Where did the Dark Sky movement come from,
what does Dark Sky represent to you and what led
you to investigate this field?
Dark sky has always been there; we just hid it
under many layers of light and forgot about it.
Although it’s much more diverse now, astronomers
were probably the first group to bring attention to
the growing problem of light pollution. The idea
behind the Dark Sky movement is to scratch away
the paint in order to get back to the original canvas
– the natural night. It represents quiet skies
and landscapes, not just the view of the stars.
This movement advocates the protection of our
oldest heritage, the true night that our ancestors
experienced until very recently.
The advent of lighting helped us to tame the night,
which for much of our existence has not always
been a friendly environment for us humans. But
now we are in the Anthropocene. At no time in
our history have we produced and consumed
more light than we do today. As a result, light
pollution is increasing at an alarming rate,
affecting our health, nocturnal biodiversity and
the environment, and changing our perception of
the night, not just the night sky.
Now that we have a clear understanding of the
adverse effects of light pollution, if we don’t do
something about it, we would be actively choosing
to be a part of the problem. As a lighting designer,
it was important to me that our profession remains
relevant to the times we live in and addresses
these issues as we play a significant role in
influencing how light is used and perceived. Light
pollution is not only an environmental issue, it is
also a cultural problem.
How did the Dark Sky movement start?
The Dark Sky movement began with astronomers
showing great interest as light pollution blocked
our view of the stars, distant galaxies, and
planets, hindering our understanding of the
cosmos and the universe. The movement has
gained great importance in recent years, mainly
because these views got aligned with the concerns
from environmental protection and biodiversity
conservation
groups
as
we
have
become
increasingly aware of the adverse effects of light
pollution on plants, insects, and pollinators. The
decline in insect population is heavily related to
artificial light at night. The more we understood
the impact of Artificial Light at Night, the more
these groups got united under the Dark Skies or
the “Anti-Light Pollution” movement.
Light pollution has never been worse in our history,
but we have also never been better equipped to
tackle light pollution as we are now. We know
its impact and how it can be eliminated so we
have no excuse not to act on it. One interesting
thing about light pollution is that, of all types of
pollution, it is the probably the easiest to rectify
– you just turn it off, and it’s gone. Unfortunately,
you cannot do that with other types of pollution.
K.A.
Designing light for darkness. It may seem like a
contradiction. What are the basic principles that
guide your design and how much do the context
influence it?
There is certainly a contradiction in designing
light in order to curate darkness. Darkness is a
big word, and there’s a big spectrum between
a well-lit space and pitch-black darkness. What
we try to do in every project is to find reductions
across the board and still deliver a visually-
intriguing image after dark. However, we are not
only driven by visual aesthetics, the final visual
output is the outcome of our uncompromising
environmental approach. This is about using light
as judiciously and conservatively as possible to
achieve maximum impact and significant CO2 and
light pollution reduction targets.
Space plays a very important role in determining
the degree of customisation of the design, and in
determining what aspect of the “dark canvas” we
choose to show or remove. Geographical location
(latitude) and the nature of the environment are
also fundamental. Whether it’s a rural or urban
reality suggests how bright is too bright and
how dark is too dark. Even the terms we use for
communicating light such as “brightness” and
“darkness” can be highly subjective from both
cultural and individual perspective.
The basic principles to tackle light pollution can
be summarised as “use the right light, at the
right time, in the right place.” In a nutshell, this
means using warm colour temperature, angling
it downwards, not letting light to escape above
the horizon line, dimming it down or switching off
when you don’t need it.
If we are in a lit context where the light can be
borrowed from the surroundings, we try to use
it to our advantage by introducing as minimal
light as possible. On the other hand, when we’re
working with pitch-black darkness, the light has to
be used in a very measured way so that we don’t
affect the environment and the original nature of
the nightscape in that area and beyond.
Rural areas and small communities VS big cities
and authorities? Who can influence whom? Where
can the change to design in a different way with a
different approach start?
There are indeed big differences between small
and large communities, such as cities and towns.
Whether it’s a rural town or an urban city, the
success and momentum of the project often rely
on the local community which then grows into
something much bigger. We have been fortunate
enough to work with a wide range of communities
with different strengths and weaknesses, and
what we have found is that there is no “one
size fits all”. However, we need to recognise the
achievements of the small communities which are
often overlooked. Big change begins with small
steps. The growing popularity of this movement
owes a lot to small or rural communities as they
have brought so much attention to this movement
by putting up a big fight to protect their natural
resource of dark skies. This has influenced larger
commercial developments to consider dark skies
as a unique selling point from the outset, rather
Night map of Tokyo city
K.A.
K.A.
K.A.
83% of the earth’s population lives under
heavily polluted skies that prevent them
from seeing the night sky.
Wellbeing
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