
This month’s photo is from Miami Beach.
Date of Issue: June 18, 2025・Activity 1/ City Night Survey: Chandigarh, India(2025.01.15-01.19)・Activity 2/ City Night Survey: Hida Furukawa, Furukawa Festival (2025.04.19)・Activity 3/ Night Walk Vol.76: Tachikawa(2025.04.25)・Activity 4/ Round Table Discussion Vol.73: Review on Tachikawa(2025.05.27) City Night Survey: Chandigarh, India2025.01.15-01.19 Masafumi Yamamoto + Yuichi Anzai About 65 years ago, a vast area at the foothills of the Himalayas was divided into districts for government functions, commerce, education, and residences, with separated roads, creating a landscape completely different from other Indian cities. This survey takes a multifaceted approach to examine Chandigarh’s urban lighting and nightscape, while observing the natural light expressions inspired by Le Corbusier’s architecture. ■Light RaysFirst, I quote the words of Le Corbusier:“Chandigarh is planned on a human scale. It connects to the infinite universe and nature. It is a place for all human activities where citizens can live a rich and harmonious life. Here, the radiance of nature and the heart is within our reach.”A vast paved ground is moistened by a dense white mist. About 180 meters ahead from where I stand, the High Court building faintly appears. Its enormous facade faces east and west. The sky behind peeks from beneath the portico, and the rays of light passing through it gently caress the huge concrete pillars painted red, yellow, and green, casting the morning sun on the ground. In this city, I encountered several lyrical daylight scenes. I believe this is because the philosophy of Atelier Le Corbusier in Paris, who…
Singapore Night Walk@Geylang Serai Street Culture 2018/06/08 Mayumi Banno+Sunyoung Hwang+Sherri Goh Geylang Serai is one of the oldest Malay settlements in Singapore. The significance of early Geylang Serai lies not in its architectural features but in its reputation as the Malay emporium of Singapore, known to Malays in the Malay Archipelago including Malaya, Brunei and Indonesia. Geylang Night Walk attendees outside Wisma Geylang! Festive Lighting at the main street between Eunos and Paya Lebar. Gathering attendees at the crowded square outside the MRT station. Dark open plaza between two shopping malls outside the MRT station. ■Singapore Night Walk No.2 – Street Culture: Geylang A week before Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Lighting Detectives set out to see what the hustle and bustle in Geylang Serai was all about. The heart of the festival was set in the eastern fringe of Singapore. Boasting more than 800 stalls selling food, drink and wares, this old Malay settlement was swarming with hordes of people soaking in the festivities. We had 7 participants from the public meet at Paya Lebar Exit A at 1900h on Friday 8th June 2018. It was extremely crowded and we had a tough time looking to gather the attendees. After introductions, we set out to survey the open plaza area between the new malls at the station. Singpost Center had a structure at the entrance in celebration of the festival, despite it being out of the Malay village. There were no…
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…
Review of Kyoto & Sangenjaya Night Walk 2023.10.27 Yuki Ito Very lively discussion on the theme of darkness Today’s salon was a review of the night walk surveys focusing on the darkness of the city. It was a hybrid session with online participants from Kyoto as well. There was a friendly atmosphere in the LPA studio even before the session started, so much so that the students from Kyoto who participated online might have felt a little left out. Under the theme of darkness, we discussed what kind of darkness lurks in each area and what kind of light lurks in the darkness. For the Kyoto city walking review, the presentations focused on historical buildings and cityscapes unique to Kyoto. While some participants commented that they felt a sense of calmness in dimly lit spaces with only streetlights lining the precincts, they also discovered that some streetlights were too bright and were harming the darkness of the precincts. The LPA office was impressed by the keen perspective of the surveyors in Kyoto. Since the theme is darkness, the entire slide is finished in black In the Sangenjaya Night Walk Survey review, each group walked mainly along the greenway and talked about the various dark spots they found along the way. The opinions of each group were divided about the streetlights lining the greenway. Some said that the light blocked by the trees was not good for illumination, while others said that the…
Ever since the new library was finished I have wanted to go and see it, so 15 members of the Lighting Detectives gathered around dusk for the Tama Art U. campus version of a city walking tour. It is well known that the architect is Toyo Ito and furniture designed by Kazuko Fujie, but for the past 10 years Professor Satoshi Tabuchi has been coordinating the architectural and developmental planning of Tama Art U. Campus. In spite of his busy schedule Prof. Tabuchi was able to give the Lighting Detectives a private campus tour. The library was built on a hill and the first floor slopes with this natural incline. It was a little bit peculiar and although, I have experienced a non-horizontal park built by Arakawa + Gin before, a sloping floor aroused a slight strangeness. I was taken back to the feeling of running around in the sandlot as a child or walking uphill on a faraway. However, while the floor is sloping, all of the tabletops are level. As you sit and concentrate on your work or books you just forget about the sloping floor underfoot. Since we are the Lighting Detectives, out came the luminance meters to calculate floor, table top, vertical, ect. lux levels. I forgot the exact numbers, but tabletop luminance levels were right around 400 lux. This is a good number for super ambient up lighting to the ceiling. Floor lamps with oversized…
