Out on the Town week 9

I visited the Irvine Spectrum for this assignment. It was a great place to go because the Spectrum really reaches out to a wide audience. It advertises itself, not just for its shopping, but its atmosphere. There are even pos

ters suggesting what a great date place the Spectrum can be to UC Grads that can't dance (not a problem for the grad students in this class). The dynamic outreach of the Spectrum is really reflected in its lighting design and many lighting fixtures. It serves as a fun, romantic, entertaining, and classy location. The palm trees are lit with warm hues. There is excitement in the use of grand scale. The Spectrum really plays with levels. Lights are imbedded in the floor. There are street lamps that suggest a midnight stroll. The palm trees reach even higher with the

light pouring onto their greenery above. On top of the warm tones that flood most of the walk, there is a great use of purple hues. There is a mix of magic and romance between the ambers and the purples. In the combination of these hues and variety of light fixtures, the spectrum reaches out to enterta

in and enchant. I did not display a picture of the light posts that line the walk from the parking structure, but I did attach a photo of one of the other fixtures from the Spectrum above. You can see that the fixture has a fabric of mirrors. At night, the light catches the mirrors and shimmers in a really beautiful way, which adds to the majestic atmosphere. I think as a shopping center that advertises itself as a place for friends and couples to mingle, the Spectrum did a great job by combining sophisticated, classy, and warm lighting with some really exiting purple hues and dazzling light fixtures.

I then visited a store by the name Customize. It is a very urban, cool, edgy, hip store. I found that they were not only creative in the design of their store, the lay out, and general interior design, but in terms of lighting. Along the walls they had vertical strips of light emerge just enough to add highlight to displ

ayed merchandise. The lights were innovative, but functional. There is a lot of down light that adds a lot

of warmth and made it easy to see everything even though the light was n

ot all even. Yet, unlike other shops that flood the shop with light, Customize used down lights and accent lights as mentioned earlier. Plus, all the light fixtures really created a cohesive feeling that matched their audience and store design. The light quality matched that of urban construction lights and there was also a warm glow to the store. The fixtures were all steel and silver. Part of the store had a sunroof that emulated being in a building under construction so that there was a mix of natural light and construction light.

Altogether, the renovated urban style of the store was really conveyed through their artsy design and use of such lighting and creative accent fixtures.

The next picture is not a store, but a restaurant. I took a quick visit to the Yard House because as I was walking the lighting of the restaurant from outside pulled me in. Yard House is a classy dine out experience mixed with the atmosphere of a sports bar. The atmosphere is dark, textured, and elegant. I would actually go as far as to say the Yard House lighting design is very close to that of Cheesecake Factory in the sense that there are pools of light that fall onto the tables, light is intricately designed on the ceiling, the lighting fixtures are classy and creative, and the colors are warm. Yard House's light is a harsher amber. It really brings out the colors in the dark wood of the architecture and tables. Yard House, as a classier sports bar and restaurant, sells itself as a more refined dining experience and a place of classic Rock. It is intimate and, like the music, classic. The pools of light on each table isolate each dining experience. There is an overall warmth to this darkly lit restaurant. It glows. As a restaurant selling itself for its classic rock, American food, and great style, Yard House did a great job of capturing a cultivated, warm, and elegant sense of lighting through its design.

Week 9: Site Specific Blog

For this project I chose to go to The Irvine Spectrum. This project was interesting to do so close to the Holidays because the lighting in this venue was amped up to match the holiday spirit. What I found while I was walking around is that, in general the Spectrum is lit to make the consumer feel like they are in a special and classy place. When you walk around the lighting hasalmost a romantic feel to it. Not because there are reds and pinks but because there is beautiful amber glow that floods most of the outside walkway. As you walk through the Spectrum it almost has that midnight stroll in the park feel that we tried to emulate in one of our exercises.

As formy specific picture, I wanted to show how the designers can break up the space to show that there is something different or seasonal in a location. What we are looking at here is the lighting for the ice skating rink surrounded by the the lit palm trees and amber glow described above. In this picture we can see that the designer predominately used cool colors to light the overhang of the rink. This choice obviously connects to the fact that you are skating on something frozen. But what I think is really interesting about this compositionally is that it really sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the lighting that surrounds it and this choice to not blend is clearly the objective. The more obvious you can make this rink stand out the more people are going to stop by and pay to skate. One impressive thing I would like to point out is the intelligently lit palm in the center of the photo. The designer was able to bounce the striking blue off the palm tree so that people from far away could see that something was different over there.

The next picture is of a store that I cannot remember the name of. Truth be told the employees were looking at me funny so I had to take this shot from outside. But the lighting was so dismal that I had to get this shot. In this store they were selling higher end quality clothes and the lighting aspired to support that. This lighting largely failed to do so because it was sloppy and designed without much thought. I think the first thing you notice is the 5 very sharp pools of light above theclothes on the wall.The lighting designer was trying to make a cool effect with thelighting but because the lights are not even and there are not more of them that extend to the left, the composition seems unbalanced and sloppily executed. Another thing to point out in this picture is that there are some unattractive shadows on the wall. If you look at the clothes hanging on the rack in the wall, there are shadows on the floor and the wall. This lighting of the clothes busies the room in a way that is off putting. It almost looks messy even though the clothes are on the rack in an orderly fashion. In general this shop should think about maybe adding some more color and light in general. I also think if the specials were softened it would be more interesting to look at.

The photo I picked for good lighting is in Old Navy. Old Navy likes to sell clothes that are a little bit cheaper but still look nice. They kind of have a pre-packaged feel to them and I think the lighting supports this. The lighting in this store is a bit more industrial with clearly exposing the long florcents and making that part of what you see in the store. There is no hiding or shadows really it just feels clean and bright. This store really gets its job done. Wen you walk in you know what you are getting.

I also want to point out that Anthropologie spends a lot of effort in the design of their store in general. The lighting is very much a part of that. They want to make the consumer feel like they are at home in a very beautiful place. I also attached a picture of this because it is incredible how they use fixtures above supported by other light sources like chandeliers and lamp.

Site Specific Blog Irvine Spectrum

The overall theme of the Irvine Spectrum is of an upscale open air market. Its architecture has been compared to Morocco, The Moors of Spain and Alhambra, Spain. The picture below is The Mausoleum of Mohammad V in Rabat, Morocco.
The picture on the right is the entry into the corridor opposite the Carousel at The Irvine Spectrum. The structural similarities between the pictures are apparent. The Irvine Spectrum's use of lighting plays a large roll in highlighting its structural nuances. Since this shopping venue is in Orange County, CA, so close to Disneyland, I feel that the lighting does contribute to a theme park feel. However, the lighting is really quite beautiful. The examples that standout in this picture are the cool, calming blue neon lights, accenting the upper angles above the arch, the sconces warmly illuminating the walls, and the small hanging lights across the walkway that give a festiveness of an outdoor carnival. The large hanging light at the beginning of the corridor seems to give a more formal entryway feeling to the path of shops. I feel that the builders and lighting designers succeeded in their designing process of creating an OC/Moroccan market place.

The next picture is of a shop that has an open ceiling industrial look. It does not work. The lighting and the unfinishedness of the ceiling give a real warehouse feel in a rough, unkept way. The randomly placed spotlights with the florescent tube lighting fixtures did not seem to fit into the Irvine Spectrum's more polished thematic look. The spotlights did not always seem to have a real purpose in their focus. This shop did not feel inviting and made me feel like I would have to go to work if I entered into the factory-like setting.

The last two pictures are of a shop named Hollister. I was intrigued by the hidden/reveal lighting throughout the store. It was surprising how well the directional spot lights were used. An example is how the rug is perfectly outlined with light. Each area of clothing is lit very well but once you step away from a display you enter into a most contrasting darkness. This shop has a surf theme, which I could not get from the lighting or architecture. However in the last picture the use of reflecting light on a corrugated metal above surfboards, is how I could surmise the surf theme.

Week 8: A Variation

So last week, I wrote about the sight of the lower level plaza and how gorgeous it was in the morning sun. But as I walked out of the arts lab in the late evening, I also thought it would be an interesting sight to write about. I got a pristine sense from the lighting in the evening. And what I think made me feel this way was the brighter and whiter lights on the balconies and the"filters"/"gobos" in front of them. The filters are perforated and give a twinkle effect to the lights they are in front of (..or maybe a result of my bad vision?). But as you walk by and look at them there is a lot of movement in it which is exciting.

The setting was very quiet and still, but had an energetic feel. For me, the energy in the morning scene was uplifting and joyful. The evening scene had a busy excitement (despite there being calm in the space when I observed the photograph). I'm so excited to have more UCI Arts department history happening here!

Week 8: Moony Rain Clouds

Tonight I found myself intrigued by moonlight. There is something so stunning about the glow the moon has. It is interesting to me that the moon's light has such a blue tint to it, and how that color is different then the sun. It was really apparent in the way that the moon lit up the scattered rain clouds. This is the image that is particularly striking to me. There is something beautiful about how the cloud can catch the light contrasted by the blackness of the night sky. This got me thinking about how you can capture light with. I know in Disney Land they have experimented with projecting on to mist of water. What other things can one project light on that would provide a beautiful contras? I know that there are fog machines that do this. But is their a way to contain the fog. What would it look like to catch fog in a glass box and shine light on it that way. It might not work or be interesting. That said I do think that the etherial and mysticism of lit clouds is engaging.

Site Specific Blog - The District

I went to a movie at the District this weekend, so I took the opportunity to take some pictures on my camera-phone while I was there.

The first two pictures I've posted are a couple of examples of the overall feeling of the District. The first shows a beautiful composition of balanced, yet asymmetrical, lighting that draws your interest through the entire aisle. It appears that the designers were looking for something classic, but open for people for all ages---and I think that they accomplished that.

The second picture shows some of the hanging lights put up for the holidays. Even though this is an addition to the normal lighting, it definitely provided a warmth to the season.

The third picture is my example of good lighting composition (although it looked much better in person). Outside of Chaparosa Grill, they've added a fireplace. The atmosphere created by this was really amazing. It almost seemed like you were going home.

The last photo was taken outside the Toys R Us Express Store. I believe that this is a temporary store, but it was quite disappointing. The lighting was minimal and made it feel like you were entering a warehouse. Especially around the holidays, I feel that stores should reflect an inviting warmth, and this store definitely failed to provide that.

Week 8: At the Zoo

I took this picture of meerkats at the zoo earlier this past summer. At the time, I took the picture because I thought the meerkats were funny and adorable. But now that I look at the photograph from a lighting perspective, I really like how the pools of light fill the picture. This picture reminds me of how we have made pools of light in some of the compositions we created in class. This picture shows the texture that we have been trying to imitate in some the compositions.