. There are color lightings and building advertisements. ■Night view of Kagoshima When the street lights started to turning on and the city was gradually taking on liveliness of night, Sakurajima gradually…

Lighting Survey in Mumbai 2017/10/02-10/07　　Mikine Yamamoto + Leon Hitsu　 We researched the biggest economic city of India, Mumbai. It is located west coast of India, which was used to call Bombay. This is the second time we researched this city since we last did in 2004. The goal of this research is to compare how its architecture and lighting have developed, and to compare with Navi Mumbai (New Bombay) developed as a new city of Mumbai. Dhobi Ghat is an outdoor laundry with more than 100 years of history. It is used as a laundry in the daytime, though people lived there and felt a sense of life in the nighttime. The contrast with the skyscraper in the background is very Indian. The building in front of the station. Building was carefully lit up with orange color. Mounting details. The hood was installed in the fixture in order to avoid glare when seen from the front Arriving at Mumbai hotel after the sunset, from the taxi on the way to the hotel, I only saw street lights that lit the street, and the city that was on the background looked dark and sunken. We expected that it was developed like China where a number of buildings lit up, but there was no building that was illuminated. The situation didn’t change even in the city, with only seeing street light illuminating the building a little. Entering the central part of the…

Night Walk #59: Tokyo Winter Lights Tour Let’s see around winter lights and cityscapes in central Tokyo! December 20, 2017　|　Written by: Yuriko Hagimoto, Shinichi Sakaguchi, Daisuke Miura, and Sho Kato Speaking of winter in Tokyo, variety of holiday lights decorate streetscapes at night. In our City Night Walk this time, we visited major holiday lights locations in central Tokyo and researched the reason why people are attracted by light displays. Green Christmas lights around Yurakucho station Christmas light displays are now established as winter tradition. Every year, variety of tasteful light decorations beautifully color cities up. We look forward to it so much that even TV news broadcasts lighting ceremonies. We the Lighting Detectives have held all sorts of City Walks in the past, but somehow we haven’t done ones that focused on holiday light displays, which is one of the biggest events that many people visit during winter. This time we finally had a City Walk event around Marunouchi and Roppongi districts to find out why people come to see winter light displays and if there were the villains of lighting. Winter light decorations at Tokyo station plaza Marunouchi-Nakadori, themed with champagne gold Existing street lamps utilized for the Christmas decorations ■ Group 1: Tokyo Station + Marunouchi area　 Group 1, composed of five team members with Mende leader, did a research about Christmas lights around the Tokyo station. We first went to Tokyo Station Marunouchi Square, and then…

Global Nightscape survey in Melbourne 2014.11.11-11.15　　Misuzu Nakamura+Haruka Sakoda　 For 4 years running, Melbourne has been chosen as the best place in the world to live. City planning has successfully focused on public space to build one of the world’s leading and charming cities. The cityscape is harmonious balance of old and new buildings. Main avenues lined with trees and lampposts are beautifully maintained, along with smaller alleyways, and even the waterfront along the river flowing through the middle of the city is carefully planned. We surveyed the Melbourne nightscape in search of the secret to its coziness. We can clearly feel the difference of lighting atmosphere between CBD area which is occupied with blacked-out buildings and surrounding local area which is covered by twinkling warm-colored street lights, when we look down from “Eureka Sky Deck”. The lighting plan of the city seems to have intent to differentiate business districts and cozy alleyways, using different color temperature as public lights. The waterfront area was well-maintained with designed pole lights and façade lighting from the surroundings, but some of tree lightings were by glaring spotlights. Many people were enjoying their walk along the river. We found a lot of “catenary downlights” in the city. Instead of pole lighting, catenaries covered large squares, wide intersections and narrow pathway between the building. When the night falls, the downlights looked like a starry sky. As we can see that so many people were gathering at…

@Lighting Detectives Office2017.03.16　Yuka Tamano A salon was held to review the night walk survey conducted at Sumida Aquarium in February. The discussion focused on whether the aquarium successfully embodied its dual themes of “Enchanting Light” and “Functional Light”. Discussion while reviewing the presentation slides. The presentations were led by each team leader A few new faces joining the night walk survey and salon for the first time On March 16th, a review of the Sumida Aquarium night walk was held in a friendly atmosphere accompanied by a seasonal spring meal. For the Sumida Aquarium walk, we divided into four groups and conducted our survey with an emphasis on “Functional Light” (lighting to see) and “Enchanting Light” (lighting to charm). While the findings had been briefly presented at the postsurvey gathering, the salon allowed for a deeper analysis with each group’s opinions compiled into slides. During this salon, many heroes unique to entertainment facilities were identified, but there were also villain”—cases where participants felt, “It’s a shame this exists despite the other good lighting.”First, many felt the staircase from the entrance to the initial tank was a hero, as it creates a crucial first impression that draws visitors into the facility’s world. Shimmering lights reminiscent of being underwater were projected across the walls, leaving a positive impression. However, turning around on the stairs resulted in a direct hit from the projector’s glare. While concealing the equipment in that environment seemed difficult,…

2017.02.15　Eiki Takeuchi + Kanako Zakoh This night walk shifted its perspective from the usual city streets to focus on how lighting is used to enhance exhibits. We explored the specific techniques behind these visual displays and investigated where “Lighting Heroes and Villains” might exist within such a setting. To study these indoor facility lights—which offer a different flavor compared to urban street lighting—we headed to Sumida Aquarium, located at the foot of Tokyo Skytree. A view inside the exhibit where you can observe penguins perched on the rocks from eye level The overall space is dark, yet light is precisely directed where it is needed ■Overall ImpressionThe night walk survey was a great success, with over 30 members gathered for the event. This time, we divided into four groups, with two groups each focusing on the themes of “Lighting to See” and “Lighting to Enchant.” Sumida Aquarium spans two floors (5th and 6th), with three different routes connecting them, allowing visitors to explore freely without a fixed path.While all groups started together in the natural aquascape zone, they eventually branched off to survey at their own pace due to the open layout. Since it was evening, the entire interior was bathed in a blue light for atmospheric effect. We were surprised by the complete absence of any unpleasant odors typically associated with indoor penguin and fur seal pools. In front of the “Ogasawara Sea Life,” chairs were provided, and we…

Workshop to think about ideal way of light and future way of “Forest of Ueno”2017/10/16,11/13-11/14　　Haruka Takano + Toru Mori + Nobuyo Sato + Masara Akiyama + Koki Iwanaga Lighting workshop at Tokyo National Museum. It was very precious experience to try out lighting plans January and February of this year, we held a city walking workshop named “Ueno-Night-Park”. This is the second one of it. We carried out a workshop in Tokyo National Museum experimenting ideal way of light that we considered at field work last time. Illumination experiment was carried out during “The second Tokyo Suki-Festival”, and this workshop enabled not only participants but also citizens to rediscover the potential and its value of Ueno Park. (Koki Iwanaga) ■The first night: Lighting experiment and making of proposalThis time, we took 3 days to make a lighting proposal for Tokyo National Museum by bringing ideas from lighting professionals to students, house wives, and a wide range of people. Content was to set up the lighting fixture at the Japanese Gallery, Hyokeikan Building and an approach to Horyuji Treasures and illuminate and give presentation on the last day.October 16th was the first night which was raining unfortunately. We started at 6 pm in Kuroda Memorial Hall, and moved to Tokyo National Museum and actually lit up the lighting fixture that was going to be used on performance. We confirmed each lighting fixture’s ability and characteristics by lighting from the second floor…

■Light Up Ninja Returns 2014.08.29-08.30＠School of the Arts Singapore (West Plaza Steps) Following a successful run of last year light up Ninja Event, this year was held in conjunction with National heritage board as part of the　Singapore Night Festival . This year theme was to encourage participants to “Come play with Light and Shadow” with some inspiration　from the summer festivals of Japan. It is held at local art school, School of the Arts (SOTA) which is also in the bustling art district of Bras Basah at the town area. The day of the event Many people visited the venue, School of the Arts Singapore Event poster The day of the event Over 40 members of lighting detectives and volunteers gathered at the location at 3pm on the first day, to have a run through of the flow of events over the next 2 days. After which we split into our respective to begin preparation work, expecting the event to start at 7.30pm. Even before the time, there are many passerby curious to what is the event about, and we have started to engage them. The turnout was better than expected as there was a period of heavy rain during the first day of the event, still the mood was not dampened after the rain. As there are many people queuing at the different installations that we have prepared when the rain had stopped, it is very encouraging for the detectives!…

2014.08.18-08.20　　　Noriko Higashi A 3-day workshop and Light Up Ninja event was held on August in Sao Paulo, Brazil. During the city walk we not only looked for hero and villains of light, but also discussed what kind of nightscape is needed in Sao Paulo since public safety and other issues are of concern in the city. During Light Up Ninja we illuminated one of the city’s iconic buildings, Copan, for two hours. This workshop was a great hands-on opportunity to not only exercised regular night walk, but we also debated and did actual experiments with several viable lighting proposals. Lighting plan that won 1st place in the lighting proposal competition was carried out. ■Workshop Venue：Copan The building Copan, the light up venue, was originally desinged by a representative Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and interrupted several times afterwards, but it was completed in 1964. It is a large building consisting of the largest number of households in the upper part and the commercial facility　lower part.　Copan is standing in the old town with parks, churches and banks.There were hardly any new buildings around, which seemed to be built from the 1960’s to the 1980’s. Workshop venue, Copan ■Day 1：Orientation Mr. Mende, chief of Lighting detectives,is giving a lecture. There were about 25 participants in the workshop.Most of them were either lighting designers and lighting manufacturers, and had a wealth of knowledge about　lighting.　However, they rarely have opportunity to discuss and learn lighting, so…

13th Transnational Lighting Detectives Forum in Kyoto Kyoto, a city literally has a meaning of ‘capital city,’ used to serve as a capital of Japan for centuries. This gives no surprise that city is full of 1600 over historical temples and sublime gardens attracting a number of overseas tourists. 13th TNT forum was held in this beautiful and historic city with a theme, ‘Heritage’ with 10 lighting experts and students from Kyoto University of Art & Design, Kyoto University School of Architecture Housing and Environmental Design + Ishida Lab, Kyoto City University of Arts Environmental Design Lab and Kyoto Institute of Technology Sakata Lab. The forum discussed for a better and more ‘Kyoto’ like lighting environment. Contents Lighting Detectives Forum had following four contents. ① Talk Event The Forum has two talk events based on the Forum common theme “Heritage”. ・Presen-Night “Kyoto+Heritage of Light” ・Talk Event “Light of Historical City – Mexico City・ Belgrade・ Madrid・Kyoto-” ② Student Workshop Group discussion on Kyoto Nightscape. ③ Light Up Presentation & Critique ・Light up the four areas and give presentation on design concept by students ・Critique for the light up by Lighting Detectives members ④ Party Two parties were held to thank people to support the evnet. ・Welcome Party ・Farewell Party Presen-Night　 June 8 @ The Museum of Kyoto Annex Hall Theme: “Kyoto+Heritage of Light” The Museum of Kyoto Annex Hall Presenters: -Kyoto University of Art & Design -Kyoto University School of Architecture…

2017.01.28,02/03　　Yasuhiko Higaki + Nozomi Yoshida + Mahiro Akiyama +Noriko Higashi Over two days, January 28 and February 3, the Lighting Detectives held a workshop titled “Ueno Night Park.” Ueno is home to numerous museums and a vast park that bustles with people during the day; however, at night, the foot traffic thins out, and it can hardly be called an attractive district. To find out why, we explored the area and brainstormed ideas together with participants recruited from the general public. Ueno Night Park was launched in 2016 (Heisei 28) to create nighttime vibrancy in the area. By collaborating with various cultural facilities that are increasingly extending their evening hours, the project organizes exhibition-related events and night-themed activities. Through these “Ueno Night Park” events, we aim to establish the habit of facilities staying open late and to promote the nocturnal charms of the area—encouraging visitors to explore not just the park, but also the Ueno Station vicinity and local neighborhoods like Yanesen. (Yasuhiko Higaki) This inaugural event was structured into two parts. The first day consisted of a Lighting Detectives orientation followed by a night walk survey with participants divided into two groups. The second day focused on evaluating and analyzing the lighting heroes and villains discovered during the walk, ultimately culminating in a lighting proposal for Ueno Park. Night walk survey route map Strategy meeting divided into groups ■Night 1: Group A – Around Shinobazu PondGroup A began by…

The 51st Regular Round Table Discussion＠Tanteidan Office 01. April 2016　　Noriko Higashi We reviewed the Yokohama Bashamichi and Isezaki-cho city night walk held in March 2016. Cherry river was the best hero. The original plan was to walk in two areas, two groups each, but one of the groups went off the course together with Isezaki Mall and so they summarized the experiences as well. A group took a vote. A group made their questionnaire and the member answered. Summary of the shop lightings in Bashamichi. The major comment on Bashamichi was the lack of proper night scape planning. Glary spilled light from shops were disturbing the view, and feature buildings and key functions such as zebra crossings were left unlit. The old gas lamps would have created a nice scenery in this area if lighting plan had been done properly. Another comment was on the contrast of bright and dark spots; it was good that the entire area was not too bright, but some spots were too dim to walk comfortably. Many also pointed that historical buildings should be enhanced by lighting. Some shops and streets had good lighting, and those were introduced as heroes of light. All the participants were disappointed that the special feature of gas lamps were not used in the best way. The groups from Isezaki-cho mostly commented that Isezaki was not so sophisticated as Omotesando, but the combination of chaotic, heartwarming and nostalgic lighting environment…

The 53rd City Night Walk in Yokohama Bashamichi and Isezaki-cho 18.March.2016　　Yuki Takeuchi + Eiki Takeuchi + Ginko Mochizuki + Huang Simen + Shinichi Sakaguchi We divided into two groups walked in Bashamichi and the other two in Isezaki-cho, Northside and Eastside of JR Kannai Station in Yokohama. Those two areas are geographically close but have different characters. ■Over 150 years old gas lamps and early modern architectures create nostalgic scenarios in Bashamichi. Most elements and buildings have been modernized to suit for urban life style in Isezaki-cho. Both Bashamichi and Isezaki-cho are on the same stretch of the city, but have totally in contrast of these characters. We started exploring those two areas to find Heroes and Villains of light, and to reveal what kind of light defines the character of each area. Contrast between gas lamp and shop interior light. ■Bashamichi Area Bashamichi was the first place that gas lamps were installed in Japan. Before those gas lamps were produced in Japan, people carried portable lanterns with candle light. We started the walk, imagining how people felt when they saw gas lamps at the first time. Group 1 started at Kannai Station. Arriving at Bashamichi and walking further down to the junction, first light to note was stadium lighting. We still had a long distance to Yokohama Stadium though, the LED light from the stadium looked very bright and stinging to the eyes. The gas lamps installed along Bashamichi…

Lighting Detectives Workshop in iLight Marina Bay 16.03.05-03.27　Quratuaini bte Jamil Each was a unique artwok module Lighting Detectives has been collaborating with iLIGHT Marina bay 2016 for our workshop. The theme for this year’s iLIGHT was In Praise of Shadows. This theme also coincides with our lighting design philosophy- being sensitive and appreciating shadows. Through this workshop, we hoped that everyone could appreciate light and shadow. We made a gigantic lantern comprised of little modules of artworks by participants and it was displayed as part of this iLIGHT 2016 event. This journey itself took an immense amount of effort. ■Collecting Materials (Collecting Mess). We hit a bump at first on where to outsource all of these materials. We were encouraged to use recycled materials such as toilet rolls, egg cartons, A1 printer rolls and wine corks. All of us collected materials from many places; cafes, schools, hotels, printer shops or just by walking around clothing shops of streets of Singapore. As the event time drew closer, abundance of materials came pouring into our office. We barely had space to walk past our office corridor! ■Endless Brainstorming. Our endless ideas came about two months ago, where we had many ideas of our own outlook on praising shadows keeping in mind to utilise items that we had collected so far. They are then collated together by LPA staff which with chief detective Mr Mende’s suggestions became a base point of our final…