The World Lighting Journey is a photo library of nightscapes and lighting environments from cities worldwide. Lighting Detectives hopes this database will be a catalyst for future discussion on urban lightscapes and local lighting culture. Lighting Detectives encourages all web viewers to send nightscape from your hometown to add to our ever-expanding photo library.

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Category: Downward View
Photo by: SHOMEI TANTEIDAN
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GLOBAL RESEARCH

SINGAPORE

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Singapore has been aiming for a nightscape that catches the viewer wondering, “Is this Asia or western Europe?” In this city of perpetual summer, lighting and air conditioning are necessities to be a modern city. Singapore’s intentions are clear as it aims to create its unique urban nightscape. Looking towards Victoria Harbor from the Millennium Tower at the clean, beautiful cityscape of this modern Asian city. Development along the riverside is progressing. Color lighting along Boat Quay creates a lively atmosphere at night as the lights amplify the refections and movement on the water. The facade of restaurants along Chjmes. This vertical plane of light creates a luminous street.

City Night Survey – Pu’er City Yunnan, China

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Nightscape in Jingmai Mountain2023.12.08 – 12.13 Kyoko Takubo + Hongna Chen Located on the southwest border of China, Jingmai Mountain is the birthplace of Pu’er tea, where the indigenous people have created an ancient tea forest cultural landscape, which was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in September 2023.While working on the project, we became interested in the local culture. So we decided to survey the villages at night and to observe and report the impact of tourism development on the local nightscape. ■Introduction Visiting Jingmai Mountain isn’t easy. First, spend the night in Kunming, then leave early morning for the destination by plane or train.We had planned to fly from Langcang Jingmai airport, but our flight was suddenly cancelled. So we had to travel to Pu’er by train and grab a cab to Jingmai Mountain.During our stay, we were based in Huimin Town where our project TEA CELLAR is located. We visited Nuogang Village, Wengji Village, and Jingmai Village to observe the people’s daily life and the nightscape there. ■ Nuogang Village Nuogang Village is a historic village of the Dai tribe, where the villagers have maintained their traditional lifestyle. The first floor of the house, with its distinctive gabled roof, is used for tea production and for the teahouse. The second floor with a tiled roof is a living space.The owner of the teahouse told us that the first floor is open to guests and the family…

KYOTO

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Kyoto is an ancient city of Japan that was planned based on feng shui, or Chinese divination. Although the streets of Kyoto are a typical gridiron pattern, unique spatial conditions derived from the machiya, or Japanese style townhouses, are found all over the city. All of these spatial features nestled into the city’s framework lead us to lighting environments only found in Kyoto. East of Kyoto, a frequented nightscape viewpoint, Shogunzuka looks out over the city. From this birds-eye view, street lights and other ground level lighting softly illuminate the volume of buildings in Kyoto, appearing as of more a cluster of shadows then light in the night. The Gion area of Kyoto. Here, traditional facades and buildings still exist and reflect the intention of the people to preserve and recreate the architectural and lighting atmosphere of this historical place. Instead of bright lights in this area, light is impressively filtered through cracks, crevices, or bamboo lattice of the buildings to spectacularly fulfill this area’s lighting requirements. Kyoto`s rich waterscape. Light from Pontocyo, along the Kamagawa River, filters out and reflects on the surface of the river, one of the many sophisticated nightlight waterscapes of Kyoto. 　　　　　　　　 KYOTO: A Multitude of Autumn Colors (2010.11) Autumn colors decorate the City of Kyoto every year with special illumination displays during the season. Moss, dew and other delicate natural colors standout during the freshness of daylight, compared to the fascinating illumination of fall…

YOKOHAMA

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Compared to many cities, Yokohama is a relatively open city. Even with large high-raise buildings close-by you don’t feel enclosed and the added factor of a waterfront can help make anyone feel refreshed. The continually changing point of view from the Cosmos World Ferris wheel is a great way to observe the city. The Landmark Tower is often thought of as the symbol of Yokohama, but the Cosmos World Ferris Wheel could be the runner-up. In the dark night sky the Ferris wheel draws a perfectly beautiful circle of transparent layers of light, adding a deep appeal to the Yokohama nightscape. Looking south from the top of the Yokohama Cosmos World Ferris wheel. The illuminated Red Brick Warehouse expresses its self beautifully as it blends with the surroundings area and the blue twilight settling in on the Yokohama Bay. Ohsanbashi Pier and Yamashita Wharf complete the background. Looking from the vicinity of Yokohama Customs towards the Landmark Tower. In this newly developed area space is comparatively open. With only a few high-raise buildings, and reflection on the water the city seems bigger than it really is.

TOKYO : ASAKUSA

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In front of the main gate to Senso-ji Shrine lies the neighborhood of Asakusa. One of Tokyo’s most popular entertainment districts, Asakusa flourished with kabuki, opera, and comic storytelling from the Meiji Era to the end of WWII. The Lighting Detectives discovered a variety of decorative streetlights and a lighting atmosphere fitting for this lively cultural destination. Upon entering the famous Kaminarimon, the Nakamise approach proceeds towards the shrine with bright-white, fluorescent-tube illuminated signage lining both sides. After navigating this corridor, walls of softly glowing lanterns come into view. The lanterns once lit with fire were replaced with incandescent bulbs and now fluorescent lamps. In popular neighborhoods like Shibuya or Roppongi, architectural facade lighting or neon signage fills the vertical space and “street lighting” is virtually non-existent. However, a variety of decorative streetlights festively illuminate the streets of Asakusa for a very fitting lighting environment. Pub signage and lanterns dispersed along the dark streets of Asakusa create an uncanny charm in this neighborhood. Roadway lux levels are a fairly dim 10-16 lx, but the red lanterns hanging from the eaves of establishments dig up affection for this old town.