13 Jan New Year, Fresh Challenges – January 2025 Newsletter

I started writing this piece as we sailed from 2024 into 2025. May this journey into 2025 give you calm waters and smooth sailing in your business, family life, and of course your studies. I am sure that like most years the world around us will have political changes, upheaval, conflict and war, but my prayer for you is that you will have peace, tranquility, happiness and incredible success wherever you are.

The festive and holiday season is now over. It will be back to the grindstone for most on either the 6^th or 13^th of January 2025.  It takes a while to settle into one’s work routine again. Make the most of every opportunity and enjoy your occupation. Life is too fragile and short to waste opportunities and not enjoy living every day.

I commend those students who were able to devote time to making progress on the course during the holidays. Thank you to those who submitted assignments for grading and huge congratulations to those who passed their examinations with good results and to those who graduated during December.

I encourage students who have completed interesting projects successfully, to write an article for publication in our monthly newsletters. It is always interesting to read about the successes of our students and to learn how the course content contributed to their successes. The first article submitted from one of our students, Ismael Thamer, is featured below this piece and we will also share it on social media and in an individual post on our website.

How many of you, those who live in the Southern Hemisphere, have seen the Aurora Australis (the Southern lights) during the holiday period? I have been on the lookout for the last two weeks, but to no avail. We do not live in the right place to see the Aurora and we plan to go further out of Cape Town to a higher elevation one evening, one where we can look towards the south across the sea one evening.  Hopefully we will be successful!

Remember, in the November edition of the Newsletter, I informed you that I would address Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Lighting again. Well, here I go again.

If you have not yet ventured into the AI space yourselves yet, don’t delay. You will be amazed at the capabilities of AI. For example, I serve on the Constitution Committee of our bowling club.  The original amended Club Constitution was written in legalise with an incredible number of clauses, sub-clauses and sub-sub, even sub-sub-sub-sub clauses. The members have long requested a version that they can understand and less complex. I asked Microsoft Copilot to take the Constitution and to rewrite it in plain, understandable English with the minimum of sub-, and sub-sub, etc clauses. Copilot was done in a flash. The result was a really great and an understandable English simplified Constitution, without leaving any of the important content out was produced.

So, Microsoft Copilot is really amazing, but what about AI in lighting design software? Relux Desktop is actively embracing AI and is already busy developing its inclusion in the software. The aim is to develop the ability within the software to complete the lighting design for areas that meet certain criteria based on a set of specifications within the applicable international lighting standards which are already incorporated in the software that we use.

The aim is then to speed up the lighting design process for a particular project leaving the lighting designer free to apply his expertise and ability to develop lighting designs in areas requiring speciality lighting. In effect, the lighting designer or lighting design practice will be capacitated to undertake a greater number of lighting designs for more projects. AI can be likened to increasing staff levels but without the fear of staff absenteeism or illness.

I continue to urge you to be curious. We cannot afford to lag behind the technological developments. We must be at the top of our “game” in terms of knowledge and expertise. We have always encouraged our students and graduates to seize opportunities in their many forms.

Now for some personal news, I am proud to be a member of the Advisory Board of The Lighting Police, which is not a Police force or Policing organisation but rather an organisation that follows the highest standards and principles which promote good lighting design throughout the world.

TLP in the later part of 2024, held a competition that invited entrants, mainly lighting designers, to send in photographs of lighting installations with high glare levels. The advisory board then adjudicated the submissions and selected the 5 best examples of glare. The advisory board members are 2 from the United Kingdom; 1 from Madrid, Spain; 1 from Santiago, Chile and myself  from Cape Town, South Africa. After completion of that task, we all participated in a virtual meeting hosted by Katia Kolovea, the founder of TLP. The virtual meeting was recorded and will soon be available to view on YouTube, which we will of course share.

Another event presented by TLP is the Silhouette Awards. Entrants are invited from all over the world to enter. The purpose that they enter is to receive a Silhouette Awards where they are allocated a mentor.  The mentor will provide the mentee with free mentorship, guidance and general support for a period of 6 months. To learn more and meet the mentors for 2024/2025, go to https://silhouetteawards.com/. I am proud to tell you that a BHA School of Lighting graduate entered the competition. The outcome of the competition is still awaited.

We wish all students, both first and second year students well, as they prepare for the final examinations for their respective years. It is an exciting time for the students and equally exciting for us especially when they graduate.

Until next month, take care!

Best Regards

Philip Hammond

Student Spotlight

It is my pleasure to introduce Ismail Alobaidi, from Baghdad in Iraq, the author, lighting designer, and BHA School of Lighting student of the Advanced Diploma in Illumination Engineering course, who kindly submitted the inspiring article featured below.

Lighting Islamic Architecture

Overview:

Islamic architecture has a historical extension that Muslims used to create their own identity. This architecture originated in the areas that Muslims reached from the Arabian Peninsula and other areas of East Asia, Turkey, and even North Africa, such as Morocco, in addition to the areas that were ruled for a long time, such as in Andalusia (Spain).

One of the most important models of Islamic architecture is the religious schools; they were distinguished by their unique designs, and we see this through the design of the blocks, where the arches are more receptive to the viewer and make him touch the flexibility of the Islamic religion.

Islamic architecture was also influenced in many areas around the world by the weather, as it often contains open areas (courtyards) and the halls are distributed around the open area to be an engineering model that allows air and natural light to enter the basements.

We also see that Islamic architecture was influenced by religion, as inscriptions and writings were included in the finishes, which are distinguished by bright colours in art simultaneously. Clay materials were mixed with sacred phrases at other times (as in the Mustansiriya School in Baghdad).

Abject:

One of the models of Islamic architecture is the Middle Scientific School (Al-Akhund Middle School), which is located in Iraq, in the city of Najaf.  It is more than 120 years old.

Description of the architecture:

This school is distinguished by its unique design and the open courtyard method. The symmetry of the arches in the entrances to the classrooms has an amazing visual effect that amazes one by the precision and art of mastering this symmetry.

Description of finishes:

Through the picture we see the type of finishes used in these entrances, which are Karbala tiles (Karbala tiles: a material made of cement with water, marble and polishable stones) (Karbala: an Iraqi religious province adjacent to the city of Najaf).

Where Karbala tiles are considered part of the popular heritage in the religious areas in Iraq, they are distinguished by their colours which define the heritage and meaning from the artistic values contained in them. They find a clear dimension in the visual arts by adopting engraving with the methods of Islamic Arab decoration and Arabic calligraphy.

Karbala tiles are distinguished by their high artistic specifications, including the colours of their engravings and decorations which are durable and have a dazzling lustre and bright splendour. Their artistry of manufacture depends on high skills and techniques, long accumulated and inherited from experience based on mastery and precision in work and on proficiency and creativity in manufacturing.

Vision in lighting the school:

Pendant lanterns were the ideal way to light this type of building at night. I was assigned the task of lighting this edifice, so I decided to make it a prominent edifice that embodies the spirit of architecture and the magic of the effect of the materials used.

Since the place currently has a religious heritage character, I used lighting devices in-ground that do not affect the basic heritage structure of the building.

Art and ways to illuminate it:

After analysing the building, I found that the matching arches are the basic architectural feature of the place, so my thoughts turned towards illuminating these entrances and arches as the basic idea for the school.  I used recessed lighting devices and with an appropriate distribution so as not to affect the entry and exit of people into the rooms.

Choosing the colour temperature for the lighting of these materials was another challenge. My focus was on illuminating the colours of the Karbala tiles in their true dazzling colours to cheer the soul and achieve the ultimate impression for visitors to the heritage school.

The advantages of LED and modern lighting devices and high purity lenses is that they are able to achieve the desired appropriate lighting intensity and uniform distribution at carefully chosen beam angles to achieve these results.

In the end:

Lighting this distinctive and unique architecture had many challenges, which I was able to overcome with precise knowledge of every detail in this place. After reviewing and reading the references and how the historical buildings were built by a unique civilization that distinguishes my country, Iraq, I feel proud that it is the first heritage project that I have successfully been able to renew and illuminate the features as a member of a distinguished team that selected me to undertake the task.

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