The Rigorous Activity of the Lighting Design Process

An up close and personal time with our founder, Yah Li about the Singapore Buddhist Lodge and winning the 37th IALD International Lighting Design Awards and also the rigorous activity of the lighting design process, and how achieving great outcome is determined by various factors and most importantly, the support and trust from the team.

"Very often, people ask me, as a lighting designer, what lights I use, without much context/ drawings and concept in mind. I am indeed quite mind-boggled by that question as lighting tools are the palette that lighting designers work with.. to achieve an overall concept. There are millions of products to select from.. and it is quite difficult to answer as lighting design is really complex in art and science.. in relation to architecture, spatial considerations, detailing, dimensions, materials, etc..
Lighting designers are very often misunderstood as people who just select beautiful lighting fixtures.. or ‘standard lighting fixtures’. A wise man said before that there are no bad products, only bad application.

Lighting design is also not just photoshopping visual effects.. but also the entire art of being able to achieve the desired outcome.

In 2016, the lighting design process for the Singapore Buddhist Lodge started with understanding all the different terminology and features of the prayer hall, how individual statues look like and the material and colour. Interior designer, Katherine from Shanghai Interior circle was really patient to bring us to another temple project for reference and also took us through patiently to understanding the various elements, motives in the space. We next studied all the existing statues which will be placed in the prayer hall, studied the size and the 3D elements and studied the drawings/sections and then worked on the concept, renderings, drawings, details which will conceal the lighting fixtures.

Presentation was made to the client. Several presentations on the opportunities of how beautiful the prayer hall can be while addressing the needs/ functions of the client and the Budget required. We also tried to explain the importance of lighting quality and tools that we need. We sincerely thank our client, Singapore Buddhist Lodge’s committee and chairman who took the leap of faith with us... as the outcome can otherwise be very different.

We also embarked on tender process, evaluating alternatives to reduce cost, without comprising the outcome. Followed by mock-ups, revisiting updates, changes, coordinating details, keeping track of the changes along the way.

Finally, lighting fixtures installed and also commissioning, focusing and also setting the lighting scenes. This process took us 4 years to complete and to achieve the outcome. It is definitely not just selecting standard fittings..

Some major considerations are also about shadow as we have many 3D elements, we are concerned about where the shadow might be cast onto. And with the tiered golden ceiling, where would be the appropriate location to highlight the statutes effectively to create a focal glow. Concealing layers of lighting fittings carefully and also illuminating feature ceilings with carefully chosen optics too. Thus we hope to communicate that good lighting design is not standard.. and it is not a copy and paste. It is specially tailored, crafted to the concept, and many considerations.

We thank once again to the team: our very supportive client, Multiply architects, Interior designer Shanghai Interior Circle (Katherine), builder Thong Huat Brothers (Bernard, Mr Chua, Jonathan, Nuheng), electrical team and also supplier, Luxlight."