046
DETAILS HIGHLIGHTS
Projects that you would like to change: The lighting of Mont-St-Michel. What was done was quality work. I wouldn’t redo it because it’s poorly done. I want to redo it because I’d love to work on this site.
Projects you admire:
One beautiful project that uses a lot of natural light is the Las Capuchinas Sacramentarias convent in Tlalpan, Mexico City, by Luis Barragàn. It’s such a tiny space but it has an absolutely phenomenal ambiance. Even if you’re not a believer, there’s a grandeur and spirituality that emanates from the space with its play on volume and light.
Photograph: Pierre Bourdis / Xavier Testelin
Some of the strongest things I’ve seen were James Turrell’s Heavy Water installation and Olafur Eliasson’s Weather Project at the Tate Modern.
Projects you dislike:
Projects where technique is used for no reason. It’s there to show off, but it doesn’t serve the architecture or the space.
Lighting Hero:
Claude Monet and William Turner. They paint light. All of their work is about perceiving things in relation to light. If I have idols, they’d be it.
Notable projects: Photograph: Cyrille Weiner
A few projects stand out. In chronological order, I’d say the Dordogne River quays in Argentat in 2004, the Musée de l’Orangerie in 2006, the Pôle international de la Préhistoire in 2010, and the Puilaurens Castle in 2012.
Most memorable project:
My favourite project is always the next one. Even if I’m satisfied with a project, I’m a perfectionist. So my favourite project is the next one because it’s the one I’ll do even better.
Current projects:
Top The Dordogne Quays in Argentat. Bureau lit the rooftops of the houses lining the river so the lighting wouldn’t be too intrusive for residents. Middle Bureau’s mock-up watercolour of the Franklin Quay and Place Saint-Sauveur at the Port of Saint- Goustan in Auray, due for completion late this year. Above Pole International de la Préhistoire in Les Eyzies-De-Tayac-Sireuil (architect: W-Architectures) features comfortable yet imperceptible lighting.
the study, it wasn’t possible yet.” That doesn’t mean Bureau is entirely sold on LED. “I think the hegemony of LED is kind of a shame,” she explains. “LEDs have advanced enormously, and they allow you to do things that you couldn’t with other technologies. But some sources, like incan- descents, have almost disappeared. They’re an endangered species.”
Still, she points out that the Puilaurens Castle was entirely lit using LED; the result is spectacular, and a touch dramatic. It emphasises the castle’s smooth façade and the contrasting jagged texture of the rocky mountain it’s on. In lighting the hill, Bureau also avoided the “floating castle” effect. “We wanted to do something lunar and mysterious, so we used cold tints,” she says. LEDs allowed her to combine static
blue and white, and to turn lights on or off immediately. “Unlike metal halide, LEDs don’t take fifteen minutes to go on or off,” she adds. “They’re also much easier to dim than discharge lamps.” Ultimately, Bureau prefers being free to use the sources she thinks are best, which, in the case of the Pôle international de la Préhistoire, meant a mixture of traditional and LED fixtures.
The challenge was to make the lighting as subtle as possible and to avoid clutter. For example, the recessed fixtures along the stairs barely look like they’re lit, and they’re installed in a linear formation. The footbridge connecting the parking lot to the building was lit using thin LED strips installed vertically between glass panels. “It punctuates the path elegantly,” says
For interiors, we’ve just finished the DS World Paris car showroom. Right now, we’re also working on the Glass Museum and Studio in Sars-Poteries, with W Architecture; the upcoming Vincent Van Gogh Foundation in Arles, with Fluor Architecture; the regional auditorium of Haute-Normandie in Rouen with King Kong architects; and the fitness centre in Mornac with Atelier Ferret Architectes.
For exteriors, we’re bidding on the House of Lights at Place Royale in Brussels. We’re also working on different public space projects in Najac, Lormont and Luz-Saint-Sauveur.
Bureau. “At the same time, it allows us to achieve the required level of 20 lux on the ground.”
The photos of the footbridge conceal the project’s complexities, like the intricate cabling. All you see is the minimalist, con- temporary result, and that’s what Bureau is after.
“For us, technique is at the service of sim- plicity and discretion, or for some projects, a certain kind of poetry,” Bureau remarks. “If people don’t notice the lighting, it’s a good thing. If they don’t know where it’s coming from but they feel comfortable in a space, that’s a big part of it.” The rest is like an impression left by Mon- et’s brush strokes.
www.wonderfulight.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174