We typically begin the process of design with information gathering. Who will be using these spaces and why? When? What is their motivation to be there? Their previous experiences and expectations? What is the budget and what are the priorities of monetary resources? These questions and more create a profile of the project and its goals. We hope to gain from the owner and design team leader(s) a clear picture of the founding concept. We then take this information and reflect it back to the rest of the team in the form of sketches, diagrams, images … even cartoons if this is what will help express our understanding and engage the team in discussion.

As the design progresses, we continue to refine our concepts and communicate and coordinate with various members of the design team. Renderings and sketches are produced with programs such as Lightscape, AGI, Photoshop and AutoCAD. Here, a quick Photoshop sketch onto an AutoCAD background allows the team to discuss the layering of light within the circulation concourses of a convention center. We create up to three lighting layers (for ceiling, wall, and floor mounted equipment).  Text is on a separate layer, so that lighting can be inserted into architectural RCP's (typically without text) and into electrical lighting plans (with text).  HLB is happy to work within the Architect's format to ensure a unified set of documents.

Finally the design comes down to the details.  Typically our deliverables include lighting plans, fixture details, and specifications.  Here, the ambient lighting of a historic architectural niche at the Griffith Observatory is coordinated with exhibit signage lighting (four options for the signage lighting were studied).  Mock-ups of this approach would occur during early construction due to the need for careful coordination between several trades.