Week 9: Site Specific Blog

For my site specific blog, I visited The Irvine Spectrum. As I walked around the mall by myself this evening, I couldn't help but feel small within the huge landscape of stores, restaurants, and people. In general, I'm not a huge fanof malls, and the Spectrum feels especially over-decorated and grand. The lighting is no different,with strands of light covering the trees and draping across walkways, and fluorescent signs in various places; however, this photo shows one aspect of the overall lighting that I did appreciate and find effective. While the general lighting was cooler white lights that led to a more cold, disconnected feeling, these lamps with their warm projected light created a more welcoming, close feeling within the expansive mall.

The first store that I took a photo of is Hollister. I have never quite understood the lighting in Hollister--it is so dark that you can't even see the clothes! In this photo, you can see the entrance to the store, which doesn't feel very welcoming. Rather, it feels as if you are about to walk into a cave. I can understand their wish to create maybe a "cool" or relaxed atmosphere for teenagers, but at the same time, I think they go overboard by having such dim lighting. The same effect could be created by having sparse low intensity warm lighting, as opposed to having a literally dark store. The way that their lighting is now makes me not want to enter the store.

The second store that I visited was Tommy Bahamas. Overall, I feel like the lighting in this store was very successful. They incorporated a variety of warm white lights in the form of bulbs lining the windows, and lamps on the walls lighting the clothing. They also created a general warm and welcoming feeling with their warm overhead lighting throughout the space. The lighting also added to the sophisticated, yet relaxed feel of the Tommy Bahama clothing and set up of the store. It almost felt like sunlight was pouring into the store (even though it was dark and cold outside) while I was surrounded by Hawaiian print shirts and casual men's clothes. I think this store, while it is targeting a different crowd than Hollister, goes to show that a relaxed, "cool" environment can be created with warm, bright lights, as opposed to a dark lack of lighting.