Understanding how a luminaire works, how a roll works and how it has to marry to each other is an extremely important thing for every designer to understand. I want young professionals who are just getting into the field to understand that these aspects are extremely important. When you're working with light, the lines between who is doing what is not very clear. You know. You can't just tell the contractor to take care of the driver details and stuff, because the contractor might not be aware what kind of effects you want to achieve and stuff. So it's very important for a lighting designer to be there throughout the whole journey and make sure that these communications happen in the right way with every agency involved welcome back to the virtual lighting design community podcast, a global platform that empowers, inspires, educates and connects the lighting design community.

This podcast is brought to you by our premium supporters aero hospitality lighting, creative lighting, asia erco, the signify lighting academy Academy and Philix Lighting. We welcome Kunal Shah, principal Lighting Designer at SPK Valo, based in Hyderabad, india. In today's episode, kunal shares his insights on the crucial role of lighting in architecture. He discusses how lighting can not only enhance a space's aesthetic, but also create profound emotional experiences for its users. From the importance of collaboration with clients to the impact of layered lighting, there are plenty of practical tips and inspiring stories that reveal how a thoughtful approach to design can make all the difference. It is well worth listening right to the end, as there are many timewise tidbits for younger, up-and-coming lighting designers. The video version of this presentation is available on our community, which is also worth checking out. Join us at vldcommunity. Now let's give our attention to Kunal Shah. His presentation is titled the Journey of Creating Perceptual Transformation and the Process Behind it.

It's lovely to be here presenting at the BLDC. I'm Kunal Shah. I've been practicing lighting design in Hyderabad, india, for about 12 years now. It's actually my 13th year in the practice. I had my master in architectural lighting design from KTH in Sweden, so, after which I did a brief internship with the Hedges Lab in Eindhoven and then I jumped into the field in Hyderabad, india.

My presentation today will be about the journey of creating perception, transformations and the process behind it. So it's been about 12 years since I've started my office here in Hyderabad, india, so for me it has been quite a bit of a journey because, coming from a country where lighting design is sort of an established profession, I came into a space where lighting design was just in a very, very nascent stage and people actually did not know what to expect from it. This journey has been very, very interesting because what people used to think about lighting design was like a lighting designer comes in and he does his calculation and gives what are the lux levels and various zones and what are the?

so it was a very simplified approach towards lighting design.

You know, and various companies used to give people direct support, which did not make any sense and there was there were no conversations about what the material is and how will it interact with light and stuff. So so for for me, it was very, very interesting to bring these things and make people understand how the interaction with material is one of the most important things that a lighting designer concentrates in. So in this presentation I'm going to talk about is for an experience center that I did. This is a startup here in Hyderabad which started with selling control system and now they wanted to get into lighting also and they wanted to sell it like a solution. They wanted to show the client what amalgamation of light and control bring in. So when they came to us, their thought process of this was to show the potential clients how it can save energy and how it can help in regulating or establishing a timetable for their routine and stuff. But then something very, very critical that they were missing about was how it transforms the space, how light transforms the space. They were coming in from the perspective of control. They were coming in from the perspective of control. So then we had lots of discussions with them and we thought, of course they had this plan of making a demo center for themselves, but I said this should be more a perceptual space where a client can experience how light is transforming the space throughout the day. So they came up with this approximately 3,000, 3,500 square feet of space wherein we decided to add different layers of light and show a potential client how the space is transforming, with different layers of light being added to the space.

I'll take you through this whole journey through a few slides, which shows how each layer of light adds an element of interest, an element of information, an element of expansion or compression to the space which only without having any physical element they are achieving. So this was a mock of a living space with a courtyard space at the backdrop and a television space in the front. So, if you see, the initial layer of light was just picking up the seating. So what you see is the. The space is completely condensed. The whole spatial experience becomes a lot more cozier and intimate and the moment just accent on the door happens, the space expands visually Further. When the art is picked up, the space further expands the dining space, which was completely invisible just a slide before. By just accenting that dining, the space has opened up quite a bit.

Pardon me for the images, but this was taken with a mobile phone, but the idea is clearly being communicated, what we are trying to explain here.

Now, if you see this, the courtyard, the textured stone wall behind, is being grazed. So if you see the texture is being revealed and the backdrop experience of the seating expands again, so visually the outdoor becomes an integral visual element of the indoors. You see the space with all the layers being switched on, is much, much larger and a vibrant element altogether. So this whole journey for a client to come and experience they understand how each layer of light is relieving the element of interest and making the space an interesting space to be in. You know, and especially from the perspective of an individual who doesn't understand these layers of light, it makes him think in a very wider sense for him how light can really transform his space, can really transform his space. Similarly, we had done a similar exercise for the dining and the bar experience that they had created. Again, if you see there are accents happening over the dining space and the bar space, then the art is being picked up here on the left-hand side Again.

Similarly, a grazer comes in, so it brings in a lot more ambient lighting space, the indirect uplighting from these rafters, which makes the space much more vibrant and more ambiently lit, and how the outdoors again become an integral part of the indoors. So these layers of light were pretty well communicated and this particular space, this particular company, is now expanding and recently they have received a hundred crore investment from Indian investors and this storytelling experience centers are being developed in various cities across India. So I think this will help in broader perspective for the lighting design community, as this layered approach toward light is being communicated to larger masses. Now another light is being communicated to larger masses Now. Another project where we were wanting to create an experience through a pathway. This was for an office space. This was an office for a movie, a cinema maker, and we wanted to create a transitional space where a person who is coming to listen to the story. So this space was going to be used where the writers, the narration was to happen with the directors.

So the idea was to create a space where people stop thinking about the practical aspects. It was more about creating spaces which are sublime and very dreamlike. You know, where you believe in, everything is possible. So we were to create this path, which was from reception until the storytelling space, and we wanted to create this path to be magical, and the references that we took were this market from Marrakesh, which is extremely pleasing to look at, and that experience of walking through the rays of light is something that we wanted to mimic.

Now we had the task of creating this experience in a space which was about six feet in width and about 10 feet in height. So we started doing mock-ups, used sheets of light on the ceiling and we used bird flies at regular intervals, say, about 12 mm to 20 mm of spacing between. And if you see the mock-ups, we were successfully able to create those nice rays of light through the spots. Again, you know, this is the backlighting is used for mostly those stretch lighting applications. So for us to get these textured lights, what we did was we negated the stretch fabric so that the light doesn't lose its texture and the sharpness is intact. So if you see on the image on the right, we were able to create this nice sharp lines of light.

If you go further you'll find mockups of this. We were able to get these nice sharp rays of light and, as we go towards the finish, the door and the faggon was made with this frosted glass which was converting, which was kind of radiating, into a clear glass element. The idea was that this, this walk of say, about 20 feet, should, should make you get into a new zone of space Another interesting experience that I would like to share where we were able to successfully transform the visual weight of a material, weight of a material. So we were doing a lounge here in Bangalore and the architect had come up with this idea of having gabion walls around the periphery of the space and the obvious solution, what we thought, was to apply the gabion and kind of pick up the texture of the pebbles that are inserted into the mesh.

Now, to our horror, when we did the markup, the gabion had a lot of undulations and the pebbles were coming out of it and it was looking really, really horrific. So so, as a practice, what we try and do is that we do a lot of mock-ups with the materials that the architect is planning to work with, which helps us understand how light is behaving with different elements of the space.

The moment we got this, we immediately said, okay, why not do a backlight to this element which will help us get this nice soft light through the gabion? Now, to our surprise and of course, I mean architect was a very inclusive part of this whole exercise and we were able to create an element which was this you know, the whole heaviness of gabion that we see by the daytime was completely transformed into a nice subdued, translucent, vertical experience. So those heavy variants were transforming into nice glowing wall elements. So this is the power of mock-ups and practically interacting with the material, with light. So this is another project where we were working with a lot of natural stone cladding and a lot of form, exposed concrete elements, and this is where we worked with interaction of combination of lighting controls, customizing of luminaires and working with the color temperature of light.

Now this is a lounge space with semi-outdoor space, an outdoor space and an indoor space with semi-outdoor space, an outdoor space and an indoor space. The idea, the conceptual idea of this space with light was to reveal the material of the elements through light. So if you see how we have treated. Each element is to reveal its true nature, like I mean, if you see this form exposed concrete coffers, we wanted to show the concrete elements into it. If you see the patina finish under the bar counter, we wanted to show the textural aspects of the patina and the textured natural stone cladding that you see on the backdrop. We wanted a person who is visiting this space to experience the textural elements of the whole space throughout, and for this we had to plan a lot because, I mean, since this was a form-exposed concrete, there was a lot of planning involved, because we had to place all the drivers remote.

We had to make a decision as to how many fixtures will be looped into one circuit and how many fixtures will be driven by one network. So all this planning had to happen before the construction stage, because after the construction there was no scope of doing anything. And if you see the brightness contrast. Also, we made sure that the backdrop was a tad bit higher so that the experience of the backdrop is never missed and doesn't dilute the textural area, and experience always becomes a backdrop of the space. Another very interesting element here were the tanks, the beer tanks that a brewery generally has. Now these beer tanks were stainless steel in color, so we had to make sure that there is visual contrast that is seen clearly. So what we did was we did the complete lighting in 2700 Kelvin and what we did to the beer tanks, the brewery tanks, was to take it a step cooler, to 3000 Kelvin. So what you see here is the visual contrast with the color also, so that depth of perception that you see in this image was brought out. So I think the right application of the see not just generating the concept, but understanding how a luminaire works, how a roll works and how it has to marry to each other is an extremely important thing for every designer to understand repeatedly is because I want young professionals who are just getting into the field to understand that these aspects are extremely important when you're working with light, especially with Indian subcontinent, where the lines between who is doing what is not very clear. You know, you can't just tell the contractor to take care of the driver details and stuff, because the contractor might not be aware what kind of effects you want to achieve and stuff. So it's very important for a lighting designer to be there throughout the whole journey and and make sure that these communications happen in the right way with every agency involved.

So, coming to the next project, this was a very, very interesting project. Again, this was a project which we recently completed in Bangalore. Which we recently completed in Bangalore. This is a high-end restaurant and lounge space in Bangalore and the requirement was to create spaces, multiple spaces, within the restaurant itself, because they wanted to have various activities in the whole space and they wanted diverse experiences throughout the space. Of course, architecturally, the architects had done their job brilliantly. So they had.

The entrance was like a semi-enclosed space with a lot of greenery, and then as you go in, it was more of a lounge feel to the space, since the space had a lot of depth.

We wanted to bring out the character of the architecture and on the first floor, they wanted it to be used as a private party space and the same space could convert into a private PDR, also a dining space too. So, using light and the right control, we were able to work on this space Like. I mean, if you see this entrance space, we made sure that the greens are picked up, though the density of the greens is not so high as a semi-outdoor space you would expect, but then perceptually these greens are very dominating when you are seated in the space and lighting it up in the right way. It helped us create this experience in the space that this is a nice semi-outdoor space, experience in the space that this is a nice semi-outdoor space. Now, as you go within the space, the whole depth, the character that the architect had built to enhance the perception of this space, which was rectangular and had a lot of depth we made sure that this was accentuated in the right way and vertically.

Also the detail that the architects had come up with of having a mirror on the top, which is a very tricky detail when you're doing integrated lighting details, because you end up seeing a lot of reflections Of course. I mean this is a very challenging detail, but we ended up addressing it in a recent way. Again, looking at the same space from the opposite side, you know the whole depth. The experience of depth is very nicely communicated. At the same time there are these intimate pockets of seating also. At the same time, there are these intimate pockets of seating also. So there is a space for every mood that a client comes up with. If you want a nice private cozy dinner, you have that space. If you're with your friends, you want a vibe that is more lively, you can take up the central seating, you know. So this experience within the space is something that really attracts me towards this project, because this is something that is very, very I feel that it is very, very difficult to achieve.

Coming to the PDR again, you know this.

PDR was a combination of two spaces, wherein you know they could divide these spaces into two Again, this was of a very, very specific requirement and we could achieve this. Now, taking you through how we achieve these requirements, you know how we understand what a client is wanting and how we're able to communicate and make sure that the client is aware of what he's going to get, which I feel is an extremely important aspect to being a lighting designer. It's very important to keep the expectations right from every stakeholder, be it the architect, be it the end client, be it the contractor, be it the rest of the consultants. The communication of information is extremely critical of information is extremely critical, so I thought I will spend about four to five minutes explaining how we are communicating these aspects to various stakeholders.

Of course, this was another project where it looks very simple. This was an apartment complex which one floor was one apartment, and so the most important thing is to convince all the individuals that you need a consistent color temperature, at least here. It's extremely important because every individual wants to deal with the space in their own way the night time, because the kind of synchrony that the building is achieved, the kind of unison that the structure is able to achieve, I feel, is only because of light. So it's extremely important that you know we were able to convince the end clients and in this case there were three different end clients that we had to convince.

So just to get back to, how are we achieving this? Is see, this was a very, very interesting slide that I had come across from one of my teachers at the master's program and this has made a very lasting impression for me throughout my career. So this was a simple slide which talked us look at things the way we are looking at it. One is the cultural image, the way we are brought up or what happens around us, what we think is right and what we think is right wrong. And the second filter is our personal experiences, which mold us to see things in a certain way.

And I think when we interact with the clients, we try to understand what these filters for them would be, or we try to strike this conversation with them to understand what their filters are, what is right for them, what is wrong for them. I'm pretty convinced that you know it is as a designer. I don't try to impose my thoughts to a solution. I try to take inclusive decisions with the clients which will make the product not just a product that is mine, but a product that is a solution that's come out from a collective thinking and it helps quite a bit, because everyone feels that they are the owner of that particular solution.

So from the communication aspect.

Once we understand what the client is wanting to have, we make sure that this is presented pictorially, because this helps us make sure that what we have understood about the client is put on paper. This was a residence that we were doing and and we made sure that the kind of experience that the client is going to get and all the different layers of light that he's going to achieve is being clearly communicated to them so that they are aware and informed as to what are they expecting from the lighting solution that we are proposing. And I think this pictorial communication is the cornerstone and the essence of communication, because it doesn't have to reflect the exact solution, but it certainly has to communicate the layers that you are planning to come up with. It helps them decide better. It helps them say that, whether they will like the solutions or not, again, we make sure that we give terminology and we add a vocabulary to everything that we are doing, because it helps when a client reads this vocab, it helps them to make better decisions.

We try to communicate how different beam angles are impacting the space.

Of course, every lighting designer does calculations, but we try to talk about the calculation not just in terms of the uniformity that they're achieving, about the calculation, not just in terms of the uniformity that they're achieving, but we try to talk to them about the kind of contrasts that they have to expect in space.

Another extremely important point that we communicate to the clients is how they are going to achieve these different moves in the space. I find it's a lighting designer's job to really understand how various scenes are going to be created and how it's going to be controlled, because I don't think a control system will be able to give you that solution, because you are the director as a lighting designer, you are the director as a writing designer. You're the director of that composition and that composition how is that composition going to be triggered has to be married with the requirements of a client as to how is he going to use the space. I think these, this understanding, makes you give the best control solution as to how different keypads should be used by them in a space. So this is what I wanted to communicate through my talk at the VLDC as a lighting designer.

it is extremely important to understand and communicate to different stakeholders in their own language, and it has helped us successfully achieve the results in our projects that we have been achieving. So thank you so much. It has been a pleasure talking to you.

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