3-day Student Workshop
2023.09.16-09.18 Yumi Honda + Noriko Higashi
The second Lighting Design Camp by Kaoru Mende was held. This project is an intensive course to learn about lighting design directly from lighting design professionals over the three-day weekend in September. The 24 students from all over Japan spent dense three days together in lectures, city tours, discussions, and proposal writing.
Kaoru Mende/ Lighting Design Workshop, which started last year, was held again this year at the LPA office in Tsukuda for the three-day weekend in September, inviting university students from all over Japan. The staff held multiple meetings prior to the event to review last year’s program and enhance the content of the lectures. The program structure was also restructured to ensure uninterrupted concentration.
■Day1 Lecture & Night Walk Survey
In the previous program, the classroom lecture was concentrated on the first day.This time, however, the classroom lectures were divided into two days: Day 1 and Day 3. The first day consisted of 8 lectures, including lectures on the philosophy and concept of lighting design, basic knowledge of lighting – vocabulary and demonstration of light effects, lighting design process, urban environmental lighting, etc., as well as lectures on light pollution and lighting design in tourism area development by a guest instructor.
Although there was a break in the middle of the lecture, it was quite a long lecture, lasting four and a half hours. Each lecture explained lighting design from a different angle, and I believe that the audience was able to glimpse the multifaceted aspects of lighting.
After learning the basics of lighting, we were divided into four groups and each group went on a night walk survey to a designated area. The areas chosen this time were Monzennakacho, Yurakucho & Hibiya, Azabujuban & Roppongi, and Shimbashi & Shiodome. Led by LPA staff, the participants searched for heroes and villains of light in each area and freely exchanged opinions. The get-together after the town walk was a good opportunity to break the ice and get to know each other better over a meal.
■ Day2 Group Discussion, Panel Creation & Group Presentation
On Day 2, each group discussed the discoveries made during the night walk survey to determine the heroes and villains of their respective lights, and decided on the three best heroes and three worst villains at the end, which were then compiled into a panel.
The discussion methods varied from group to group, with some groups continuing to argue endlessly over their opinions, while others quickly decided on heroes and villains, but were at a loss for words to explain their findings. All groups ended up completing their panels just in time. The finished panels were unique and showed the characteristics of each group. During the presentations, the presenters seemed nervous, but they presented their arguments well within the allotted time. The proposals were diverse, ranging from realistic proposals that would be ready to be submitted, to proposals that would be difficult to realize, to proposals that were full of dreams. By creating proposals, students learn to analyze real-world problems, think about areas for improvement, and then put their ideas into a form and explain them in words. The students who participated in the workshop seemed to be exhausted even though it was only the second day of the workshop, as they had to input their knowledge and experience of lighting design and produce panels and presentations in just two days.
At the reception on the evening of the second day, the participants, who had become quite familiar with each other, were seen talking with each other beyond their own groups, and it seemed the good connection were being formed.
■ Day3 Lecture & Individual Assignment Presentation
The morning of Day 3 was the second part of the classroom lecture series. The lecture started with an overview of lighting of the future lighting environment, followed by practical lectures on hotel lighting, landscape lighting, and a newly introduced lecture on actual fixtures, in which participants were asked to actually tinker with the fixtures. I think the audience was able to listen to the lectures to the end without getting bored because of the variety of content. Especially, during the lecture with the equipment on, several students at a time stuck to the participating staff members and asked them questions one after another. They seemed to be interested in lighting fixtures that they do not usually see up close and personal. In the afternoon, the students gave presentations on their individual assignments. The participants were asked to choose one of the following five individual projects: 1) lighting design for Katsura Rikyu, 2) lighting design for Corbusier’s Savoie, 3) lighting plan for Asakusa, 4) lighting environment for a “house” or “underground space” or “convenience store” in 2050, and 5) a lighted tea house. The participants were required to submit one free proposal on an A3 sheet of paper in advance of the competition. On the final day, each participant will give a 3-minute presentation. This content is designed to develop presentation skills in order to persuasively explain one’s intentions and proposals. At the end of the workshop, not only the staff but also the participating students themselves vote to select the best presentation. Although this was a preliminary assignment, the participants seemed to be trying to revise their presentation boards and reorganize their presentations until the day of the workshop in order to brush up on the content, making use of their experience at the workshop. One proposal carefully expressed the phenomenon of light, while another shone with the precision of its preliminary research and the density of its proposal. It was very stimulating for both the participants and the staff to be able to share their own points of view and the aspects of light that each of them favored, in a group of people from different grades and departments.
The three winners selected by voting received LPA books as prizes. Comments from participating students included, “I didn’t know how much detail I should have made up,” and “I would have liked to have been taught more about how to express light and reflect that in my work. The students must have been really tired after putting in three days of hard work. The LPA staff was also exhausted. In the post-event survey, we could see that the participants had a fulfilling time. All of us at LPA are relieved that the 3-day workshop ended without a hitch, and we would like to brush up our management methods and programs so that we can hold even better workshops next year. (Yumi Honda + Noriko Higashi)
