Over the years I have provided lighting design services to various “architectural” clients, some here in the UK and some abroad in Saudi Arabia.
I have lit houses large and small, some for TV personalities, Authors, Churches, Auditoria, Arabic Wedding Halls, massive corporate complexes, Villas on the Red Sea and even a Garden or two!
CHURCHES
I have provided lighting schemes to various Churches in the UK, normally but not necessarily via an Architect, as part of funding applications. When their applications have been successful, the schemes move ahead to completion but not necessarily with me at the helm all the time, which is very frustrating indeed. However some schemes have been completed successfully now using my designs. The next step for me is to get hold of some more images to prove it!
Some of the Churches I have been involved with in varying degrees…
Grimsby Minster, Grimsby
St Andrew’s Church, Epworth
St Mary’s Episcopal Church, Hamilton
Chapel, Stamford School, Stamford
All Saint’s Church, Winterton
St Andrew’s Church, Utterby
MY TIME IN SAUDI ARABIA
In the early 1990’s I was approached by a good friend of mine, Jim Laws, regarding a possible lighting job in a hotel ballroom in Jeddah KSA. The owners had been in touch with the ALD to find a likely chap to go out there, interpret a large selection of music and create some light shows for their wedding operations. I accepted and made arrangements with the Client, Al-Attas Hotels, to visit the Kingdom and work for a week or so on his new project. After lots of messing about getting a visa and letters of invitation etc, I proceeded to board a BA plane and set off into the unknown! It turned out to be a very exciting time and a massive cultural learning curve for me too.
The Client and I got on well and he eventually asked me back for another visit and to get involved with a large architectural practice out there who were designing his next project, another massive wedding hall! I was to be responsible for all the stage lighting and all the architectural lighting designs too. It all went well and the place grew from some footings to a palatial building in the middle of Jeddah. The Leylaty Ballrooms & Restaurants
I don’t have any decent images of this project so here are some links to other photographer’s works which gives you a flavour:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/61388612@N05/5789861834/in/photostream/
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/40938768
And then I was asked back by the Architectural Practice to consult on further projects…
The Architectural Practice was called Zuhair Fayez and were based in Jeddah. I met with a team of project managers in an office in Jeddah and discussed a huge new project for the Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corp. It was to be their new headquarters complex in Riyadh. This was when we didn’t really have internet but could get two computers connected across the world… only after a long protracted time connecting and getting cut off, all done via telephone lines! This meant that between doing some file transfers and a lot of faxes, we could communicate and send drawings.
I made various visits to Jeddah and spoke endlessly with officials, architects and project teams and gradually a design scheme was formulated. The building now stands in palatial grounds in Riyadh along with offices, auditoria, a mosque, gardens, fountains, roadways, car parks and even a heliport! Look it out here on this web site. Again, there are no photos in my possession but you can see images here. Here are some more, courtesy of google.
Then I became even more involved…
Ste story moves on… (More to follow soon)
MUSEUMS
I have only really been involved with one museum but the process was quite interesting! I was approached to oversee parts of the interior lighting for “The Collection”, a new museum in Lincoln at the time. I worked alongside the Museum’s Curator as part of the Museum Team, in a sense. I attended meetings with the architects and my Client and offered comments and suggestions as the design process progressed. I was also asked to write reports on my findings regarding lighting layouts and energy consumption. We didn’t have LED then but plenty of CFLs and halogen sources!!
No images available as yet but visit the web site https://www.thecollectionmuseum.com/ for some information.