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June 25, 2010
Exceptional esthetics
Zbrizher wins for her Canada Line lights.
SUSAN J. KATZ
“The first step was listening to stakeholders and understanding the overall project goals,” said Vancouver’s Galina Zbrizher, lighting designer and principal of Total Lighting Solutions. Zbrizher recently accepted the International Association of Lighting Designers’ (IALD) Award of Merit for the Canada Line Rapid Transit System at last month’s award ceremony in Las Vegas. The IALD Lighting Design Awards program, established in 1983, honors lighting projects that display high esthetic achievement backed by technical expertise.
Zbrizher’s interest in lighting extends beyond engineering feats, into the emotional, economic and environmental impact of her designs. She said in an interview with the Jewish Independent that, in preparation for designing the lighting for the Canada Line, her “second step was to identify multiple areas where lighting influences the outcome,” including “the public’s emotional response to station environments, perception of safety and security, energy use and maintenance and capital costs, to name a few.”
Zbrizher recalled that her strategy for the design was to “visualize how the buildings should look at night, and then make that vision a reality. For that intention to materialize, it is not just what technology you imagine, but how to do it.” High visibility and good lighting make the Canada Line not only esthetically exceptional, but also create a safe environment in which there is no glare or shadows, allowing the mind’s split-second glimpses for reassurance into corners or around obstructions to be met with clarity.
“When you start, there are tangibles and intangibles,” Zbrizher said. “Codes and regulations you have to meet are very prescriptive, then you also have to add how you want people to feel.”
The technical and economic success of Zbrizher’s design was praised by one judge at IALD: “The technical and organizational accomplishment of this project is astounding. Seldom are such high civic expectations met with such visual success.”
The project, which carries approximately 100,000 passengers every day, not only finished three months ahead of schedule, but also with lighting that costs half as much to operate as the lighting used for the Expo and Millennium lines. Provisions were made for day- and night-time settings to allow for adaptation between high- and low-light levels from the below-grade interiors to the exterior platforms. The project was further simplified by providing designs for all 16 stations based on only six luminaire families and five lamp types (plus LED), a measure that simplified installation and maintenance while minimizing visual noise. With only one lamp in each section, these direct/indirect luminaires achieve 20 footcandles (a standard unit of illuminance) of horizontal illumination on the platform edge, and uniform vertical and horizontal light levels, using the least amount of energy. They are compact and attractive and blend well with the architecture.
While not required, the lighting design minimizes energy consumption through energy-efficient technologies, efficient design and daylight harvesting, resulting in an overall lighting power density that is 36 percent less than the energy standard. With a 20-hour-per-day, seven-day-a-week operation, energy savings will top 1.5 million kilowatt hours, earning a $120,000 utility rebate.
The Canada Line is now running at full capacity, well ahead of the three years it was expected to take for travelers to make regular use of the system. Zbrizher, who occasionally visits the line to observe how riders are experiencing it, overheard this comment at a Richmond station: “At first, I was opposed to the Canada Line, and now I ride it every day. I don’t have to drive and park downtown, I can go there on one ticket.”
A report in February’s Architectural Record says of the design: “Soft, tranquil, diffuse – not words you would expect to describe the light in a subway.... Zbrizher’s first and most significant move was to support her client, InTransit BC, in convincing the transit agency to accept modified lighting criteria that would reduce light output quantities in exchange for criteria more focused on the quality of light distribution....”
“People no longer think of the Canada Line as second-class transportation like [they do] the Millennium and Expo Lines. Canada Line is first class. I’m thrilled to know that people accept it so well,” said Zbrizher.
Completing her master of science degree in engineering and economics for construction at the University of Northern Ukraine, Zbrizher relocated to Toronto in 1981. There, she worked in drafting and electrical/mechanical engineering consulting. She is currently working on projects at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, Schara Tzedek Synagogue and for private homes.
Besides this most recent award, Zbrizher and Total Lighting Solutions have also won two other honors for their Canada Line design, including an award for excellence in energy and environmental design and an award of merit in the stations’ interior category from the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America.
Susan J. Katz is a Vancouver freelance writer, editor, educator and award-winning poet.
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