Mission accomplished for Lightemotion, the Montreal-based firm that created the National Museum of Singapore's lighting design. This project, which required overall expertise in the fields of architectural, museum and theatrical lighting and included multimedia techniques, entailed a delicate technical and conceptual exercise for François Roupinian and his team. A genuine tour de force, the project was carried out in close cooperation with GSM Design - a branch of GSM, a Canadian firm specializing in exhibition design and multimedia presentations.
The National Museum of Singapore, recently renovated and expanded, is now the largest museum in the Malayan peninsula. Its main mission being the interpretation of the country's history, the museum offers visitors a dual track: on one, the visitor can review the country's official record and, on the other, get to know the more intimate story of its inhabitants. In short, the museum presents a large historical fresco told by means of a series of theatrical settings that recreate various periods.
To achieve a lighting environment more dynamic than usually found in the traditional museum, the Lightemotion team worked on three distinct levels: 1) the general lighting atmosphere, 2) the display window lighting and, 3) the auxiliary lighting, at times integrated with the architecture, at times with the exhibition scenes. In order to solve the problems related to these various creative aspects, Lightemotion worked with products of international origin, selected for their reliability and their availability in Asia.
For the 120 display windows, each conceived as a small independent theatre, the lighting artists used optical fibre and lighting equipment identical to that used in theatres, but in miniature versions. While maintaining minimum heat and lux-release standards (a maximum of 50 lux in most zones), Lightemotion succeeded in giving interesting textures to the light thanks to various filters and dimmers. The result is a vibrant exhibit that can be experienced as a deeply absorbing story. The dynamic looped variations and the gradation of each lighting source are controlled by computer, thereby enabling Lightemotion to create a luminous and stimulating environment without affecting the priceless artifacts, some of them more than 1000 years old.
Via collaborations with GSM Design, Lightemotion has been active in Singapore for over three years, designing lighting environments for several projects, including the Asian Civilizations Museum, inaugurated in 2006, and the Army Museum, which will open its door by the end of 2007.
Lightemotion, around the word at lightning speed
Having developed a heightened expertise in architectural lighting in the province of Quebec, Canada, Lightemotion has also made its mark in other fields such as the performing arts, multimedia and museum lighting. Active and recognized in all these domains, Lightemotion quickly won over international markets, conceiving and carrying out the visual dimension of many projects abroad.
François Roupinian and his team have worked on several museum lighting projects, such as those of the Historica Museum of Strasboug, the City Museum in Washington, D.C, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles and the Naturalis Museum in Leiden, the Netherlands. Lightemotion also created the lighting for several permanent exhibitions in Canada and the United States, as well as Europe and Asia.
Lightemotion's excellent reputation in the fields of arts and performance is well established. The firm has worked with several internationally acclaimed creators, among them scenographer and multimedia artist Michel Lemieux, the visual creator Éric Villeneuve (Cavalia, Legendes fantastiques, the Olympic Games closing ceremony in Turin) and the choreographer-scenographer Pierre-Paul Savoy from PPS Danse.
Lightemotion
Originally from Montreal, Lightemotion's founder, François Roupinian, has surrounded himself with a multi-disciplinary and multicultural team, allowing Lightemotion to manage projects in more than five languages. Which is necessary, because since 2002, Lightemotion has taken the international market by storm. In addition to a team of architects and interior designers who have developed a heightened expertise in scenographic lighting for theatrical plays and multimedia shows, Lightemotion can count on a large network of manufacturers ready to custom-build innovative lighting equipment. Whatever the project -- whether it's a touring exhibit, a play or show, a corporate event or a permanent lighting installation -- Lightemotion works with computerized management tools that make it possible to create lighting sequences that are easy to handle and maintain by the technical teams on location.
Lightemotion boasts an impressive portfolio that includes several large-scale achievements in architectural lighting, in the cultural field as well as the retail trade (Mexx, Jacob) and restaurants. Lightemotion has designed the permanent lighting for many museums, theatres and concert halls, casinos and entertainment complexes. The firm is currently working on the lighting for the Burj Tower in Dubai which, once completed, will be the highest inhabited skyscraper in the world. Major architectural lighting projects for the museums of Turin and Barolo are also keeping the Lightemotion team busy right now.
In addition to its architectural lighting work, Lightemotion has made its mark as expert in set lighting by designing several contemporary shows and permanent multimedia productions, such as the multimedia presentations at the Pointe-à- Callières Museum and the Maison de la decouverte in Montreal and at the Washington City Museum. The Lightemotion name, recognized for its originality, is known world-wide through its projects in Europe, the United States and Canada, as well as Asia and the Middle East.