Having first designed with light at his father's architecture firm Paul Gunawan, Managing Director of LITAC, has consistently blazed a trail in Indonesia with his strong schemes. Our Asia correspondent Jimmie Wing paid a visit to Jakarta to talk to the man himself...

Paul Gunawan is Managing Director of LITAC (Lighting Design Acoustic Consultancy). He founded and established LITAC in 1992. Officially named PT LITAC Konsultan, this is a professional consultancy company specialising in lighting design and acoustics. The company was formed to meet the growing needs of building owners, property developers, government institutions, architects, interior designers, landscape planners and mechanical/electrical consultants to achieve the increasing quality standard in Indonesian modern development. To date this company has conducted more than one hundred varied projects including shopping malls, office towers and major hotel lighting projects such as JW Marriot, Grand Melia, Bali Hyatt and the Bali Renaissance.

Paul's broad repertoire includes designing unique fixtures for special projects mostly to deal with building architecture. His very 'special project' now is the Theater Taman Ismail Marzuki, a mammoth theatre that will be completed around 2006 which will be Indonesia's first national theatre. In Indonesia high profile projects such as this must undergo the lengthy and painstaking process of yearly budget preposition and change in government programs. Paul is currently working on up to 30 projects at once. As opposed to some other lighting designers, he does not sell any products and has no ties with manufacturers.

Son of an architect father and internationally renowned modern art sculptor mother, Paul has risen to become being Indonesia's foremost lighting professional but his educational background is actually in engineering physics. He majored in building physics at Indonesia's leading Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).

mondo*arc spoke with Paul Gunawan in a series of interviews over the past eight months:

How did someone with your educational background come to be Indonesia's leading lighting designer?
It was a niche of education within building physics in which my parents' art influence was the area that merged with my interest in engineering. Having a mixed approach to design and my familiarity with architecture, it's much easier for me to work together and understand architects and other related aspects of a building compared to someone who deals only with (the) aesthetic approach.

When did you first become interested in lighting. Has the work of any other lighting designers inspired you?
Light has always fascinated me, how nature and humans react to light and how light governs our perceptions. I guess my interest started when I saw how important light becomes to art after which I started to experiment with photography and light sources. There are various lighting designers who I admire, such as Fischer Marantz, Ross de Alessi, Motoko Ishii, Kaoru Mende and many others.

What was your first contact/experience with architectural lighting?
I started designing when I was still studying in the university as a helper in my father's architect firm, handling the lighting aspects of his job, mostly with office buildings and some club houses. Soon after, I was trusted to handle a couple of jobs with my professor in the university. So when I graduated, I had already had some experience and confidence in this profession.

What's one of the more memorable projects you've worked on? Why?
Almost every project has something unique and memorable about it. Most are good but some are less satisfying. It is hard to point out which impressed me more than others, but I highly value my relationship with clients even after the projects have been completed.

What was your lighting brief for WTC Mangga Dua and what was unique about it?
When we first approached this project, I was challenged with a huge, monotonous "shoe-box" type of building, with very little detail. My first reaction was to try and "visually hide" this 500 metre long building and only do highlights at selective points. However, after lengthy discussion with the client, we came to do just the opposite, which is to show this gigantic building at its full size and therefore produce a strong statement as being the biggest trade centre around. Binding the top outline with the owners' corporate colours, softly highlighting the flat faŤade, and giving strong bold colours around the entrance, has delivered this building a recognition that it needs.

What was your lighting brief for Metro TV?
PG This building is a typical modern building with a metal cladding facade. Being a TV station and an office combined, the lighting approach was to keep the building subtle but still show architectural features such as the wing shaped canopy and strengthening the tower appearance.

How do you think Indonesia could be better illuminated? What things or attitudes do you think should be changed here to better illuminate the country?
A couple of years back, my company was engaged in outlining the Jakarta Lighting Masterplan. During the implementation of it and by witnessing new development around, we found that there is lack of commitment in conducting city beautification. The feeling of competition between buildings, public space and street lighting has become more negative. Since it's still not too late, I hope there will be some real regulation to control and suppress light pollution. A clear understanding and restriction of area and zone, such as commercial or residential, may help to better shape the city nightscape.
Another challenge that I am witnessing nowadays is the building owners' lack of will to maintain their building lighting equipment. Many times we find buildings that fail to take care of all the investment they made initially, neglecting maintenance and trying to cut costs by turning some of the lights off... what this does is more possibly degrading their own company image.

Jimmie Wing took a visit to the controversial Da Vinci Tower in Jakarta, one of Paul Gunawan's most striking projects...

Without a doubt Da Vinci Tower (DVT) is one of the most outstanding structures on the Jakarta's seemingly post apocalyptic skyline and this marvellous neo gothic hybrid is what first brought Paul Gunawan to mondo*arc's attention. In the evening the exterior lighting is turned on before most other buildings in Jakarta and probably the last to go off after dawn.

DVT is an erection that viewers either love or hate but no-one can disregard it. The lobby looks like the kind of place where Donatella Versace would fit right in. Indeed, this area and the next eleven floors are the ostentatious showrooms of one of Indonesia's leading imported furniture and home lighting companies. Contrarily, it is upon this that the exterior design and lighting concepts were based.

DVT is a building that evolved - originally planned to be an office building but due to the monetary crisis of '97-'98 was bought out by the now owner, Tony Phua. Approached along with international competitors, Paul and his LITAC team won the bid after his concept was selected from the other entries.

LITAC joined the project in late 2002 when the building was still bare, no columns or design details. Appointed to handle the faŤade as well as the interior lighting, Paul Gunawan worked closely with the architects, all of whom taking regular instruction and guidance from Tony Phua. There were endless meetings until they came up with a workable solution to the challenge facing them.

According to Paul, Tony Phua had a continual hands on approach and the present look of DVT was a clear idea of what he wanted - to bring the interior furnishing style "classical renaissance" to the exterior of the building. At night he wanted the building to be outstanding but not overpowering; that was the brief. When Tony Phua took over, construction had only been completed as far as the fourth floor of what had initially been intended to be a typical glass faŤade office building - the kind that now surround DVT like a pack of trendy business executives hovering around a drop dead gorgeous model.

DVT is conceptually divided into three sections, the base, the body and the crown. Lighting on the body was kept to a minimum since pedestrians and passing motorists are unable to see it and so as not to disturb residents who occupy those floors. (Not to mention ever looming "budget reasons"). Thus, through the mother of invention, arose the unique concept for the crown - "A sparkling white diamond floating in the sky."

The key design element was that the building be elegant and gracious. To have such intense detail on the faŤade meant it would not be possible to work with light that would be too powerful, as that would destroy detail and flatten the shadows, an important element in the total concept. Precision beams, good glare control and compact fixtures were required to get the job done. Paul Gunawan decided on Philips Decoflood range for spots and on the Pompei range for the floor mounted and floor recessed fixtures. The next challenge was finding a way to accentuate the body without disturbing the residents. Delicate minimalism was the solution and just right for the budget. CDM 4200K's are used on the crown to perfectly realise the "sparkling white diamond floating in the sky" concept. Everywhere else warmer 3000K lamps are used.

Then there was the Da Vinci logo. Light had to make a strong statement towards the centre. This was an important design aspect so that viewers looking at the front focus their attention on the centre; their eyes are drawn there by a stronger balance of light shining on the special architectural elements. Highlighting repetitive columns on the surrounding building base sends a strong statement of stability and firmness.

Major use of LEDs was impossible in 2003, cost was too prohibitive, but part of the owner's brief was to have long life and low maintenance so LITAC went with CDM metal halide. They were able to use continuous LEDs on the triangular section above the porte cochere because of dimension restrictions and the difficulty in maintaining a conventional light source. CDM has the advantage of colour stability, high efficiency, longer life and also they're available at the two colour temperatures. One is warm white (3000K), the other is white (4200K). Overall there is well balanced colour rendering, beneficial in showing the solid stone exterior building material imported from Italy.

Da Vinci Towers may not be everyone's cup of Java but in many ways is symbolic of a new generation of Indonesians with a fascination for the West while retaining their own ornate and distinctive style.