In search of the soul

I sometimes wonder whether there should be an artistic or rather a more poetic approach to lighting design… Maybe you readers can share your thoughts on this question too. Since many years now, I’ve been designing lighting schemes and always have looked for a theme, something that the project has in its root, in its essence or one could even say in its soul, which can be used as a starting point for the design.

For me, without a soul, the project has no hold. When Clients or even other designers involved challenge the design, a design without a soul cannot sustain itself, the chosen design layout or even the chosen fixtures. How can a designer justify a design decision without anchoring the design on the essence of the project? For me, it is no question that a design needs a main reason, a purpose of being. But, to certain fellow designers, a lighting scheme is just a lighting scheme. It’s about the selection of the appropriate lighting fixtures and the integration with the architecture, rather than initially making use of the story telling of the project.

So, here, I would like to open the question to you.

If a lighting scheme is technically sound and completely integrated into the architecture, without having a specific reason of being, would that project live through the scrutiny of an agent analysing the historical value of it? Let’s say a building is going through the process of being listed. Would the lighting design “without soul” also be listed within this building?

Or one could even question whether an artist just do art per se, without having anything on the background sustaining the art? There are artists who are interested in the technique being used, or the material properties, or the forms, or even in the impact their art pieces will have on people. For me, this is the soul, the reason of being for the art produced. There is a story behind the work. And if there is no story, does a piece of art have value?

I think without a soul, the project cannot live long. And that’s not my religious view of things… What I probably want to say, as we learn in architectural school, is that a project needs a starting point, a reason to be. And so, in my opinion, does the lighting project.

I would love to hear your comments and views on this subject. Please use the comments space below.

See you in the next post.

#thelightingtips

P.S. sorry for the long time of absence… I’m back now!