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Armani Fifth Avenue, New York City. “Both Armani flagships where pretty unique experiences. They were memorable due to the sheer bloody mindedness needed to get the projects over the finishing line whilst avoiding police, security cordons, celebrities and some monumental technical glitches.”
HIGHLIGHTS
Projects that you would like to change: How a design responds as time passes is important in all design disciplines. Would we go back and re-specify new technology to serve the same function? Yes. Would I change the approach? No.
Projects you admire:
Tyseley Incinerator - Martin Richman. It was on the route of the night bus home. It looked great after a few pints of cheap cider!
Herz Jesu Kirche, München - George Sexton. Beautifully handled.
behind each of our projects. Once they are in place, only then can you move onto a developed concept. The old way of thinking was a ‘lit floor, lit wall, lit ceiling’ theory. If one or two of those elements are taken away, the concept no longer exists. Whereas if you have a broader set of principles that make up the concept, it matters less if the wall detail falls away or fittings are cut because of budget or detailing. The spirit and integrity of the job is retained by the way we approach it.”
The company began to realise the power of what they do and how they do it when they saw the marketing for the Burj Al Arab over ten years ago. The building was more often than not shown as a lit at night image. Similarly all the media and launch night ma- terial for Armani Fifth Avenue used their im- age of the front of the store at night. “That makes you feel really proud - and careful not to be exploited,” states Bradshaw. But all the travelling must take it out of the family man. After all, he has three children and a wife that has a “proper” job as a GP. “The balancing act of family and work is the hardest aspect of my working life but it’s something I take very seriously. As much as I can I don’t let work impact on weekends. That is something that Jonathan helped me understand. The travel is a means to an
end – it is incredibly important because of the amount of international work we do. It keeps you very sharp because if someone is paying for a flight and hotel as well as your fee then you had better make sure you are good, more than good. This is especially true when you are doing a job in a country where there is a mature lighting market.” So, after all the soul searching, seismic business decisions and personal setbacks, what next for Speirs + Major?
“As a practice we’ve always been very self conscious about not enjoying the moment too much and quickly moving on to the next thing. We had that amazing run of three IALD Radiance Awards but in a way it only served to remind us how much better we had to strive to become. We were straight on to the next project. We definitely didn’t celebrate our achievements as much as you would imagine. I think that with everything that has happened in the last few years we are determined to enjoy our work as much as possible - you never know what’s going to happen next.*”
www.speirsandmajor.com
* Some time after this interview and just before publication, Speirs + Major won the ‘Design Practice of the Decade’ at the UK Lighting Design Awards. The honour was suitably, and vigorously, celebrated...
Tribute in Light, New York City - John Bennett, Gustavo Bonevardi, Julian LaVerdiere, Paul Myoda, Paul Marantz. This is the purest expression of a memorial one could imagine.
Places and projects that you can feel as well as see, experiencing light is so much richer than looking at images.
Projects you dislike:
Anything with a chandelier designed by somebody other than the lighting designer. Designs that make a lit feature of everything therefore making a feature of nothing.
Lighting Hero:
My influences mostly come from outside of lighting. That’s not to say that there aren’t many designers and studios I respect but in terms of inspirational hero figures I can’t not mention artists such as Caravaggio, David Hockney and Bill Viola who have looked and looked at how light behaves in space and found their own way to capture it, something we are trying to do every day.
Notable projects:
Copenhagen Opera House, Denmark; Armani Ginza, Japan & 5th Avenue NYC, USA; Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi.
Most memorable project:
There is an unprintable story behind most major projects but I think the opening hours before both Armani flagships where pretty unique experiences. They were memorable due to the sheer bloody mindedness needed to get the projects over the finishing line whilst avoiding police, security cordons, celebrities and some monumental technical glitches.
Current projects:
Zhuhai Opera House, Guangdong Province, China; Gardermoen Airport, Oslo, Norway; Miami Design District, USA
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