The Hanover Light Fair would seem a good place to meet likeminded individuals and make new contacts. The holding area of the German town's police station on the other hand would not. But, this is exactly where James Morse and Lee Prince hatched the plan to form Light + Design Associates.

The two are unlikely drinking partners. Morse, twelve years the senior, has a wealth of experience in the theatrical and historic lighting sectors, while Prince comes from a more retail and commercially orientated background, but, on that fateful night events transpired to fling the duo together.

"It might seem unlikely," says Prince, "but we'd been out for a few drinks and dinner after a hard day at the Light Fair when one of our party had his wallet nicked. We trooped off to Hanover police station but they couldn't understand us, so while a translator was located we were taken downstairs into the police station's holding area. Over the course of a very long three hours 'detention' Jim and I talked and started to realise what a good set of skills we had between us." Morse had set up the practice some four years earlier, having previously worked for architect Arup Associates and consultant Theatre Projects. Prince's experience to that date was with design studios Austen Associates and Nordale Design Partnership, backed up by a spell at Sadlers Wells Theatre.

Soon after the incident-filled trip to Hanover, Morse was commissioned to design the lighting scheme for the new Singapore Arts Centre. This multi-million pound project had a lighting budget of over two million pounds and securing it gave Morse the impetus to contact Prince and the partnership was formed.

That was in 1995. Now, eight years later, Light + Design Associates is thriving. The practice has used the two partners' respective skills wisely and the types of project being worked on at any one time can range from cathedral to car showroom, corporate headquarters to royal palace - Buckingham, in this case.

"Without wanting to sound trite," says Prince "we have no house style. But that is because the inspiration for our lighting takes reference from the place - the location, its ambience and architecture. We, as a practice, don't have a stock answer and those that do should be careful. For instance, there has recently been a huge increase in the use of colour in the lighting market, so much so that it is now starting to be seen as passe. Clients are beginning to worry that coloured designs will date their properties. Now, we use colour but we also realise that although it has its applications, it is not a panacea, every project has its own optimum solution."

Striving for this ideal means having an in-depth understanding of not only your own discipline but also that of those around you. Prince explains: "Colour is no more passe than any other lighting technique, the trick is knowing where and when to use it. The lighting designer has to appreciate the work of the other members of the design team. It may be appropriate to shock so long as the lighting doesn't overplay itself."

This belief in understanding and collusion with other disciplines is engrained deep into the psyche of Light + Design Associates. On one recent project the practice insisted on taking its proposals for the relighting of an existing building to the property's original architect. "We wanted to explain the ethos of the design and get feedback in order that the architect could envisage our ideas and their logical progression," explains Prince.

These sentiments, if not the ability to discuss plans with a building's designer, can have no greater impact than when lighting historic and ecclesiastical buildings. Light + Design Associates is seen as one of the country's foremost historic building lighters. Its raft of work in this area includes award-winning schemes for numerous neoclassical and Victorian churches and chapels; the Royal Academy of Music; the aforementioned concept for Buckingham Palace; and the current project illuminating the refurbished Kings Library in the British Museum.

"In every instance," says Prince, "light should be thought of as a building material. Whether the scheme is historical or contemporary, light can be used to enhance it. Light has density, volume and vibrancy and, depending on the project, it can be viewed as an illumination source or a physical presence - a means of brightening a space or an actual intervention within it. Lighting design is an intrinsic part of any construction project and as such it requires a layered approach. Principal layers are functional aspects of the design - ambient illumination and way finding. These are complimented with intersecting layers that interface with and bring together areas where different activities take place, say work, pedestrian flow and breakout spaces. Finally, there are sculptural layers, areas that draw the attention, create a spectacle or highlight an object, area or philosophy. This can't be achieved as an afterthought and it is why the lighting designer needs to be part of any project's initial concept stage. Good lighting design can not be achieved if it is seen as some bolt-on extra that is the last to be thought about and the first to suffer in budget cuts."

Light + Design Associates plethora of work spans every sector and includes sculptural and product design. The practice, now in its 12th year, has completed schemes for Harrods, Nike and Ferrari, the Sheraton hotel group, Glaxo Welcome, the National Maritime Museum, BT and many more blue chip clients. Works scale from a private house or shop concession to the exterior illumination of 76,000m2 Excel exhibition centre.

Current projects take in clients as diverse as a certain design orientated restaurateur, high fashion boutique Nitya, Mercedes Benz and the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi but this is not some project free-for-all. "We think carefully about the design we do," says Prince. "We think carefully about the projects we take on. We have no marketing department, no PR, we are lighting designers, that's what we do."

"Oh, and in case you are wondering, that bloke in Hanover never did get his wallet back."

The Portfolio

Excel
Several aspects had to be taken into account with the illumination of the Excel exhibition centre in London's Docklands. Firstly, the huge building, some 210m wide by 360m long, had to be lit prominently without creating any light pollution or glare that might distract planes landing at the adjacent City Airport. In addition, we felt it important that the design considered the building's waterside location and the illumination of a radical new footbridge nearby.

The solution is influenced by the rhythm of the 'A frame' structure and linearity of a first floor road way and aerofoil louvre. Each A frame is picked out using luminaires with narrow beam reflectors. The aerofoil louvre is lit with blue metal halide lamps using specially adapted lenses that give an even wash along its length. In contrast, the roadway is illuminated purely for function using Son Deluxe sources, while the feature glass pyramid at the entrance glows with an up-lit wash of metal halide lamps with wide beam reflectors.


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British Telecom Tower customer services centre
Lighting and interior design were the pivotal elements of BTÕs rebranding at its flagship Telecom Tower. In order to project the image of a modern leading edge organisation, a theatrical approach to the space's illumination created a whole new atmosphere.

From initial entry into the building there is a sense of drama. Concealed lighting is used extensively, both floor mounted and at high level to create halo effects around column heads, as well as within a striking glass bridge. Where the lighting is visible futuristic fittings, lamps and colours are utilised. Wall scalloping and desk lighting are used as feature elements, as are fibre optically lit screens that break up the space with an unearthly glow. The most prominent architectural feature of the main space is the core of the Telecom Tower. This 5m wide circular column sits centrally to the rear of the space. It is illuminated using high level cold cathode cornice lighting to create a wash, enhanced by wall scallop relief from adjustable ceiling mounted downlights. A finishing touch comes in the form of a ring of purpose-designed 'coat hanger' luminaires to accentuate the futuristic ambience.

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The Priory Church of St. Bartholomew the Great
This late Norman church is relit with concealed linear uplights ranged around the walls at Triforium and Clerestory levels to render the ancient stone walls to best advantage and reveal their texture and form. Narrow beam downlights are concealed within existing housings on the roof to illuminate the nave and the crossing. Accent lights concealed on the north and south Triforiums illuminate the Sanctuary and High Altar.

The choir stalls are lit with stalk lights that combine miniature downlights and oil fuelled nylon 'candles' within clear storm-glasses. All of the lighting within the main body of the church is controlled via a programmable dimming system giving a wide variety of scene setting options.

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Ferrari showroom, H R Owen
With a brief that read 'set a new design standard for the auto retail environment' the design had to incorporate something special. Close collaboration with the architect has enabled the lighting design to include the construction of mushroom headed column casings similar to those by Frank Lloyd Wright at the Johnson's Beeswax Factory in the US. These each house four clusters of programmable directional spotlights that are the main illumination by day and feature spots at night. A linear Xenon strip sits in the collar of each column uplighting the mushroom head while fluorescent strip luminaires light the ceiling above it. When used without the main lighting these elements create a dramatic effect.

In addition, feature illumination to a mezzanine level above the reception area and uplighting to each window reveal create a modern clean feel and the crowning element is a blue halo over the reception desk that seems to float without any support. The 3.6m diameter halo is a sculpture incorporating polished steel, Prismex and LED's. There is no visible source of light and no obvious method of illumination. The sculpture has been designed and made especially for the project and is thought to be the first use of LED's in this way in the UK.

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26 - 28 Hammersmith Grove, London
The main entrance and lift core areas of this 1930's office building required upgrading to complement an office refurbishment programme to the upper floors. The lighting concept involves adding drama and heightening the street presence of the building during hours of darkness and providing an exciting contemporary interior throughout the day. Daytime illumination comprises recessed ceiling down lighting, a coloured light slot providing strong lit accents to the circular reception desk and white uplighting to the glass bridge.

At night the composition is completed with a combination of direct and indirect illumination using a 'blade' of light at low level that grazes up the perimeter walls. Blue uplighting illuminates the steel cladding system to complement the perimeter treatment and supplementary indirect up/down wash lights are used at lift thresholds. The treatment accentuates the volume of the space while attracting attention from the street with subtle use of colour.

information: www.lightanddesign.co.uk