EUROPEAN LIGHTING DESIGNERS ASSOCIATION + WORSHOP, LUDENSCHEID

The European Lighting Designers’ Association regularly held workshops to guide students and others wishing to become lighting designers. I was called to the small city in western Germany to act as team leader. From four locations that were provisionally selected, the clear choice of project for me was a closed-down red-brick station building. While having the bearing of old German industrial manufacturing power, its dilapidated condition was a sorrowful sight. There was also a project to pull it down.

We were assigned one week in which we had to do all the necessary processes of a real project, including coming up with a concept and plan, selecting the fixtures, executing wiring and installation, making adjustments and giving the presentation. With the dedicated students, I worked until the middle of the night each day. The realization by “Team Lisa” came up with the theme of breathing life back into the station building, and through gradations of dynamic color usage, we revitalized the site. As plans for its demolition now seem to be on hold, the power of light is amazing.