Nearly three decades of lighting design practice and research inform Lighting Planners Associates’ robust approach to the possibilities of lighting for architecture and beyond. Always, a sense of the natural prevails.
August 15th, 2017
“No matter how much lighting technology develops, we will never forget the beauty of fire and sunlight.” Yusuke Hattori, Associate Director at Lighting Planners Associates (LPA), shares the mantra of this leading Tokyo-, Singapore- and Hong Kong-based lighting design studio.
“We foresee that the interaction or interface with light will change, and light will become more personalised,” adds Managing Director Reiko Kasai. She continues, “Light could itself become a material, with the latest wearable technology. But in the end our goal is to pursue a comfortable relationship with light, and we feel most comfortable in natural light, which is not static. That is why we like fire and sunlight.”
With potentially disruptive advances in technology continually looming, LPA – a forerunner in the lighting design industry – anticipates that the interactions of humans with their spaces will be transformed. Lighting, expects LPA, will become intelligent, encoding data from its environment into useful information. It will also become more convenient. Users with special needs will be able to control their environments more easily. And lighting will become more ambient. In future homes, light fittings that have always been positioned on the ceiling might be dissolved into wall finishes and luminous materials.
Perhaps most pertinently, lighting will become better at simulating the calming gradations and movement of natural light, unlike the static nature of much of today’s artificial lighting. To LPA, the basal human fascination with the beauty of natural light is something that will remain unchanged. “We hope that technology can also create that kind of space with artificial light. We always remind ourselves, in everything, to learn from nature,” notes Kasai.
Founded in Japan by Kaoru Mende (Principal) in 1990, LPA is considered to be a pioneer of the architectural lighting practice in the Asia Pacific region. The studio set up an office in Singapore ten years later, and has since branched into Hong Kong to oversee multiple projects in China. TLPA’s wide-ranging portfolio of almost 700 projects over a span of 25 years includes luminary collaborations with Toyo Ito, Tadao Ando, Rafael Vinoly and Kazuyo Sejima, as well as many prominent projects such as Gardens by the Bay, the Victoria Concert Hall, the National Gallery Singapore, Sendai Mediatheque, Minna no Mori, Aman Tokyo, Tower of Winds and Tokyo International Forum.
Read the complete article in Cubes 87, out now!
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
Sub-Zero and Wolf’s prestigious Kitchen Design Contest (KDC) has celebrated the very best in kitchen innovation and aesthetics for three decades now. Recognising premier kitchen design professionals from around the globe, the KDC facilitates innovation, style and functionality that pushes boundaries.
Channelling the enchanting ambience of the Caffè Greco in Rome, Budapest’s historic Gerbeaud, and Grossi Florentino in Melbourne, Ross Didier’s new collection evokes the designer’s affinity for café experience, while delivering refined seating for contemporary hospitality interiors.
Marylou Cafaro’s first trendjournal sparked a powerful, decades-long movement in joinery designs and finishes which eventually saw Australian design develop its independence and characteristic style. Now, polytec offers all-new insights into the future of Australian design.
According to Le Corbusier, the struggle for it underpins the history of architecture. Frank Lloyd Wright described it as a “beautifier of buildings”. And Motoko Ishii famously equated it to life itself. Indispensable, life-affirming and metamorphic, light underpins all architectural and design efforts.
Our cities are not only oversaturated with light, they are made all the worse with bad lighting schemes that don’t consider people. Enter the CRI Awards – awards for awful lighting.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
An outstanding line-up of participants will contribute to a beautifully curated exhibition in Thailand that delves deep into the collective thinking of architecture in our region and helps set a progressive agenda for the future of design.
From the trailblazer of Spanish industrial design comes a new collection of recycled rugs – a powerful exploration of the concept of waste, a keen celebration of imperfection, and a new underfoot symbol of responsible design.
As one of the many entries to The Social Space category at the 2024 INDE.Awards, this community centre is something out of the ordinary through its architectural design, that also provides a place for community and connection for many.
Welcome to the year of the Design Effect. This year’s theme aims to showcase the profound ripple effects that exceptional design can have on people, place and planet. Join in shaping this narrative by contributing your perspective before May 3, 2024, and become a part of the Design Effect movement.