Memorial to the Victims of Violence
2013
Mexico City, Mexico
Lighting design of urban landmark in the heart of Mexico City.The lighting of the project was honoured with 4 lighting design awards, including the Award of Excellence by the International Association of Lighting Designers in 2014.
Architect: Gaeta Springall Arquitectos
Photography: Gaeta Springall Arquitectos
In collaboration with lighteam, Mexico
The Memorial to the Victims of Violence is a space that was created to reconcile political and social turmoil that rises from the ongoing context of violence in Mexico. It iscomposed of a series of steel plates, some weathered and some reflecting, placed on a water mirror. Light helps articulate these architectural elements as an allegory ofthat which is now absent in materiality but forever present in both our individual and collective memory.
Recessed linear LEDs were placed to suggest a promenade, guiding visitors, serving as a safety measure and spatial orientation. Working with the architectural concept, the promenade is also marked with light in crescendo, from less light to a cathartic point of luminosity, and lastly in diminuendo.
Light takes abstract values of silence to bring a pacifying effect of solace to the site. Shedding light as means of invocation‐evocation renders an ambiance for contemplation and remembrance. Under this light, the materials engage in a dialogue with the visitor: The rust on the weathered plates speak about the passage of time and the scars that we bear from our past; the lit elements reflected on the water compel us to contemplate and reflect on our present; The interaction between light and the reflecting plates create an ethereal effect, representing a future that has a silver lining.
Positive values of light in contrast to the shadows cast during daytime and their negative representation during night-time echo a relationship between presence andabsence. The metal plates are outlined with the light projectors creating subtle silhouettes. This ambiguity between solid plates, voids, and the water reflection isused as a mechanism to bring materiality to absence. The loss of lives, casualties of this ongoing conflict, is remembered by casting light to emphasize this absence.
A glint emerges from each metal plate to reveal phrases written out with perforated lettering, complementing the site’s solemn tone as graphic and poetic expressions oflight.A colder shade of white is used to light the tree tops guiding the visitors eyes towards the sky. This light also encompasses the luminous space that emerges from the surrounding darkness as a lantern of hope.
The project was shortlisted for the Lighting Design Awards 2014 (UK), won a Special Citation for Cultural Importance at the GE Edison Awards 2014 (USA) and was honoured the Award of Excellence 2014 by the International Association of Lighting Designers (USA), amongst 9 lighting awards in total.
ELPEN Complex-Project X
ONGOING
Athens, Greece
Lighting design of the new complex, includes Conference centre, Athletic centre, Offices, Playground, Outdoor event space, Perimeter path and all Landscape areas.
Architect: Potiropoulos+Partners Architecture
3D Visualization: Batis Studio
Mirrored Landscapes
2019
Bergamo Old Town, Italy
Lighting design of the temporary landscape installation in the public square ‘Piazza Mascheroni’ of the Old Town of Bergamo.
Darc Award 2ndPlace 2018
Landscape Architect: Sarah Eberle
Additional Design: David Harber
Photography: Matteo Carassale
The concept for the lighting of the installation was highly driven by the landscape proposal and approach, as well as the existing elements in the square. the intention is to create a different experience in the nightscape of the square and to use artificial lighting to evoke natural theatrical effects like moonlighting, the dappled leaves patterns as the night context of the landscape installation.
Public space needs to be occupied and felt as the everchanging environment that it is. Lighting the square at night, via the landscape installation can give another life to an already impressive location.
The landscape concept driven from that surrounding of the mountains, gave the lighting the perfect platform to explore these natural nocturnal experiences of the open-air spaces in the Bergamo old town.
’BMYLEKKA’
2019
Athens, Greece
In the heart of Athens, on Lekka street, there is an arcade with many shops that remains "invisible" to the hasty pedestrians. In the framework of This is Athens-Polis programme, the lighting design team ASlight was called by the arcade's manager to design a temporary installation for the promotion and the increase of traffic in the arcade.
Project Manager: Vaso Alexandri
Supply and Installation of Lighting Fixtures: Alexandros Logothetis
Panel Construction, Installation and Signage: Giannis & Vasilis Vlachakis Workshop
Photography: Gavriil Papadiotis [GavriiLux]
The primary concern of the design team was the upgrade of the existing lighting, that would improve the quality of shopkeepers' daily routine in the long run. At the same time, it was key to make the arcade eye-catching for pass-byers, colourful semi-transparent panels of three different colours were hanged along the roof. Their interaction with the lighting fixtures as well as their colour blending creates different perspectives for the pedestrians, inviting them into the arcade. Atthe core of the arcade, the atrium is ‘filled’ with a hanging structure of decomposed panels, that interact with both wind and natural light.
During the day, the arcade looks festive and welcomes the visitors to the ‘opening’ of its new colourful reality. As the night falls and the city lights up, the arcade is ‘dressing up’ with its evening appearance; the two entrances create a coloured threshold that converses with the area bar lights, inviting the adventurers inside. Inside, the illuminated structure of the atrium "paints" the skylight, with a magical fresco that changes every night.
The intervention is implemented as part of the This is Athens-Polis programme.
KELPNO Installation
2017
Athens, Greece
Temporary light installation for the World AIDS Day on the façade of the Policlinic of Athens.
Photography: Gavriil Papadiotis[GavriiLux]