It is Friday night in the former Beatles- city. Around 150 people are gathered in the Contemporary Urban Centre in Liverpool for a full day conference on "Light and Scale" and the project presentations of the results of the PLDA workshop. After the conference, the participants stream outdoors to see the results for real. The first project is not far away; it is the CUC itself.

The American lighting designer Brian Mosbacher and his team tell the story of the building on its main facade. The big arches, formerly used for freight elevators, are illuminated in bright white and symbolise the original use of the building as a cotton warehouse. The massive brick stone façade is lit in a very warm orange and gives the sober building a welcoming appearance. The windows on the brick stone façade are backlit in a strong blue to white and symbolise the name of the project: “Jump Start”. The refurbishment of the CUC has recently been finished and now the building accommodates architects offices, galleries and other cultural rooms.

The workshops topic of "Light and Scale" embodies "human scale", too!
The two Swedes Jöran Linder and Erik Olsson presented this message in the conference in a unique way. But the two Swedish lighting designers do not only have a theoretical understanding of the topic. They really know what they are talking about and provided proof of this. Every bigger city has, aside from areas where better situated people live, its socio-critical areas. Great Georges Square is located in one of these areas. Before the PLDA Workshop came to Liverpool the square was unfriendly looking and too dark, lit only with sodium light. Now pools of light of various sizes line the path and guide you safely through the former empty square, which has gained in structure and content. The square is framed on one side by a concrete wall with metal benches. These were lit linearly from underneath and define the one edge of the square. On the opposite there is a small concreted playground which is roofed by an old big tree. Within the workshop the tree was decorated with empty bottles painted by children from the adjacent primary school. Each of the bottles contains a child's wish. Humans scale is not only evident through the tree concept but also in the lighting of the front doors. In England residents often have different coloured front doors. These are illuminated discreetly thus involving the people in the neighbourhood in the space and in the project. The large illuminated trees around the square also decentralise the overall picture.

Great George’s Square is not the only workshop project in Liverpool which is located in a Housing Estate. Under the eyes of the massive Anglican cathedral there is another residential area. This area is sparsely lit, only with high and low-pressure sodium light, which swamps the area in yellow light and destroys the environment. Isabelle Corten and her design team had the task to make this area more appealing and safer for the residents. With carefully deployed accent lighting and clever gobo projections, the area became a more human-oriented space.

A very different atmosphere was created by the German lighting designer Michael Schmidt and his group at the Entry to the former Cemetery, St. James’s Garden. On this project the goal was to generate a creepy, mysterious atmosphere. Looking down to the cemetery, from the entrance of the small path going down to the garden, you see a blue and turquoise collection of gravestones and a gobo projection. The focus is also on a red tree that seems to disturb the overall view. Walking down the small path you have to walk through a tunnel which guides you to the “underworld”. This tunnel is lit in a very mysterious red–orange colour. From the end of the tunnel to the garden it is pitch black. Standing in the garden and turning left you can see a completely different scene than that from above. The blue and turquoise gravestones cast big shadows on the surrounding stone walls, the gobo projection provides some light and if you are brave enough to take a few steps into the “graveyard” you discover a very beautiful gravestone, which is the only one that is lit directly. On the left there is a small cave with a fence in front which also throws light onto the scary scene.

Leaving the entrance to the garden you follow a dark path to the centre of the St. James’s Garden. After a few steps you discover a wall on the left side which seems to be lit. Taking a closer look, you realise that there is not just a wall which is lit. There are several arches in the heavy stone wall which are former entries to the cemetery. They are all discreetly lit. In one of the arches there is a natural spring in which you can see several layers of stone. In front of this arch there is a small pond in which this beautiful scene is reflected. Going along the wall you find smaller arches with gravestones in front. These arches are lit in green and dark purple. In the middle of the scene there is a big memorial. It is the William Huskisson Monument. The statesman was killed by the first railway locomotive (by George Stephenson named “Rocket”) in 1830. The monument is lit from the inside. Light emitted through the ring of windows around the roof makes for keen competition for the sodium lighting. Lisa Hammond and her design team did battle with the sodium lighting, but unfortunately it was too strong.

On the other side of the River Mersey from the City of Liverpool is Birkenhead.
Many people living in Birkenhead commute to Liverpool through each of the two tunnels every day. The tunnels are ventilated by huge ventilation shafts at each side which are visible from Birkenhead but also from Liverpool. Kevan Shaw and his design team implemented the process of commuting back and forth in their concept and made a metaphor out of it: breathing. Symbolically speaking, the city of Liverpool "inhales" the commuters every morning and "breathes them out" every evening. The tunnels themselves inhale the commuters and inhale fresh air. The organ of the tunnel is the ventilation shaft. This specific shaft is made of concrete. There are two speakers left and right from the shaft which can be seen as “nostrils” and through which the fresh air comes into the lung, the tunnel. The shaft is the “throat” through which the bad air is exhaled. The fresh air is cool and so the speakers are lit in a cool blue tone. The bad air is warm, so the shaft is lit in a warm magenta. A further idea was to visualise the air streaming out by programming a colour change in the range of magenta. To link the shafts and to visualise the intensity of use of the tunnel was another idea, but could not be realised because of lack of time.

The second project on the Birkenhead side of the Mersey was the Wirral Museum, which was headed by UK lighting designer Sam Neuman. Like as the ventilation shaft, the bell tower of the former Birkenhead town hall can be seen from the Liverpool side. The task was to link Birkenhead and Liverpool by light. The museum is, as mentioned above, a former town hall and built in the neo-classical style. The tower of the museum is lit white so the beautiful sandstone façade, the architecture, the clock and the green copper roof can be seen in their true colours. The windows on the main façade are lit in a warm and welcoming orange which attracts the people to come inside this beautiful and interesting building. The square in front of the building and the steps to the entry are also lit in a warm orange tone which gives the feeling you are already inside the building.

You will find more information on the official Website http://www.pool-of-light.co.uk

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Lotta Löfgren & Karolina Hahn – The Parking Lot
“We have created a living room: we have transformed a rough, cold space into a warm living space. We have played with the concept of inside/outside, extending and connecting the people’s living rooms around the site. Existing vertical and horizontal elements unify and interconnect the spaces within the space.”

Susanna Antico – The Sun Yard
“An invitation to be curious. The more curious you are, the more you discover – both as a resident and as a visitor. The project incorporates a rediscovery of night in an urban environment. Inside/ outside: bringing home outside, turning home inside out.”

Gary Campbell – The Courtyard
“By day the courtyard is an intimate hidden space. At night the courtyard is transformed into a place of mystery and enchantment with light from beyond. - Please come and experience for yourselves.”

Farah P. Barnes & Sean Ghazavi – The Railway Station
“The project comprised creating an inspirational, warm and inviting architectural lighting design thereby turning the railway station building into one of the town’s memorable landmarks.”

Berry van Egten – The Mill
“The mill is reawakening. The water falling under the bridge is once again churning its power to bring Stampens Kvan back to life. Once past the mill this energy fades, moving downstream under the second bridge and back to sleep.”

Giorgios Paissidis & Iva Vassileva - The Mission Church
”The Mission Church is a building of a rather neutral architecture aside from the city centre of Alingsås. Its symbols, such as the cross and the seven windows on the front facade, communicate the building’s identity and use. A new surprising night time landmark emerges by highlighting these symbols and uniting them against a background of authentic quality light spread over the church’s facade. The mission of the project is to encourage visionary observation.”

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It is Saturday night in the European Capital of Culture Stavanger. The weather in the south of Norway is fine and the pubs and bars in the harbour are already packed when the sun goes down. At 9.30 pm. But not everyone in Stavanger is heading for the usual night-time hot spots. A significant number of people of all ages are heading towards a part of town that is not generally frequented after dark – Bjergsted Park, the location of Stavanger's Concert Hall. 

The 2008 Capital of Culture programme has successfully attracted thousands of visitors from around the world to attend remarkable concerts and innovative theatre and dance performances, and to visit a series of first-rate exhibitions. Up to 21. September, 2009 Stavanger Concert Hall is inviting locals, tourists and professional people to view six experimental architectural lighting installations in and around Bjergsted Park. The projects are the results of a large-scale workshop staged I collaboration with the Professional Lighting Designers' Association, PLDA. PLDA stages two or three workshops of this kind every year, giving students of architecture and lighting design, as well as of other disciplines, the opportunity to develop and realize a lighting design concept under the guidance of experienced lighting designers. 

The Stavanger workshop encompassed a unique aspect: all sites received a supporting sound backdrop, designed by composers from the Concert Hall and on-site university. The lighting designers and their teams collaborated with the musicians to find the right music or sound to underline the atmospheres created by the lighting on the respective sites. 

After a week of workshop activity, a crowd gathered for the Opening Ceremony. There was excitement in the air as the visitors followed the suggested route through the park and surrounds, somewhat amazed at the stunning scenes presented. On the night after the Opening, the atmosphere in the park was even more special. The people of Stavanger came bringing families and friends to see what a difference light made to the places they had played as children, or where they walk their dogs.  

The entrance area, a wide asphalted zone that concert-goers and students pass through quickly to reach their destinations on time has become a piazza of fantasy: a sculpture entitled 'Take a seat' and compiled of literally a heap of park benches emits screeches and deliberate discords while changing colour through various shades of blue and turquoise. People stop and stare, some take photos. Children are jumping over the lines of light that cross the new-found piazza, breaking up the wide space and adding an element of fun (The Entrance, team headed by Paul Pamboukian, PLDA/RSA). The metal roof of the Concert Hall (The Concert Hall, team headed by Maurice Brill, PLDA/UK) itself glows in majestic silence, the lit arches framing the lobby at last making it clear to first-time visitors where the entrance is! Flowerbeds are celebrated in red, steps are discreetly lit for safety. Snippets of "We are the Champions…" from a group of boisterous youngsters on the climbing frame (The Playground, team headed by Sharon Stammers, PLDA/UK) and yelps of delight from younger children playing shadow games in the blue light of the grotto (The Grotto, team headed by Erik Selmer, PLDA/N) fill the park with life.

Down on the waterfront an old warehouse sleeps and grunts. Those who view it from the little pontoon gasp in wonder at the flitter of reflections on the warehouse façade, which are generated by carefully positioned projectors focused onto the water in the fjord basin (The Warehouse, team headed by Mario Rechsteiner, PLDA/CH). The Warehouse site stretches over three levels from the grand old trees in the park to the street and then to the waterfront.

Moving back into town, the viewers are in for their final surprise: a concrete underpass, which during the daytime features graffiti and is purely functional as a flyover, has been transformed into a sea of yellow, green and mauve (The Underpass, team headed by Victoria Coeln/A). Beneath the underpass youngsters are cavorting around to the music they themselves have generated by plugging in their iPods. The roof is a mass of coloured shadows. The kids have made the urban space their own. 

The magic of the light and sound installations will remain in the hearts of all those who witnessed them for a long time to come: moments of wonder and joy to store in their memories for the dark months to come.