How can we encourage community spirit and well-being?
Lighting is the perfect medium to create a positive impact on public health and public spaces. As we decide how to adjust our public realm to socially distanced life with coronavirus, lighting professionals have an important opportunity to promote improvements in mental health and promotion of social mobility. Discover one potential way of achieving this: Shadowing, born out of a simple and universal premise – that a fundamental reason for our being attracted to cities, is to be amongst others.
We invite everyone in public lighting to meet the team behind this award winning public realm art installation, see how it works, the way people respond and consider whether this can make a permanent impact that benefits the communities you serve. Suitable for designers, engineers, manufacturers and consultants.
20 minute talk followed by 10 minutes Q&A.
Speakers: Matthew Rosier and Jonathan Chomko.
Hosted by Jess Gallacher, Engagement and Communications Manager, ILP and Kimberly Bartlett EngTech AMILP MIET, ILP Vice President Education.
Street photo by Victora Cagol, 2017.
You can click here to view the presentation with the video clips included.
Q&As
| Question | Answer |
| Do the lighting columns need to be designed to be stiffer – for example with limited deflection similar to CCTV applications lighting columns? | In our experience to date the Shadowing lamps have fallen within the structural capabilities of existing street light poles. The Lamp head weighs approximately 20kg. |
| Due to the spot light nature of the lantern optics, it can’t be used as an area light integral to the overall lighting design, thus, would/could you install this as a twin head underneath the main lantern? | A twin head solution to this problem is not ideal as it’ll reduce the visibility of the shadowing spotlight. Alternative solutions we’d be interested in exploring with partners are: 1. an LED matrix version of Shadowing which would potentially offer a stronger/wider ambient light area or 2. a dual-function version of Shadowing where it can be switched between an ordinary area light and the Shadowing spotlight. |
| How does the ambient lighting levels impact on its effectiveness and/or practicality of using it as I note the areas of focus are quite bright relative to the surrounding lighting? | Ambient light levels are always a consideration, however generally it can be overcome. We would avoid any other direct lighting onto the Shadowing spotlight area. To date we have been using a relatively low-spec projector, <2014 2,500 lumen consumer projector, which has been fine in most situations but can be overwhelmed. Any future iterations of Shadowing would either use a high spec, brighter, projector system, or would use an LED light source. Both of these solutions would overcome most ambient light issues. |
| It is great to encourage a sense of play into urban spaces. Have you considered shadowing as a more permanent installation? Maybe the shadowing can be functional for a certain time while afterwards can be just a functional light for streets or other public space. | As mentioned in our original answer to this question, we are certainly interested in exploring a permanent version of Shadowing – either as a permanent digital/light art installation, or more as a specialist lighting product. With regards to the second part of your question – we’d be interested to explore a dual-function version of Shadowing as you mention, as this may be a solution to overcome the requirement to both function as an area light and a Shadowing spotlight. There are different ways this could be done potentially, and it may affect our technological approach to a new version of Shadowing. |
| How permanent do you see this being, is it something that can be installed and forgotten about for the life of the lantern? | This would depend on the technical solution used for any future iteration of Shadowing, and whether it is functioning primarily within a public art context, or within a lighting scheme context. If the latter, then we’d focus on the most robust, minimal maintenance, technical solution so that Shadowing could function for a period similar to a street light with minimal maintenance. If the former (primarily a public art context) using a projector-based solution for example, we envision a lifespan of around 10 years (typical for a ‘permanent’ digital artwork), with a light touch yearly maintenance/check-up regime attached. |
| Is this technology proprietary? | The IP of Shadowing belongs to the artists – Matthew Rosier and Jonathan Chomko. |
| Could you do a dual aspect and project onto a building at the same time? | This could be technically possible, but wouldn’t be something we’d look to explore in this next version. |
| As this creates an area people may well linger, has the option as a commercial enhancement for department stores or other retail environments been explored? | To date this scenario has not been explored. Within the public art contexts, it has been commissioned previously the purpose is to encourage increased street interaction/play/awareness as an end in itself. |
| How did they manage the defined circle of light? Added spotlight? | The defined circle of light was created by using a video projector, rounding the edges with software to create the spotlight shape. |
| Were any of the street luminaires LED arrays? The shadows look like a point source response (rather than multiple overlapping shadows from an array) | We haven’t yet created a lamp using LED arrays, but are interested in this approach for the second version |
| What responses did they get from department of transportation, or whoever is in charge of public lighting, as they have modified (in most cases made smaller) the lighting beam spread? Therefore, authorities would push back since the light is not fulfilling standard requirements. | Lighting authorities have generally shown flexibility in this regard so long as we do not reduce road lighting levels, and there is sufficient ambient light around whichever street light we are swapping out. The temporary nature (1-4 months) of Shadowing to date has meant this is less of an issue, and if we are to explore longer-term/permanent solutions then we will need to address this concern either through using a brighter/wider light source, or developing a dual-function version of Shadowing where it can switch between ordinary area light and Shadowing spotlight. |
| Was there never any time where it scared the crap out of people? | Not that we know of! |
| This does look fun and cool, but at what cost? How much do these shadowing columns cost to buy and to run? | Shadowing has previously been presented as a temporary public artwork, and so is priced in a different sphere than typical lighting products. The aim of our presentation was to explore the possibility of creating a new version of Shadowing that could lower the price point of each lamp, allowing it to be integrated into lighting schemes more readily, and/or to explore Shadowing as a permanent public artwork, which would have a higher price point. |
| Can we can add these for parks and make it more recreational with RGB colours? | Yes, Shadowing has been installed within parks in Bristol and York in the past – there is the facility to add more colour to the light source as we’re using a full-colour projector, but it isn’t something we’ve fully explored. |
| Is everything contained in the lantern, or is there an external link to set up and control required? | Everything is contained in the lamp. For setup and configuration, we can access the lamp’s computer remotely, or via a wired ethernet installed in the lamp post. |
| Have you got UMSUG codes? | We don’t have UMSUG codes for the current lamps, but the max power draw of each lamp is 350W. |
| How did you decide about the colour temperature in case of alleys? Any standards? | We have always used the default white light of a projector, and no issues around standards have been raised in the past. However, in a future edition of Shadowing we’d like to explore accurately matching the Shadowing light temperature to the surrounding lighting context. |