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the hotel and aimed at the London skyline; the images they capture are compressed into film footage which is then transmitted by the 300 lights that extend across the building’s veiled facade, reflecting the changing colours of London’s skyline. “In the Playboy Club we wanted to create a sense of mystery for the curious eye of passers-by. To achieve this we referenced ‘Alice in Wonderland’ to illustrate the transition from reality to fantasy with the oblique reference to the bunny / rabbit being the guide for this journey. Opaque black folding screens reveal an intricate radial pattern of traditional bunny heads through miniature light fittings fitted within their thickness. A playful yet discreet and tasteful feature becomes an opportunity to explore the interaction between architecture and artistic lighting.” Many of Jestico + Whiles projects involve input from artists and I asked what Manuelli hopes to gain from such collaborations: “I would like to be able to add an extra dimension to my design, an extra layer of interest to my buildings. Lighting can provide a better understanding of buildings, enhance the experience of a space, change
the way architecture (a building, an open space, an interior) is perceived by people. There is also the aspect of time. Lighting can change the perception of a building from day to night.”
I put forward the suggestion in my last feature that assuming boundaries between art and design or between creative and functional lighting may be detrimental to project development. Manuelli offers his view: “Functional lighting can also be creative and vice versa. Take for example a pendant light / chandelier. It fulfils the task of bringing light into a space but it can be a sculptural object to admire and create a real impact. Sometimes lighting can transcend functionalism and assume a symbolic meaning as in the case of the light shining through the oculus at the top of the Pantheon in Rome to represent the sun, as source of all light on earth. The challenge for a designer is to transform as much of the ‘functional’ lighting into something ‘creative’ which can become a positive design feature in architecture.” So if that is the ideal, what is the converse? When is lighting inappropriate? “Gratuitous lighting bothers me. When it is over-
specified, I do not like buildings that are over-lit at night, when there is too much light illuminating a façade for example, it weakens the legibility of a building and appears that the overall design concept has not been thought through. I do not like seeing the source of lighting, it gives away all the mystery and the magic behind the scenes; it is like discovering the tricks of a magician.”
In summary Manuelli argues for “a close relationship between the architect and the lighting designer / artist from an early stage of the design to ensure that lighting is truly integrated into the building or space” and concludes that “light is like a dynamic fluid which exists between the building fabrics, somehow essential to its existence”. At the end of our interview I ask Manuelli if he has any plans to return to Italy; he answers with an optimistic smile, “London at the moment is a great place to be; there is creative freedom and anything is possible.”
www.jesticowhiles.com
Neil Musson can be contacted at
neil@mackaydesignstudio.co.uk
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