TOPICS OF DISCUSSION

                (scroll over each topic and click) 

1. 1. How necessary is it to hire a lighting design consultant on a project?

   2. What happens in projects where a lighting expert or firm is not consulted?

   3. The misconception that lighting designers are ‘specialised’ and expensive

   4. How do you gain exposure to new brands, products and technologies?

   5. Where does the growth and learning come from?

   6. Sustainability certifications and the role of lighting in this field

   7. What is the most challenging part of this job?

We learn that when it comes to lighting, sustainability certification benchmarks are fairly easy to achieve. But there is a whole other aspect at play here that needs to be looked at very carefully.

“Sustainability requirements are prescriptive and clear,” says one designer who is truly well informed in this field. “But these requirements do not truly translate to the Middle East. We understand sustainability, and the implication of its values on the project. Not a lot of the clients are properly educated in this field. We may end up with a beautiful certificate, but it won’t necessarily comply with sustainability standards in reality, unless you work in the sustainability ethos from the concept stage, understand which credits in that certification are really feasible and which ones are not.”

Since power is very cheap  in this region, it is very hard to justify the return on investment (ROI) on the sustainability front to clients

We learn that since power is very cheap  in this region, it is very hard to justify the return on investment (ROI) on the sustainability front to clients. Plus, the weather in the region lends to a more noctural lifestyle, which automatically translates to a greater number of lights in the evenings. Dubai in particular suffers from light pollution, with clients more concerned with having signages that our simply put, brighter than their competitors, as one designers explains. And since the cost of electricity is so low, they do not care about conserving.

Dark Skys is an authority that deals with the issue of light pollution in diverse communities worldwide with the goal of creating access to information about the destructive impact of over-lighting and the benefits of responsible lighting. A few of our designers who are big proponents of this organisation’s ethos, despair over the state of Dubai’s level of light pollution.