Week 10: Site Specific - Irvine Spectrum Center

Week 10: Site Specific — Spectrum Center

I had been to the Irvine Spectrum Center a few times in my first couple of weeks here— checking out the closest “mall”, and of course getting stuff to set up my apartment from Target, and my first reaction was just the realization that most things here in California are outdoors. Mostly the malls are open-air, not necessarily strip malls, but not traditional inside malls (like South Coast). Going again recently, and in the evening with exterior lighting, and of course decorated for the holidays, I got an entirely new impression of the place. Aside from being outdoors, the entire shopping complex feels like its own world. The tan colors of all the buildings (like most of Irvine) feel corporate, and yet soothing. Everything is low, spread apart, and yet winding. You can never see that far ahead of you, and everything feels similar. It sort of reminded me of a resort or country club kind of thing. It’s classy but not too fancy. There’s a ferris wheel and a carousel. There are not only lots of stores, but lots of restaurants and a movie theatre. Going there isn’t just about shopping, it’s about the whole event. It’s a destination to visit and spend time. Which is why I think they want it to feel like a classy vacation, as opposed to just a place to do business. They want you to feel comfortable (lots of places to sit, trees) they want you to stay (have a meal, watch a movie), they want the full family to be there (rides, an arcade), and stores for every kind of person. The lighting helps to tell this story in a few ways. The carousel and ferris wheel are lit up— that makes them an attraction, a centerpiece of focus. It really makes it feel more like a theme park and an event, not just functional. They’re entertainment. The movie theater is covered in neon lights, which really gives it an element of spectacle. The water features are lit up as well, so they’re not just pretty, they’re an attraction. The open bulbs along walkways, suspended on strings, in door ways— they all really make it feel like an event. The trees have lights on them, almost like spotlights, uprights showcasing their height. Nothing is not given attention to. Everything is lit up, so there is always something to look at, always something deserving of focus. Most generic strip malls I can think of have lights that are just functional: light up the walkways between stores, light up the store signs. But the prevalence of open bulbs really gives it a classy vibe and the feel of it being an event. Almost Hollywood-y, as a marquee (I’m actually surprised thinking back that I didn’t really see any chase effects). On top of that, being in the holiday season, things were even more lit up. Which often lived in the world of “Christmas lights”, so (a) it felt decorated, and (b) it felt like even more of an event, with all the more reason to shop and spend more money. Overall, I think the curation of the lighting here is very successful; it makes it classy, it feels like an event/party, and it puts you in an especially festive holiday mood this time of year. 

Walking by the store Things Remembered, my eye was drawn by how sparkly everything looked. As a memento store, nothing here is really necessary to buy, but rather it’s about little knick knacks that people might want to collect. As such, it has to feel especially fun and special. It has to feel pretty. You have to sell people on how charming and sweet and important these little things are. As such, the lighting was mostly little track lights along the ceiling. But rather than the usual harsh track lighting, the bulbs all gave off a very warm glow— maybe it was the bulb, maybe the lamp type, maybe even coloration, but it all felt warm and homey. But, the use of the track lighting almost gave every area, every setup, some sort of special spotlight just on it. It gave special attention to a display, as if the light was made just for that. And more, many of the objects in the store were shiny, and they picked angle to that the light really caught that, and made everything seem to sparkle. I didn’t even intentionally look at the store, but it was all that sparkling that caught my eye. Everything lit up, everything was drawing my attention, and everything then looked precious and sweet. This adds to the name being about memories, and it almost made me think of glimmers of memory, appearing out of the darkness of our mind. That magical glimpse of how wonderful something is… and of course things are always better in memory than they were in real life. 

Chilli Beans, on the other hand, I noticed for how empty and off-putting the lighting was. On the one hand, the light felt much bluer than all the other stores. Almost industrial, cold, clinical, to the point where it made me feel uneasy. It was so inhuman. And it was dimmer in there as well, so it didn’t have the bright and at least clear lighting of other more industrial/clinical stores (like a Walmart or something, which also feels cold and inhuman, but at least it’s bright and you can see everything). It was hard to see. It almost felt like walking in there would have been walking into a freezer. In general, I don’t think that would have been a successful lighting for any store, but it seemed even stranger to me when I saw that one of their two main items was sunglasses. It was dark and cold in there— sunglasses are when it is warm and bright. I would want it to feel sunny, beachy, fun… and this felt the opposite. Their other main item is watches, which I guess is less troubling, but even then, watches feel like a classy thing to buy, and you need to be able to see them. And the coolness didn’t feel businessy, it felt more distancing. It was distractingly different from all the other stores in the mall, and I didn’t even want to go inside to see what was there. 

I never would have though to analyze lighting in a more “normal” location like a mall, or stores. It didn’t even occur to me that this could be considered a “themed venue”. But it certainly is, and from taking this class, it has opened my eyes up to seeing more of what light does to us as viewers of things and events, and how light supports everything that we experience. Even more that setting the mood, it truly tells the story and puts you in a world, with so many more considerations than I had previously thought about.