Eine neue Ära hat begonnen

Sechs Workshop Heads und zweiundfünfzig Teilnehmer aus insgesamt 16 verschiedenen Ländern und vier Kontinenten haben sich auf den Weg gemacht, in die kleine Stadt Alingsås, um an dem traditionellen PLDA Workshop teilzunehmen.  Die Teilnehmer kamen aus den USA, Jamaika und aus Süd Afrika um ein Teil von “Lights in Alingsås” zu werden. Nach einer Woche harter Arbeit haben die Gruppen mit der Arbeit abgeschlossen und ihre Projekte offiziell an die Stadt übergeben.

Die Stadt Alingsås hat mal wieder bewiesen, dass der Workshop “Lights in Alingsås” gute Beispiele für professionelles Licht Design bietet. Mit einer neuen Bewegung in Richtung des Museum Gebäudes in Alingsås, dem ältesten Gebäude der Stadt, schreiten die Organisatoren den nächsten Schritt an, diese Stadt zu einer Stadt des Lichtes zu etablieren. Die Führungen zu Lights in Alingsås starten und enden hier, sowie zwei Seminare zu den Themen “Daylight” und “Urban Planning” finden in den Wochen nach dem Workshop statt.

Die Stadt Alingsås gilt als “Mutter aller Workshops” und Licht Designer beziehen die Stadt und den Workshop oft mit ein, wenn es sich in Gesprächen um Licht Design handelt. Viele Lichtdesigner nahmen bereits als Teilnehmer oder Workshop Heads teil, oftmals auch haben sie sogar beides gemacht.

Die Workshop Heads in diesem Jahr waren Allan Ruberg, PLDA/DK, Malcolm Innes, PLDA/UK, Emrah Baki Ulas, PLDA/AUS, Karen van Creveld, PLDA/UK, Deike Canzler/S und Karl Reger/D. Zusammen mit ihren Teams, haben die Workshop Heads gute neue Beispiele für Licht Design in urbanen Gegenden, Landschaftsbeleuchtung, Straßenbeleuchtung, Licht-Kunst und Lichtdesign geboten und den Anwohnern und Benutzern warme und sichere Plätze in der Dunkelheit gezeigt.

Anschließend am Workshop folgte eine Ein-Tages Konferenz am Freitag, den 24 September 2010. Bei dieser haben die Workshop Gruppen ihre Projekte in kurzen zehn Minuten langen Präsentationen vorgestellt.

Oscarsgatan is a dark road in the heart of Alingsås. A pedestrian path runs parallel to the road, trees divide the road and the pedestrian path, which gives rise to a lot of dark shadows. Altogether was a very dark place until Allan Ruberg from Denmark and his group arrived. Now, Oscarsgatan represents an extract of a lighting master plan revealing the impact and importance of a holistic lighting solution through the combination of functional, spatial and scenographic lighting.

The lighting concept enhances the local qualities and transforms this ordinary road in Alingsås into an inviting and attractive urban space with a unique identity at night that strengthens the link between the users and the space. The complex lighting installation comprises road lighting, various illuminations of trees and architectural features as well as scenographic elements with the intention of activating this public area by offering a stimulating streetscape to visitors as well as residents.

The project’s ambition is to show that every city, every district, every road has its own, individual identity that can be underlined by well designed basic lighting.

Two trees mark the entrance of the second project. During daytime this playground is much like any other playground in the world. But when the sun goes down and night falls the space turns into another world.
The group headed by Malcolm Innes from the UK transformed this playground into a magical place, with many surprises and thrills for kids of all ages. It is an enchanting place with many things to discover. This place should be seen through the eyes of a child. The workshop group headed by Malcolm created an example for a creative lighting design on playgrounds. Become part of this place, be enchanted – feel the magic moments and you experience joy and wonder, fun and laughter.

The third project of Lights in Alingsås is the “the Riverbend”. This project was designed by the group headed by Emrah Baki Ulas from Australia. The intention was to create an interactive play of shadow on a 50-metre canvas that was prepared prior to the workshop week. The team of designers developed a concept based on a story of a little boy. When you enter the site, you enter a dream world. Starting with mystical red lights in the water, benches invite the visitor to sit down for a while to experience a world of dreams. The play of shadows reveals a world of silhouettes, fascination and wonders on the edge of the surreal.
If you stand up, and walk along the path, your shadow becomes part of the installation.

The Dreamer - by Emrah Baki Ulas, 2010, Alingsås
Once upon a time, in a land unknown, there was a boy whose name was “Umudo”.
For as long as he could remember, he could not dream...
Every single night, his mum put him to bed, kissed him good night, and wished him sweet dreams.
Every single morning he woke up and tried to remember his dream… but he couldn’t.
Not a single image or a tiny bit of a piece of a dream...
All his friends could dream!
They always talked about their dreams and told him all kinds of exciting stories.
And the little boy wished so hard that he could also dream; of all the good things and bad things, angels and monsters, gardens and mountains, animals and aliens - and of all the people he knew
Of flying, of falling, of sadness and happiness...

Days and weeks and months and years passed, nights followed nights.
He was sad and he had no hope.
Then, one day, as he was walking, he saw a “thing” he never saw before. The thing said to him “Umudo! Wake up!”. He didn’t understand what the thing meant. The thing said again “Umudo! Wake up!” Umudo was confused. The thing said one last time: “Umudo! Wake up!”
And miraculously Umudo woke up, opening his eyes to a world where he never knew existed. He saw trees and creatures with shapes and colours he had never seen before.
He knew, at that very moment, that all that he knows of his life so far was a dream.
He knew that till that very moment he had always been a dreamer...

In the concept phase of UK-based Karen van Creveld’s workshop group the team discussed examples of standard pedestrian underpasses in other cities. The summary was that most underpasses look frightening and unpleasant and that users do not feel safe when moving through them. Karen’s group decided to choose a concept that represents feelings of warmth and home.

After defining their concept to create a pedestrian underpass which spreads feelings of silence, warmth and home, the group decided to use UV-paint to create wavy lines of doilies on the walls.

Using UV-light, the doilies come to life and look like a ripple of water running through the tunnel space. On the ground of the underpass, there is blue light, which also represents water. If you sit down and look at the wall, you will see that there is a switch between the waves of doilies and some yellow light, which the group chose for its warm colour. In order to create an inviting place, where you can sit down and take some time to feel the silence, the group created a design, which reminds you of your favourite places. People no longer want to rush through the underpass in two seconds anymore. Instead they slow their pace and stay for a moment to take breather.

Väveribron, an old white bridge in the centre of Alingsås, is located next to former factory and industry buildings. Years ago, the dye-waste from the clothes factory was drained off into the river and dyed the river different colours. Deike Canzler from Sweden and her team of lighting designers based their concept on threads of thought and reflections on the past, with colours flowing into the river at regular intervals.
The latter was achieved using colour-changing optical fibres, thus conjuring up images and an atmosphere of the past. The trees next to Väveribron are illuminated in subtle colours. The lighting is triggered by the movements of pedestrians and cars passing by.
Now it is up to the observer to discover the genius loci. Take time to explore and you may find hidden memories of your own come to life.

The “Kabomhuset” is the last site on the Lights in Alingsås tour. Charly Reger’s team was responsible for this project. The Kabomhuset accommodates the local youth centre, a karate school, a dance studio, a music school and various other clubs. Behind the building there is a courtyard, which was the main focus of the group’s concept. The group developed a concept to represent the activities inside the youth centre as well as reflecting the other workshop projects. This was achieved by programming LED meshes installed inside the building under the guidance of a technical specialist. Sequences of changing colours give the otherwise dark courtyard a fascinating new lease of life, while maintaining a link to the activities and movement inside the building, and providing a reference to the other five Lights in Alingsås projects. The lighting design concept for the courtyard further includes an architectural lighting scheme for the low roofs at the closed end of the space. The low lighting levels in this area are balanced so as not to compete with the LED screens. This supporting scheme, realised using eleven fluorescent luminaires equipped with carefully selected subdued colour gels, reveals the staggered depth of walls, roofs and stairs.