Flying HIGH...

Dear RS, this picture is inspired by your comment (we LUV Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy :) and as I've recently caught this 'cosmic craving' from my colleague Fedor I've decided to place this a-ma-zing picture of Helix Nebula (aka the Eye of God as it is metaphorically called by the poets of our society :). Actually, it's a succesion - or, rather, a composite - of images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

The astronomers are being very close to us lighting freaks watching this "trillion-mile-long tunnel of glowing gases" - we are humans, after all, and a human brain just cannot embrace the cosmic dimensions... at least my big brain can't :)

At its center is dying star which has ejected masses of dust and gas to form tentacle-like filaments stretching toward an outer rim composed of the same material. They say, our sun may look like this in several billion years.

I like the feeling of the words as they're slipping off my tongue... the Kohoutek 4-55 planetary nebula in the constellation Cygnus... A miraculous visual effect - but not to our bare eyes!

Photo - Courtesy: NASA, WIYN, NOAO, ESA, Hubble Helix Nebula Team, M. Meixner (STScI), & T. A. Rector (NRAO)

Light Well - Well?..

RAILWAY SERVICE CENTER, StPetersburg, Russia

Where else if not in the city famous for its White Nights (oh those nights... OK, this is another story :) could we encounter the light well as it is and in such an abundance (we are in Russia, remember?). Solid concrete roof/ceiling with lots of wells dispersing light + big front edge window walls + big :) screens displaying destinations and time table - they all constitute the lighting setting for the huge hall (see, Russian's synonymic to "huge" and "big").

Daylight helps in cutting down the energy consumtion and this is amazing 'cause in the 70's (the time the building's construction refers to) the energy cost was low in the Soviet Union... Thinking future - the architects of the past were good at it!

Inside Out

MERTENS HOUSE, St. Petersburg, Russia

Once Vas thought that since I am working on an outdoor project at work, I should say some word on how we see urban environment from outside. I found this idea interesting and went out. Here's the first shot in the series: Mertens House on Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg as seen in twilight. Zara put in some architectonic details and split pleasant yellowish light pouring outside through uneven mesh. Wet asphalt adds on!

Historical detail: the building was built in 1870 by A. Poten for Mertens Fur Shop. Now houses Zara clothes and house utencils.

Stripe-y Trend Update

SOLINGEN BOUTIQUE, StPetersburg, Russia.

The cool fluorescent tubes used for retail decoration are quite noticable... in StPete now. Passing by the Solingen boutique which sells knives and tableware we encountered our favourite lighting sources. Here in an antique sellar setting, placed against old brick slope ceilings in the form of a glowing web. Captivating, d'you think?

Light birds

PETER AND PAUL FORTRESS, St. Petersburg, Russia

Look closer. Those are not a bunch of doves on the roof of Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Pete. It's a set of flood lights to reach up roughly 120 m (393 feet) of  Peter and Paul Cathedral.

SINGER HOUSE

ST.PETERSBURG, Russia

One of the most inspiring and intellectual buildings in St. Pete, Singer House (architect Pavel Syuzor, built 1902 -- 1904, restored 2006), hosts extensive bookstore, a cafe with a nice view, and exposes these wonderfully crafted wall luminaries. They are being restored one by one, and there's an older version (the farthest fitting).
Posted from a mobile device.

So Simple... Yet So Refined!

FAST-FOOD RESTAURANT FRIKADELKI, StPetersburg, Russia

Maybe it just reminds me very much of Paris (oh Paris!) and the organic restaurant chain Le Pain Quotidien with it's simple rustic yet refined and sincere setting - well, we can argue on the concepts of quality fast food and le pain quotidien, the daily bread still... Maybe the name Frikadelki sounds Scandinavian (it's Russian for köttbullar)... Maybe it's a 10 min walk from my new office in StPete... Anyway, I like it!

The terrace - the orange tent letting the natural sunlight come through gives this warm happy glow on faces and food - ough, dangerous! :) Big twiggen Ikea fixtures help in creating the datcha feel which is supported by rough undone wooden signes with burnedout letters and pictures. The signes are lit by very trendy Loft lamps by Jielde which are in vogue in Paris right now.



The counter is made of glass Ikea pots with LED put inside - improvised lighting fixture aka display and storage stand. Nothing new but goes well with the general concept. A little bit of imagination - et voila! The general and accent lighting is solved with the help of nice-looking Ikea spotlights on tracks - have to explore Ikea range more carefully next time I go there...



My fav is the pendant fixture made of (surprise!) Ikea stainless steel pots and some light sources in the middle - the glow from the light source is almost non-existent as the construction is flexible as the whole mass of pots slightly moves with a smallest draught air.

PS. ...yeah, the food is tassssssty, BTW :) The place is in StPetersburg, Vasiljevsky Ostrov, and then call me for orientation :)