DATS Breakoout Sessions

We had a fantastic opportunity to attend the Design, Arts and Technology (DATS) Symposium which was hosted at UNCG this year. the DATS event is a gathering of local, regional and national artists, designers and creative technology specialists who assemble to discuss and their creative endeavors. It was a truly amazing experience for budding creative types.
Among the many events that were conducted for the attendees, I went to two interesting breakout sessions. The first was entitled "Marketing for Creative Professionals"; the session speakers were Mick Ebeling of The Ebeling Group, a group of multi-media artists represented by Ebeling, Maggie Orth of The International Fashion Machine, a creator and inventor of interactive textiles, and a representative of the Center for Design Innovation based in Winston-Salem, NC. Ebeling's basic message was that as creative professionals, we mustn't underrate our particular skills, and that we must always seek to differentiate ourselves from the competition, playing to our particular strengths. Orth spoke more about her specific developments with the interactive textile and their potential future applications. The rep. from the CDI discused how that group is working with area school and businesses to create networks within the Piedmont-Triad region to further the growth of the area.
The second session I attended focused on sustainability in the NC region. Among the speakers were Dennis Quaintance who owns the Proximity Hotel, NC's first LEED-certified (pending) hotel. Also speaking was Frank Harmon of Harmon Architecture, an NC-based architecture frim. Harmon talked about the effort his firm spent on designing a Beaufort, NC-located learning center for Duke University, and how that structure reflected much of the coastal region's input on architecture from the turn of the 20th century. These were critical concerns regarding the placement and orientation of the building that contributed to its energy efficiency and use. Quaintance discussed the frustrations that they dealt with on a daily basis during the construction of the hotel, and the difficulty they encountered in finding products and contractors that would fit into the LEED template.

Sketch Series 2: The Weatherspoon

The Weatherspoon Gallery

The space that I chose to observe in the Weatherspoon was the upstairs hallway outside of the main gallery exhibition space. It is a hallway approximately 110 feet long, with a clerastory-type skylight built into it that runsa the length of the room, sloping to the south. There is a hanging hall-length light fixture that holds 48 inch fluor. bulbs that is aimed at the north wall. This wall is bare, and I believe it is for exhibiting artwork; the fixture is intended to light this work. There are three wall sconces at the far end of the south wall, but the majority of the room's light comes from the room-length fixture or from the skylight during the daytime.
The room has a bright and evenly-lighted feeling and mood, and there are no spectral highlights or shocking hot spots. I believe that this is a well designed lighting solution for this space, and I honestly cannot come up with potential improvements for, as it seems to accommodate quite nicely the needs of the space.

Sketch Series 2: The Stone Building

The Stone Building - Lobby Outside Dean's Office
The area outside the dean's office in the Stone Building is a rather dated terrazzo-floor-and-engaged-column assortment/hodge-podge with an overall flesh-toned color scheme, save for the panels below the chair rail, which are painted with a slightly faded pine green. There are five glass-faced display cases that line both sides of the entrance hall, with the doorway of a meeting room on the left side of the hall. The architectural details of the interior space are classical in origin and style, with simulated engaged columns that have heavy fluting that intermittently line the entrance hall.
Keeping with the style of the columns (classically influenced), the lights come in two varieties.The first is a slightly modern version (early 20th cent. Deco-ish) of a chandelier; it has a single, pan-shaped glass lens that hangs below the brass tubing and chains that suspend it. Though I can't tell from underneath, it appears to have CF bulbs in it. There are two of these fixtures in the hallway. The other light source is a pair of sconces in the front foyer of the immediate entrance. They are half-cylindrical frosted glass lenses with brass fittings top and bottom. I think that there are fluorescent bulbs in these sconces. There are also lights inside the display cases for the objects inside them.
Regarding improvements, I feel that the space only basically lit for the purposes of walking through it, and of general entrance and exit. In general, I feel that the space, at least architecturally, is too stodgy and formal, and the lighting design seems to follow this design cue. The lighting is low-key on purpose in order to match the classical and stoic nature of the formal columns and trim work. In short, it is boring. The entire entrance space is dull and ineffective at recalling the true classical cues it attempts to reflect, and there is too much 20th century influence to bring it off. Terrazzo is a great material, but its use with classic elements muddles the final creation in a "polychronistic" fashion that does no service to any of the elements used, together or alone. The rooms upper corners "get lost" very easily, and the shape of the space seems awkward for entrance and egress. The improvements would start with a) a different paint/color scheme, b) different architectural details (no columns), and c) a contemporary lighting solution. Currentll the space is dark and stiffling.

Sketch Series 2: Barnes and Noble

The Retail Space

The space that I observed was the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Friendly Center. I chose to analyze the the lighting set-up in the coffee shop located in the back of the store. The general lighting throughout the space is provided by two primary sources: in the raised-ceiling center section of the store, the lights are recessed, flush-mounted can-type fixtures that appear to have CFL bulbs, or perhaps halogen-type bulbs (they have a slightly blue-ish hue common to fluorescents) and around the perimeter of the raised ceiling area, there are can-type fixtures with 75-100w floodlight bulbs. In the main aisle of the store, there are three large faux-antique chandeliers. The translucent nature of the shade on these fixtures casts a warm and soft. On the columns that surround the raised ceiling section, there are sconce fixtures that match the same style of the chandeliers. The light from the chandeliers and sconces is not very bright or functional; they seem to be purely for mood and accent.
In the coffee shop, the drop ceiling-mounted floodlights provide the bulk of the work/task lighting. At the perimeter of the seating area, there is a boundary of bar-type work desks which are lit by the same floodlight units, but the ceiling above the bar area is two feet lower, which make s the cast of the floodlights stronger on the work surfaces. This makes for an excellent work area.
Since the daylight at the front of the store doesn't significantly penetrate to the back of the store, there is minimal contribution of natural light to the coffee shop area. Since the floor of the coffee shop is raised, patrons can see outside, but not be negatively influenced by outside glare and reflections. Regarding possible improvements, there are two walls in the back of the coffee shop that would greatly benefit from some additional lighting. One of these has artwork on it that is seriously underlit. The other is a vast and tall expanse of wallpaper that has neither art or good lighting, and it draws the eye because it feels like a vacuum . More like a black hole, it needs something to bring it into the context of the shop itself.

Sketch Series 2: The Restaurant

El Carreton

The space that I observed was El Carreton restaurant on the corner of Tate and Walker Streets. The most dramatic examples of light (both natural and electric) can be seen on the enclosed patio area. Facing south, the glass wall dominates the room as a light source and provides a great view of Tate Street.
Regarding the natural light, the southern exposure affords this space an amazing amount of clean, crisp light for nearly all tasks in the room. I am surprised that the manager even bothers to turn on the lights in the daytime; there is no need for additional illumination. On the very sunny and warm days, the direct light into the space makes sitting near the windows somewhat uncomfortable.
The electric lights in the space are found in two different types of fixtures. There are three ceiling fans that have four light sockets each, using standard 60w incandescent bulbs. While I was there, 3 out of 12 bulbs were lit. The other electric light source consists of two strings of socket fixtures that run along the length of the room, about two feet out from the walls. Again, not all of the bulbs were lit. These fixtures are very simple, with a pressed tin shade that directs the light down toward the floor.
The light, throughout the day, moves across the room, east to west, with the shadows arcing across the floor and furniture. I imagine that the winter shadows (now) are longer than those in the summer, which will decrease the light penetration into the space. This will also influence the room temperature. These shadows fall primarily on the painted, off-white concrete floor of the patio. I can tell that the use of the socket string lighting lends a feel of outdoor patio lighting, which definitely works with the mood of the space. There are also several (3-4, depending on direction) that contribute to the overall illumination and mood/color of the space.

LIght Series 1: March 1, 2008

Late morning, March 1, 2008

This image was taken around 11am in the beginning of March. The sun has moved up in the sky just far enough to leave most of the porch in the shadow of its overhang, with just a bit of the porch floor exposed, causing some reflection up into the east windows (note the glare on the cloth drapes on the front door). I imagine that this is why my brother's ex-girlfriend put these drapes in place; without them the front door/window glare from the morning sun is harsh and unpleasant.
Since the front of the house faces due east, the sun casts more light into the gap between our house and the house to our south, which brightly lights the side of our house. I have realized that the light coming in from our south neighbor's house is actually light that reflected off of our house first, then onto theirs, and then into our windows. I can only imagine what the light is like in their north-facing rooms. Maybe that's why they never open their blinds...
I know that the light reflecting off of the house to our north absolutely cooks the north-facing rooms in our house; my bedroom has a window on this face, and I have to keep the blind almost fully shut throughout the day during the summer, or else the temperature of my room goes up 5 degrees.
As stated in previous posts, the light coming in from the south window is being controlled (barely) by the blinds hanging in that window. The light on the front porch in fairly strong, yet the 'calm' level of light in the room in general has a balanced feel and is thermally controllable.
We must do something about that hideous lamp...what a fiasco.

Light Series 1: February 16, 2008

Afternoon, February 16, 2008

This image was taken around 5pm on a day when there was some overcast and rainy weather in the area. The light coming in was so low that I had to use a flash to get this picture; there wasn't enough light in the room to shoot without it. The amount of light coming in from the south-facing window shows the difference in the light intensity when there is no reflected light coming from the house to our south. As this was in the late afternoon, there was no significant light coming in from the east (to the left), particularly because of the porch and its overhanging roof. The front of the house tends to get dark the fastest over the course of the day.
I had not realized until this series of light environment studies just how significant the effect is of light coming from reflected surfaces, such as the houses surrounding ours. In images like this, I can see the obvious absence of the fill light that comes from the house to our south; I imagine that this type of influence (cloud cover limiting the reflectivity of the adjacent house) would directly inform the placement and architecture of a building within a specific region. A house in Seattle or Portland may very well have different light needs based on the average yearly cloud cover compared to a similarly sized house in a sunny region like Texas or Arizona.