team NOM @ Architecture Week 2009

Team NOM, Howie Kang, Ash Low, Frances Lowe and Mel Pau are second year students from the University of Auckland Architecture School.  They approached Modus during the last university semester to see if we could help them with some RGB LED lighting for a rather unique project.....

Hania St, Carpark, Wellington

This job was carried out in conjunction with Wraight & Associates Landscape Architects. Our brief was to light the area well, utilising a simple contempory pole& fitting (We-ef SBL 440)

sneak peak. .

Soon to be up on the website, but a sneak peak from You Tube in the meantime....

Partij!

The showroom at our Auckland factory/head office has been very "functional" for a wee while now - most often overrun with samples, prototypes of new products, or a range of luminaires and tools as we prepare for site trials and installations. 

Christmas Lights

A couple of weeks ago Jasmax Ltd got in contact with us to float the idea of working together with Lightworks to put together something a little special in an empty cottage on Franklin Rd. 

Lighting the Auckland Harbour Bridge ....

Prominent New Zealand Architectural practice, Patterson Associates Ltd, have teamed with Modus Lighting to promote an amazing and achievable lighting effect for the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Already a joint winner in the Open section of the Cavalier Bremworth Award in unbuilt architecture, this design was described as "evocative, transformative and eminently doable..."

One night in Bangkok....

Well, 4 actually!! Last week I had the pleasure of taking a client to We-ef's Thailand factory (they also have two primary plants in Germany) as part of a group hosted by We-ef Australia. It was a fantastic insight into the world of We-ef and blew away any preconceived ideas of 'third world manufacturing'... at least for We-ef!

Dry Spell Gardening: Featuring Modus ME Lighting

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Last week Modus ME Lighting range was featured in this unique garden

Dry Spell Gardening: Series 2 Episode 2: Tiny Space, Big Ideas on The LifeStyle Channel

We-ef on a Beach Front

These spectatcular photos are of a new Waterfront Installation of We-ef PFL Luminaires in Hobart Australia. Amazingly this beachfront is actually on an inland waterway, and some 20km from the ocean.

Santa.....

It's great to see the big man in red back in Auckland city for Christmas.  We all hope that Santa's feeling much better by this weekend.....

Christmas in the City

As you can see from the pictures that Chris posted yesterday, the weather was stunning whilst we were installing the temporary lighting on the top of KZ1. The boat on the edges of the Auckland Viaduct Harbour has been lit for the team at Heart of the City as a part of Christmas in the City. All of us who were involved felt spoilt to have such an amazing "office" for the morning looking over the Waitamata Harbour on such a (surprisingly) sunny day.

The Big Boat gets a Christmas Makeover

Our latest project has been to provide some Christmas illumination to KZ1 - the New Zealand 1988 challange yacht for the America's cup, which is now in display outside the Maritime Museum in downtown Auckland.

City Gallery Wellington is open again!

Our track lighting system and LTS Torpedo fittings provide the interior of the Gallery with flexibility to change the lighting for the exhibitions held throughout the year.

Night Sky.....

Night sky concerns were taken into consideration within this Todd Valley Subdivision in Nelson. Using the innovative Phillips Iridium, together with the technology of the 60W Cosmopolis new generation Metal Halide lamping.

The Auckland War Memorial Museum... as you'll never see it.

A quick mobile phone video of the night trials conducted at the Auckland Museum. If you've seen the finished project, you will know that the result is much more sophisticated and subtle than what you can see above.

However, with all that high tech lighting installed and so many posibilities all the lighting geeks present were having a blast just seeing what the Philips color kinetics installation could do. Answer? ALOT.

8 on Nugent - Stylish Stairwell

Credit should be given to Light Works for the initial lighting concept and Stephenson & Turner for completing the electrical/lighting design and commissioning of this awesome stairwell. The light fitting used is Klik 65 Beam with T5 lamps. The lighting is not only functional, complying to the AS/NZS1680 standard, but also epitomizes the Modus Lighting motto, in this case going "beyond the ordinary" stairwell.

Museum Makes the News

Modus' latest Philips Color Kinetics instalation, makes a great photograph on the front page of the NZ Herald Today. The Museum will be offiically ''Turned on" tonight, by Mayor John banks at 9.45pm. There will be lots of activity at the Museum tonight, so please come along!

Wintec winner

Last night Tania and I ran a lighting trial in Hamilton using Philips Color Kinetics LED & We-ef HID fixtures on the exterior of the (under) renovated Wintec building in Anglesea St. This old building is under going a major face lift, being gutted and rebuilt as the entry point to the Wintec campus.

Oamaru Opera House - IES Lighting Awards

The Facade Lighting at the Oamau opera house was completed some time ago. The Philips Color Kinetics LED RGB system suprised us all with its easy integration into the Historic Building - and the result being exactly what the owners were looking for!

A new dress for the 'Grand Old Lady'

My last post described the sort of difficulties we have to overcome as part and parcel of our job.... but last night was the reason why we do it...

Chris Huff, Maryanka van Schaik and myself spent a good part of the night helping commission parts of the Museum's new Philips Color Kinetic LED exterior lighting. The effects we gain from PCK LED products are stunning. Combined with the expertise of a leading international lighting design team, lightemotion, the result is stunning.... and that is just in the default 100% RGB mode. Once we add colours to the lighting scheme, it will be sensational. We would love to add some photos and show you some of the results, but perhaps it is better to wait for the unveiling....

Still some work to do, some more late nights to be done but we relish the opportunity to work with great companies like Allendale Electrical and learn new lighting techniques from experts like lightemotion.

Makes all the difficult days (and nights) worth it!

Whatever the weather.....

Let me tell you about Chris Huff.... Chris is an industry legend and a stalwart of Modus Lighting! Our latest large project is currently being installed and commisioned at the AKL War Memorial Museum (keep an eye on the museum, night of 30th Oct...!). The great thing about Chris is he can be relied upon to do the job, no matter what the circumstances, problems or issues that confront us.

Revamping the Ibis Hotel Wellington with a Mira type of lighting

We were approached by a consultant to redesign the lighting for the Café/Restaurant and reception areas of the Ibis Hotel, Wellington.

Linear Enlightenment

Actually embedding luminaires into the very fabric of a building as an integral part of the structure is a unique approach to assimilating lighting into a space.

We-ef Roxx

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We recently had a 'facelift' of our Auckland office and took the opportunity to upgrade the entry lighting. We used two We-ef Roxxy UDN 300 [P/M] 35w MH up/down wall lights to create some drama on the front entry.

Safer City Centre

Weef (standard warranty is (5) years.) was used extensively in the upgrade of the Palmerston North City Square.

Not only resulting in a beautiful City Centre aesthetic but in a safer environment.

What do you think?

Lighting by Collis Studio

We were up at essenze in Parnell last night at the preview of the new lighting by Collis Studio. It was fantastic to see the full collection by Peter and Julie Collis installed within a gallery environment by night.

Street Light Columns Without a Crane???

A very exciting development in the street lighting world! the use of Aluminium Columns (Made from 95% recycled Aluminium) so light they can be installed with out the use of a crane. These Columns are so cool, at the end of life (in 40 years or so) hey will probably be worth more as scrap than you paid for them in the beginning!!

Sebel Trinity - Tauranga

The Sebel was the first of our ColorKinetics product launches in the Bay of Plenty/Waikato. It was a excellent chance to show our clients what the product can do. Night trials have to be the best way to show potential clients what can be achieved. Call us Lighting Geeks but its something we at Modus love to do!

Arts Post - Hamilton

Recently we lit the outside of Arts Post in Hamilton. Even TV1 was there to see our efforts thanks to the Springboks coming to town. It was a great chance to show our clients what the ColorKinetic product can do. The evening was a huge success. Below are a few images we took on the night.

Collaborating With New Zealand Designers

We recently had the opportunity to work with noted Auckland based artists Peter and Julie Collis of Collis Studios. They have been working on some of the sculptural lighting that forms part of their new range. The Waka Light, show above was especially interesting to work on with the woven glazed ceramic form offering a fantastic play of light and shadow.

Playing with LED

One of the great things about working for Modus is the chance to 'play' with new technology.... at heart we are all lighting geeks! Philips Color Kinetics is a cool product range and we never tire of being able to get into interesting places to play with lights!!! In this case MOTAT........

Auckland Rail Network

Its been great to see that the rail expansion project in Auckland has included some good lighting, Modus has enjoyed being involved in many of these station upgrades.

Bridge Lighting

Andy has been doing quite a few jobs out of town - which no one gets to see, but this bridge in Whitianga, which is lit with all We-ef product and a selection of lamp sources really looks good!

Auckland Sky Tower Video

Well thought out architectural lighting ensures security and visibility in urban environments.  The way that we light our cities and our buildings has a huge impact on both the way that we percieve them and the way we feel about our greater environment.  New technology offers us the tools to create breathtaking and vivid installations that are both sustainable and reduce light polution.

Modus search out the best available technology for the lighting requirements of each project we undertake.   The result of this approach is illustrated in new installation on the Auckland Sky Tower creating a world leading lighting solution.

The final lighting design contains a Phillips Color Kinetics System for the top 1/3 of the tower, with high performance We-ef Metal Halide luminaires lighting the bottom 2/3.  Utilising the best available technology and solutions for this project we have achieved a spectacular result that offers increased efficiencies with energy use reduced by 66% overall, and maintenance and spill light dramatically reduced whilst ensuring that the Sky Tower increases it's presence in the Auckland City Skyline.

Check out the video below of the new Color Kinetics LED lighting that Modus installed on the Sky Tower.

Modus Lighting Online!

A very short first entry - for more information on the highest installation in Auckland check our website.