Lighting designs that don't (or can't) change

None of us has Afro hair today (except the curly-wigged family from the Bonus Card ads), and we have no bell-bottoms or thick sideburns either. All of that was in fashion in the 80s, and today the 80s are some 20 years behind us. We don't listen to the same music anymore, we don't crave the same flavours, and our tastes aren't the same either… In short: Trends have changed, and they keep changing…

Change is part of our lives. Technology changes day by day, aesthetics from era to era… So in all this commotion, how far can we talk about permanence in lighting design, which is born from the union of aesthetics and technology? In defiance of Heraclitus, who said “The only thing that never changes is change itself”, are there lighting designs that don't (or can't) change? A hard question.

So we gave this issue of our magazine to the mental gymnastics this hard question calls for.

Two projects that are milestones of modern lighting design bring colour to our magazine: the Seagram Building, which graces New York, and the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris… The Institut du Monde Arabe matters especially for its design, which refers to multiculturalism, and for the message it can give today's world, where ideas like “the clash of civilisations” are up for debate. Beyond these, a fine example from our own day: the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart sums up 120 years of car history for us, and it dazzles with its modern lighting design too. Ankara Palas, the CHP headquarters, the Kayseri Park shopping centre, the ABT Tekstil head office, Kanyon and the McCann ad agency are the projects we added from Türkiye.

Aydan Hacaloğlu İlter, whose views we asked for, questions modern lighting design, while Yılmaz Zenger links design with expectations.

We are a team that set out to support independent lighting designers and to be a platform for lighting design. So nothing made us happier than Garanti Bankası using the symbol of “light” as the concept for its 60th anniversary celebrations, and gracing its head office and many of its branches with modern lighting designs. Once again, we send our congratulations to everyone who worked on this project…

As we read dear Joachim celebrating PLD's 50th issue, it struck us: we too have just two issues left until our second anniversary… Now, as we roll up our sleeves for our new issue, we know the time has come to take stock of these two years. We set out on this road saying “We don't know if we were dreamers”, and we have reached a point that puts a smile on each of our faces. Now it's time to build on these efforts, maybe even take them to the next level… All together…

Stay with the light until our next issue…