Switch the lights on to end the blues

There are reasons not to be a fan of Christmas myself. No, I am not against the festivity. And no, I don't have any past trauma, nor am I a reincarnation of Scrooge. But how insanely the Christmas shopping is and the amount of waste generated in recent years seem not in harmony with the planet any longer. Ironically, this year will be different. It is the year of the pandemic, and COVID-19 confinement will last, at least, for the entire Winter.

The idea of being restrained in the house, in the cold and having a few hours of sunlight could be daunting: able to give anyone the blues, not to mention the people who suffer from "seasonal affective disorder," or SAD. Nevertheless, the perspective of the Xmas can light us up, literally and metaphorically speaking. Adding colourful sparkles lifts the mood, warms the grey weather and makes us smile. I have no evidence-based stats to demonstrate the benefit of Xmas lights. Still, we all have experienced changes in our mood once we enter our regular office with new Xmas decorations or the wow feel when seeing a lighting display. We can feel the joy, even if it's for a split second.

Colourful lights and bright sparkles are also used in other celebrations to signal happiness or special celebrations. In South Asia weddings, the party is decorated with glittering lights, and the family's houses typically cover the façades with a curtain of these sparkles.

The magic happens when the electromagnetic spectrum of light reaches the eye and converts into electrical signals to be sent straight to the brain so we can instantly perceive the world outside of our body. Lights give us the vision.

Lights are everywhere and part of our daily lives, but why do we continuously marvel at the luminous glow? Firstly, there is a process of mental conditioning that is achieved by associating a pleasant event with lights. Since our childhood memories can be recollected, fairy lights in Xmas come with the enjoyment of receiving gifts, topped up with feasts. For example, the glittering lights at weddings are related to the celebration of a union, a party with lots of drinking and dancing. However, the opposite reaction can also work by association. Flashing red and blue lights can reflect the feeling of danger and anxiety due to their adoption in police cars and ambulances worldwide. Our emotions are easily triggered by visual association.

Lights do spark us joy. Apart from Xmas light decorations, my recommendations are:

1.

Introduce some decorative lights, such as uplights or indirect wall lights. Having extra lights will allow you to dim the ambience by switching off the main ones — a common practice from bars or restaurants to produce a cosy and romantic atmosphere. You will then have the option to change the mood of the space, especially if you are spending a considerable amount of time in the same room: well-lit when working and dim lighting when relaxing.

Combination of different types of lighting in the restaurant: Floor lamps, ceiling uplights (indirect), coving lighting and direct spotlights.

The full brightness might induce alertness, but a long exposure cannot be abused. Supermarket lighting is an example of 'who wants to stay there longer than needed?'

2.

Create shades by illuminating plants and large pieces of furniture from the ground or unusual angles. It is a form that distributes the light differently and defines the silhouette of shadows, giving life to inanimate objects. The multiple shades happen similarly in the natural world, like shadows by the moonlight; the effect can bring back a sense of comfort. The toy industry has been using the same shadow technique in baby light projectors, gadgets that calm babies at bedtime.

We are fascinated by the shadows, and sometimes, they seem to have a life of their own.

Wendy had to sew Peter Pan's shadow back on.

3.

Change the bulbs with different colour temperatures. The easiest way to create a different ambient is to change the cool white light to warm bulbs or vice versa. The bulb's temperature dictates your perception of colour, so it is like photoshopping your room with a new hue. Note that warmer lights are not as bright as cool white, so adding a table lamp on the working surfaces and desks, for example, can help to compensate for the amount of light lost.

The colour temperature in Kelvin can be found on the light bulb or its packaging. This picture is a cruel but simple representation of the relationship between temperature and colour.

One thing is to endure being in the same space for a prolonged time, knowing there is somewhere else to retreat; another is to know there isn't. So spare some time to apply these new ideas before the blues kick in. Enable your room to switch to a different mood with the flip of a switch. And remember to keep your mental well-being well-lit.

Photo Credits:

Restaurant Window by Michae Gaida from Pixabay.

Supermarket aisle by Oleg Magni from Pixabay. https://www.instagram.com/oleg.magni/

Uplight lamp and the plant. Source: https://www.lightingstyles.co.uk/floor-or-table-uplighter-for-gu10-lamps

Foliage shadow by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

Light bulb colour temperature. Source: https://www.four-bros.com/blog/color-temperature-scale-for-light-bulbs/

Stay Home, Stay Safe?

At the end of a regular meeting on a Victorian estate, I took the usual shortcut to the main gate. The feeling of pride strikes me as I walk confidently in constantly fluorescent-lit passageways. I know which turn to take, which door to open. At the end of each long corridor, there is always a door, and after the door, there is always a long corridor. It was how the hospitals were built: labyrinth-like. Have you ever been lost inside a hospital?

The hospital staff call the old building the 'Main Building'. With several buildings scattered on the estate, the name couldn't be more appropriate. Its imposing entrance, central courtyard with a large fountain, and hundreds of bedrooms ordered in its four wings like a palace, it evokes the Main Building with the unwritten status of 'the history of this place starts here'. And it all began when the Main Building was founded by the Victorians as the Lunatic Asylum in 1840.

I knew the building well. After two years of working on the re-design of the hospital, I could visualise each floor plan in my head. I used to look at the façade, pick one of several windows my eyes randomly led me to, and then guess what sort of room was behind it, like a game in my mind. Only one part was a blur in this game: the abandoned wing of the building. The new survey we commissioned to measure the building couldn't provide us with a single sketch of where some walls could be. It was just not safe for surveyors or anyone to enter the three floors of this neglected wing. Floors and ceilings were in such a state of ruin that they could collapse anytime, especially when disturbed. Still, I will look up and see those windows, but I imagine the stories behind them instead of wondering about the type of room.

Leaving a regular meeting, I took the usual shortcut. A discreet door led me out of the building to the open sky. On one side, I could see the abandoned part, and on the other, in contrast, I could see a well-maintained courtyard surrounded by dense vegetation and mature trees. But something caught my eye in the greenery: the tiny white and lilac colour flowers sprouting out of the grass. It was Spring, as it is today, and it seemed that a few people had used the shortcut route, too, because the flowers were all bent by their steps. I wonder why those flowers are so resilient, able to withstand foot traffic, reshape and yet blossom. I wonder how the victims who suffer from mental abuse survive in harsh conditions. They might be imprisoned inside of their mind. Sometimes, they are locked away in their own house with the perpetrator, as they are now in the coronavirus lockdown.

I wrote a poem after seeing the tiny flowers on the grass and wanted to portray the resilience of survivors of domestic violence. And here, I would like to dedicate it to those whose cry for help yet cannot be heard.

SPRINGFIELD

This kick means no harm

Bears no intent

Heavily, it pressed me to the ground

Yet light, to leave my colour still unchanged

I would not rise after another

Could you have seen me?

Could you have spared me?

The strength to stop the foot before my face

I am fine, yes

Humid earth will decompose

My broken body

Still,

Ask me for forgiveness

Tell me how much you regret

I will flower again

In the coming Spring

As surely as your kick

I return

Bearing no intent

Meaning no harm.

The surge in domestic violence during the pandemic has proven that being home is not synonymous with being 'safe'. However, as each government begins to relax the lockdown, so too will many flower again.

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Lyndon Ives edits my posts. He is the songwriter and singer of Short Empire. See Instagram @shortempiremusic for music video clips. Some are funny.

The poem was originally written in Portuguese and then translated into English in collaboration with my friend and poet Richard Marshall.

The photo was taken exactly on the day and the location described.

More poetry on @alicehsiehpoetry

#YouAreNotAlone

How to reduce the noise in your work from home environment

After I changed my profile status to Stop sending me Coronavirus memes, a good friend from Brazil insisted that I listen to a WhatsApp audio. She said, 'It is hilarious.' I wondered if she read my status or if I should remind her of it, but in praise of asking people to be more tolerant and humane in this unprecedented time of global crisis, I surrendered and clicked on PLAY. I couldn't stop laughing.

There was nothing unusual in the audio apart from the funny accent of a woman complaining about her working-from-home husband. Now, the kids cannot shout, kids cannot cry, and the television volume should be turned down.

For those who can only concentrate in a quiet environment, working with the entire family in lockdown can be quite hard. Conversely, it can also be difficult for other members of the household. After all, not everyone is happy to constrain the freedom to make noise.

There are simple ways to minimise the acoustic problems you may experience by suddenly having to work from home. I will share some tips on tackling the issues, all of which are within reach of what you have at home.

First of all, understand that the sound is a wave.

When it hits on a hard and flat surface, it will bounce.

When it hits a soft or porous material, it will dissipate.

Secondly, understand the difference between Acoustic Insulation and Acoustic Absorption. Both have different purposes.

To separate your room from the noise generation source, you have to provide efficient Acoustic Insulation. In the same way, you protect yourself from the cold by insulating your room, and you do so for the noise so the 'airborne sound' does not penetrate. If you have gaps or cracks around the window when closed, you will still hear the noise from outside. The sound wave will find its way in.

Acoustic Absorption is applied not to ensure insulation or separation but to reduce the noise level, to describe it more simply.

You usually find the space loud if you have been in an indoor swimming pool. You can hear the splash of each stroke (outside of water, of course) or loud and echoing cheers. This is because its walls, floor and ceiling are made of flat and hard surfaces, reflecting all the noises altogether. On the other hand, a sound recording studio has the wall covered with foam panels so the sound waves can dissipate when they hit the wall. The foam panels are used as acoustic absorbent.

What follows are some 'lockdown at home' scenarios.

SCENARIO 1

Working in the same room as several sources of noise generation, a technical term here for your kids, tv or someone in the open plan kitchen doing something.

Strategy: Acoustic Absorption

Room layout without strategy

Room layout with strategy

Cover the flat and hard surfaces of the room with absorbent materials:

• Add carpets or throws in the room

• Hang tapestry, rug or any artwork on the wall

• Spread some cushions around

• Draw up your fabric curtains

If you have timber, plastic, or metal blinds, draw them to cover as much of the glazed window surface as possible, though with the fins half-open, at an angle, to allow the sound wave to bounce in.

If the window opens to a quiet garden, leave it open, then the noise can escape.

Consider these temporary measures, and do not overlook the trip hazards and fire risks that the objects you add can cause.

SCENARIO 2

Working next to the room where the source of noise generation is.

Strategy: Both Acoustic Insulation and Acoustic Absorption.

Ensure the room where the noise source is coming from has the Acoustic Absorption strategy in place (recommended in SCENARIO 1) so the sounds do not travel through the walls to your room.

Room layout with acoustic absorption and insulation

Second, improve your airborne sound insulation between rooms by sealing all the gaps. Use the same tricks as you would to keep cold air from coming through windows and doors:

• Use the draft stopper at the door base.

• Apply foam tape or weatherstrip around the door.

Example of door draft stopper

Acoustic tapes

These recommendations will certainly eliminate some annoyance, although they are far from providing the desired silence of a library. Still, small improvements do change the quality of the work environment without having to do any building work. They are also common sense tricks, as I concluded after years of working on schools and hospital projects in the UK. Working alongside acousticians from Arup, Buro Happold, and Cundall, plus several of the top engineering companies in the country, I could ponder the level of difficulties. For example, the regulation for the construction of new schools is probably the most stringent regarding acoustics compared to other building types like hotels, offices and even housing. If you live in a new building, you might question why you live in paper-thin walls and have the displeasure of hearing your neighbours talking to each other or worse. Construction failures in housing development are extensively technical for this blog post. However, that can be a new topic for another day.

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My friends worldwide have shared photos of their home office, homeschooling and home studio.

- The Hague, Netherlands. Profession: Entrepreneur & Travel Blogger. www.spendlifetraveling.com

- São Paulo, Brazil. Profession: Mom

- Valencia, Spain. Profession: Event Producer & Travel Blogger. www.marikotapelomundo.com

- São Paulo, Brazil. Profession: Business Manager

- São Paulo, Brazil. Profession: Editor & Director. www.tilab.com.br

- London, UK. Profession: Musician & Artist. www.guillermomonroy.co.uk

- Reading, UK. Profession: Joiner & Master of Capoeira

- Buffalo, USA. Profession: Architect

- San Diego, USA. Profession: Theatre costume seamstress & Tutor

- London, UK. Profession: Yoga & Mindfulness Teacher. www.lornamacyoga.com

Thank you for connecting and sharing.