Made to last forever...

A HOUSING, Chelyabinsk, Russia. This ... lighting fixture was shot in a housing of a so called Khruschev series. Back in sixties Nikita Khruschev had introduced small appartment housings to solve the accomodation shortage. They say he had borrowed the idea from Finland but taken saunas away. Actually, there were showers in kitchens in some of the housings like that.

I was caught shooting by a dweller. When he got to know what I had been doing, he had commented that this... chandelier would last forever though it might look queer.

Light in a restroom

PAUL BAKERY, Yekaterinburg, Russia. This solution I liked: a fluorescent tube above the semi transparent film ceiling. It creates a feeling of evenly spread faded light (the one we see on a cloudy day) with no strong contrasts. The only fly in the ointment is -- except literary a fly and several other insects visible underneath the ceiling -- is a poor color rendering. Well, this is a common failure of fluo light usage in Russia.

A bit of a critic to a nostalgic exposition

VOLVO MUSEUM, Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo is a part of Swedish culture. This maxim is hard to argue against. Some twenty minutes ride from Gothenburg to Volvo Area outside the city, and you are in the modest building (unlike what you may expect after visiting German car manufacturers' museums) filled in with touching and genuine Swedish values. The exposition is made with so much love and nostalgy that light was somehow forgotten. Outdated ambient lighting fixtures limit the spirit of the place, do not let it fly up to the car heaven. Ceiling and -- even more -- light is inavitably major part of any exposition. They are not only to highlight what a visitor sees; they are to team up the surroundings and exposition itself.

High ceilings? No worries!

PULSEN CONFERENCE CENTER, Borås, Sweden. I often hear a question from cutomers that are about to deal with maintenance of fittings placed high above the floor level. Look here guys! This trolley stood between a restaurant and conference hall, occupied minimum space, neat and tide.

Btw, the Pulsen conference center is something to see in Borås: former textile factory, skillfully turned into modern loft. And a nice restaurant too.

"I'm going deeper under ground..."

Central city square: a place for military parades...

... or rooftop for undergroung market place

REVOLUTION SQUARE, Chelyabinsk, Russia. This is a project developed in mid nineties. Beforehand the market was located on the square which caused a lot of discontent amongst citizens, so the authorities decided to hide the market underground. Those dipleased at rubbish and noise under the Lenin statue faced construction with all the digging-hammering-cursing-dusting-traffic jamming.

Now everything is neet and clean. I would change the lighting though...

Accidental light art: fire

CHELYABINSK HIGHWAY, 118 km, Russia. On my biz trip to Chelyabinsk I first smelled smoke, then I saw it curling across the highway, then I stopped to picture this. Fire was erasing old grass and garbage along the road and further to fields. Presumably the fire was organized and under control: there was a fire truck and police stand by.

Color rendering as an attraction device

WEEKDAYS, Gothenborg, Sweden. It captivates you from far away, orange glow and yellowish details on the entrance walls. Come closer and find yourself at night even if it is a sunny noon! And whoosh! A beam of white light spots small dichroic figures and dresses them up into motley garment.

A secret is simple yet unknown by shoppers: orange light comes out of low pressure sodium lamps and kills colors (remember street lighting?); metalhallide beamed out from a rotating fixture revitalises color and pleases our eyes.

Two thumbs up!

Accidental light art: disco

A MUSIC STORE, Yekaterinburg, Russia. Even salesmen at this CD-store suffered the boredom and flatness of the lighting used. Once they forgot to remove these Christmas decoration and found themselves in a place much more suitable for music. Imagine what happens when they blow at the balls!

Idea is the engine

JULIA DIMA HAT BOUTIQUE, Yekaterinburg, Russia. What you see is a small boutique of a local designer (vive hyperlocal trend!) practically square space with no ceiling fixtures. The store is lit by only two light boxes, handmade with T8 fluorescent tubes, and six pairs of recessed downlights with integrated fluo bulbs (E27). Glare and contrast is strong, because all the surfaces are dark, but as soon as your eyes adapt and you start tell one hat from another, you kind of like the atmosphere.

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The blog is in the test mode, and withing the course of time will be filled with slightly different news and feeds. So, please do not hesitate to come up with comments or questions. You opinion matters!

Kit

Accidental light art: flora

AT FRIENDS', Yekaterinburg, Russia. I was just about to open the bottle, when saw this floramorphic glaring spot on the wall. Our friends, a couple from France rent a nice new apartment in the downtown with no furniture or lighting, and fill empty spaces with only what they need.

Testing mobile feed in

DOMODEDOVO AIRPORT, Moscow, Russia. Testing mobile feed in.

It's not all about money

BUSINESS CENTER "NA KUZNECHNOY," Yekaterinburg, Russia. Owners of this loft (it used to be once a movie studio facility) business center are keen on cutting edge interiors and costs. Exposed wiring, brick walls, pebble moldings and cheap pendants made of straw with a E27 integrated fluo. Cheap and easy!

Drill the heat out of Diablo!

USPENSKY SHOPPING CENTER, Yekaterinburg, Russia. There's a number of fixtures of the kind, all drilled like this. From the out of record talk with a Center's representative, I have found out that they had been made on purpose to take out the heat. Otherwise, ballasts of these 10 times xx W would shut down.

The fixture is Modular Diablo.