Night Reflections

‘Night Reflections’ began in response to a national competition to transform Portobello Green at night while simultaneously increasing security. “This lighting proposal has been chosen for its originality and the completeness of its response to the complex issues surrounding the use of this public space,” Roger Matland, director, Westway Development Trust (WDT), Oct 2002.

Portobello Green is an open space owned by WDT and open to the public. The final design’s rationale was a spatial transformation of the park by night, reflecting the daytime qualities of calm and tranquillity interpreted through new lighting technologies.

The scheme integrated five lighting elements:

1. spatial nightscape framework: uplit areas
2. flowing paths: safe routes edged with slow colour change LEDs
3. floating benches: bespoke benches illuminated with LEDs/fluorescents creating ‘safe islands’ in combination with the totems
4. totems: vertical light features creating effect of diffuse foliage reflections through laser-cut profiles/colour filters
5. seasonal elements: laser-cut/formed leaves suspended from uplit trees revealed in winter.

Three (3 –5) were specifically developed by me as no products on the market achieved the desired effects and performance. The effects were created through research and experimentation on new design configurations with emergent low energy lighting technologies. The designs were further developed for production with manufacturers. Personal safety, anti-vandalism, low maintenance and energy efficiency were integral design considerations.

This design surfaced the relationship between the ‘feeling’ of safety and spatial awareness created through lighting and invites more rigorous exploration in future practice-based research.