Night Walk in Osaka!

Written by Ulrike BrandiLighting DesignerHamburg In March 2020 I sent out our annual spring card and wrote: Dear friends, As the beginning of spring and our spring card coincide with the spread of the Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2, I cannot send our card without comment.Fortunately, it is spring.A crisis is also an opportunity for something new, something better. This is my hope and I pay attention to every little sign. Could we create an economic system that is not so mercilessly based on inequality and growth? One that is not so sensitive to taking time off, being healthy, experiencing anxiety, protecting and caring for the needy, and reflection? Instead of returning to our “regular” way-of-life, I wish us all a more compassionate, loving, respectful, and unified attitude towards humanity and nature. In August 2021 I see: The world is on fire, as we can see from the satellite images of recent weeks. Floods and storms claim human lives, blackens the earth, driving people all over the world into long term existential distress. The global extinction of species continues unabated, and COVID-19 is also a consequence of increasing ignorance. In the face of these wide-ranging changes that challenge us, we emphatically desire to make an impact in order to live in a truly sustainable way. Lighting design is a small but influential profession. Our contribution can be impactful. Light pollution: Let’s minimize and avoid light pollution in all our projects by providing our…

2022.06.28　Kouki Iwanaga+ Xiaoyi Dong+ Hikaru Kawata Yokohama Minato Mirai, which has seen rapid development in recent years with projects such as Japan’s first urban circulation ropeway “YOKOHAMA AIR CABIN” launched last spring, the cruise ship terminal “Yokohama Hammerhead,” and the prestigious Hawaiian luxury resort “The Kahala Hotel & Resort Yokohama.” The purpose was supposed to be to investigate whether the “nightscape of Minato Mirai,” which could be considered a tourism resource in itself, has been well preserved… but. ■Relationship Between Zoning and Street Lighting The Minato Mirai area, which was developed on reclaimed land around Yokohama Port, can be broadly divided into three zones: the “Central District,” the “Shinko District,” and the “Yokohama Station East Exit District.” Among these, our survey focused on the Central District—with its high-rise buildings such as Landmark Tower and Queen’s Square Towers—and the Shinko District, which features many commercial and cultural facilities such as the Red Brick Warehouse and Yokohama Hammerhead. When examining the street lighting in these two districts, it was found that the streets running parallel to the Rinko trunk road and the Metropolitan Expressway were lit with sodium-colored lamps, while the streets leading toward the port, such as Icho Street and Keyaki Street, were illuminated with streetlights at a color temperature of 4000–5000K. At first glance, this color temperature plan, which changes according to the direction of the streets, appears well-organized. However, according to the building color scheme guidelines for the Minato…

When Conducting a Lighting Survey Interviewer:　Emiko Nagata Nagata： For today`s talk I proposed that we talk about what to do during a lighting survey, but this is a topic I really want to avoid. (ha, ha, ha…) Mende： What?! Nagata：Actually, for a while now I have felt very stressed out about what is expected to be gained from a lighting survey and what consists in the final report. After the several surveys that I have completed, the reaction to the final report was always very lukewarm… Mende： Hmmm?! Really?! Nagata：Especially the criticism about the pictures I took. Back then, what I thought was the purpose and relevant for a lighting survey was not what was expected from everyone else. From that point on I have questioned and thought endlessly about “what does one do when surveying light?!” Mende：Hmmm. So I bet you weren`t looking forward to the conversation today! (Ha, ha, ha!) I have always thought I was clear that the purpose of a lighting survey is not to take pretty pictures. That said, as a survey methodology, one should be able to take decent pictures. This is a bare minimum skill and forming a habit of brushing up on such skills to build one`s career is important. So, as a lighting designer, I think it is important to be able to take good pictures. Nagata：Yes, and when I go on a survey I get caught up in the formality…

2013.11.22-23 @Edo Tokyo Open-Air Architectural Museum As the 3rd children`s workshop to be held at the Edo Tokyo Open-Air Architectural Museum in Tokyo, the children crafted lanterns in the shapes of buildings and trees to create a miniature city of light after a parade through the park. Build town of light As a part of Autumn event “Light up Autumn Foliage at Edo Tokyo Open-Air Architectural Museum, we were invited to do children workshop. Theme of this time was to experience the dark and candle light, to make house shape lantern and to create a town. Lantern with shape of tree and house In two days, about 50 children and 63 parents joined this workshop. College student volunteers were responsible for preparing for the workshop and explanation on the day. Children chose from three shapes of tracing paper for lanterns. The most popular shape was tree lantern！！A lot of branches extending from a round base transformed into a fantastic forest。 A lots of founding during lantern making Children who participated were wide in age, even if template of lanterns were the same, each one of the completed works was different. The base of lantern was colored paper and tracing paper. Drawing a picture as they like on the base, using six color cellophane, using scissors to drill a hole, or changing to an entirely new form, children were able to think freely to create their original lantern.　With the limited materials,…

This excerpt is from an essay Mende contributed in December 2001. During a period of time, I often felt that my thoughts were rather unstable.  I had a habit of continuing conversations without coming to clear conclusions about whether something was good or bad, whether I liked it or disliked it. In essence, I had an indecisive personality that gauged the other person’s reactions while engaged in conversation. One could say this is typical of Japanese people, but I believe my profession as a designer contributed significantly to this tendency. We lighting designers have a job that involves listening to many people’s demands while skillfully handling contradictory conditions to solve a puzzle. It was after meeting Koharu Kisaragi that I was strongly compelled to reflect on this weakness of mine. Koharu Kisaragi, in complete contrast to me at that time, spoke about the light of the modern city with a strikingly fresh perspective.“I love glowing vending machines.” That was her first statement when we invited her to appear at the Lighting Detectives Practical Workshop Series that we organized in the fall of 1996. “Vending machines may seem to be everywhere in the city, but they’re actually passive. They can’t do anything on their own unless we humans approach them and access them. They don’t know what to do with themselves, and that blankness reminds me of urban Japanese people. Everyone is in a crowd, yet they’re alone…” she continued. At…