Mr Kenneth Cliffe Lighting Design

I holds a bachelor’s degree in Three-Dimensional Design from Manchester School of Art, graduating in 2017. Starting a career in lighting in 2018.

Due to my involvement in the making process, I am able to think of narrative as a tactile experience for the viewer. The balance between light and illuminated elements is crucial to the success of any design, just as products’ textures can contribute to the depth and texture of a space.

Light, textures, and contrasts between light and dark inspire my work, as do the physicality of lighting and the relationship between materials. “There is no need for light if there is no darkness.” There is just as much importance to what isn’t lit as what is. Since the beginning of my career, I have been involved with world-class projects in architecture, daylighting, entertainment, light pollution, and dark skies.

The projects have been located all over the world and range from creative to analytical in nature. The two projects that stand out are the Dubai Hills Roller Coaster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlNIK2YKDoU, developing a creative lighting design for the ride area and retail area, and developing the largest Dark Sky Reserve by creating a specific lighting guide for the entire site and equipment. Also becoming the lead designer leading a team of four to collect the data in order to apply to become the largest Dark Sky Reserve.

SLL Young Lighter of the Year 2022 Finalist. ‘Adapting to a digital future’ that was based on the survey for the Dark Sky project. Using digital skills and process to A Reduction of Errors, Save Time, Save Money, Seamless transition of data and auto generated tender packages.

A few projects –

Dark Sky Project Red Sea Saudi Arabia – became the lead on site collecting data covering over 5000 miles and taking 1200 people hours in November/December 2021. Leading a team of four to gather all the data required to apply for the International Dark Sky Reserve application report. The scale and variety of development of this project, coupled with the existing settlements make the process of achieving dark sky reserve status complex, but not impossible. Using current international standards and going onto creating our own for the Red Sea Development Company to adopt to use throughout the sites.

Dubai Hills Indoor Roller coaster – Assisting/leading the internal on creating the lighting for the World’s largest indoor roller coaster. The development of lighting is for the external facade, internal retail area, que area through to the ride itself and creating the theater when on the ride. – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrPqheYqAgg

Parametric Modelling for various project briefs – one being part of the Vivid2022 team. Each cylinder of each sculpture represents one letter of a selected word which reflects our thoughts on what the COVID-19 meant to us. The words being considered were: Local, Digital and Connected. Using the ASCII code translating to an 8-bit binary code of 0’s and 1’s. This binary code was used as the seed number to create the veronoi form which was then wrapped onto a cylinder using the script created. – https://www.vividsydney.com/event/light/twenty-seven

Royal Mint – Chinese Embassy, London – A stage 2 lighting design proposal for the Chinese Embassy building in London. Working with David Chipperfield architects and Gillespies. The report incorporates the external to the site. The report provided several key design strategies for indicated areas throughout the site. The vision was to enhance the landscape design with light to have an impact photograph from anywhere on the site.