Daniels enjoys lighting up lives<\/p>\n
Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Magelang, Central Java<\/p>\n
\"I'm like a moth drawn to the flame. When you switch on a
\nlight bulb at night, you will see moths are flying around it.
\nMoths like the light, and so do I.\"<\/p>\n
Seeing the light is important to American Robert Daniels, a
\nworld-class lighting designer who has just finished working on
\nthe country's Borobudur Temple.<\/p>\n
\"I even have a spiritual name -- 'the very gift of light' -- a
\nSikh name from India. My life, in part, is about light and
\nenlightenment. With lights I make the world more beautiful and
\ncreate a greater understanding of God,\" said the Miami-based 56-
\nyear-old.<\/p>\n
Daniel's love of lighting has brought him 18 national and
\ninternational awards for his more than 220 projects in the U.S.
\nand around the world.<\/p>\n
They include the Paul Waterbury Award from the Illuminating
\nEngineering Society International for his Golden Moon Hotel and
\nCasino project illumination in Philadelphia, Mississippi, (2002)
\nand for the Torre Colpatria project in Bogota, Columbia, (1999).<\/p>\n
He was also honored with three U.S. General Electric Edison
\nAwards, one for his lighting of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta,
\nGeorgia.<\/p>\n
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1950, Daniel was a structural
\nengineer for 12 years and an aerospace engineer for three in Los
\nAngeles before he decided to switch to being a lighting designer
\nin 1993. He was moved to do so because while working mostly on
\nbuildings, he noticed some were being lit up to make them look
\nmore beautiful.<\/p>\n
\"So I changed my career and had to teach myself lighting,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Daniels took many courses and seminars on lighting and
\neventually learned the art.<\/p>\n
\"When you go to university, you learn how to learn. So, I
\nfound the information and taught myself how to do lighting. I
\nread many books. I took seminars, but there was a point where
\nlighting has to be from experience and from something inside of
\nyou to be the best.\"<\/p>\n
Now president of the Brilliant Lighting Design company that he
\nestablished in Miami, Daniels, however, admits to one special
\nteacher.<\/p>\n
\"He is retired now but his name is John Kennedy, the No. 1 in
\nGE (U.S. company General Electric). He was one of the best
\nlighting engineers in the U.S. I was honored to learn how to make
\nlighting from the best.\"<\/p>\n
One of Daniels' first major projects was the design for the
\n1996 Olympics, in Atlanta. But the one he considers the most-
\nchallenging is the design for the bridge over the Panama Canal.<\/p>\n
\"It was a four-year project. We established 1.3 kilometers of
\nlighting on the bridge but nothing was the same. There were many,
\nmany parts of the design ... and all were different,\" he said.<\/p>\n
But for Daniels, every project offers a new challenge; a
\ndifferent design and often-complex engineering to create an
\noriginal image.<\/p>\n
His experiences as a photographer for almost 40 years have
\ngreatly influenced his lighting designs. Daniels says he creates
\neach design as if he were making a beautiful picture of the
\nbuilding that should expose its form, beauty and elegance.
\nBorobudur, an international treasure, was a fantastic object to
\nlight, he said.<\/p>\n
\"I could have made Borobudur look entirely different, but I
\nfelt this would not have been appropriate -- I tried to make the
\nimages of the carvings and the statues more important than the
\nlighting.\"<\/p>\n
\"So when you look at Borobudur from a distance, it looks like
\na postcard. It has a beauty when you look at it that you want to
\nbuy the postcard.\"<\/p>\n
Passionate about great architecture, Daniels says he would
\nlike to work on projects with the world's best building
\ndesigners.<\/p>\n
\"That is my goal. I want to do lighting on the tallest
\nbuilding in the world. I want to light up the Petronas Towers
\n(Malaysia) that I think can still be better lit up. I also want
\nto light up the 200-story building that is going up in Dubai
\n(Saudi Arabia). I know how to light this if I'm given the
\nchance.\"<\/p>\n
So far, he said, he had only lit up a height of 230 meters
\nwith a single beam.<\/p>\n
Daniels said he found skyscrapers challenging to light up
\nbecause it took an understanding of how to make a light work from
\na distance.<\/p>\n
\"Whether we're doing a long 'throw' with a single beam or
\nwe're putting smaller lights up there, the ability to make light
\nvisible from a long distance takes great engineering skills.\"<\/p>\n
\"You have to understand the power of light and the direction
\nof light.\"<\/p>\n
Divorced with two teenage daughters and an adopted Indonesian
\ngirl, Daniels says he has planned to live in Indonesia for some
\ntime; he has with houses and offices in Jakarta and in Jimbaran,
\nBali.<\/p>\n
\"I would love to light up the Hindu temples in Bali and
\nbeautify the mosques in Jakarta. I'd like to make beautiful
\nlighting around the houses of God.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/daniels-enjoys-lighting-up-lives-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}