World-renowned lighting and production designer Marc Brickman recently completed a project very close to home: his own residence. Sitting on beach side of Malibu, his house is a restored California ranch circa 1958 that follows the traditional minimalist design aesthetic of the original structure with more modern updates such as large glass walls that run around much of the main floor, a long rectangular lap pool, and a landscape installation consisting of native flora. Brickman saw this combination of clean architecture and textured landscape as the perfect canvas to reflect the personality of the inhabitants of the home.
For the project, Brickman and fellow lighting designer Elisha Griego used Color Kinetics products and a Pharos controller system. On why he chose Color Kinetics, he explains, "It's like the Ferrari of LED lighting. The color and intensity are of such high quality."
Brickman created a new lighting design for the exterior of the residence, which had previously been fitted with a low-voltage LED solution by another manufacturer. "It never worked right—nor was it bright enough. We used the existing low-voltage wire to power the Color Kinetics system," says programmer Scott Cain.
To highlight the various textures of the residence's walls, Brickman lined ColorGraze Powercore (now specified with
ColorGraze IntelliHue Powercore) luminaires around the bottom perimeter of the entire house—illuminating floor-to-ceiling white window trims that reflect color into the pool, the rough brick of the pizza oven's exterior, and the vertical white wood paneling of the side of the house.
To illuminate the wide array of carefully cultivated palm trees, cacti, and shrubs that surrounds the house, Brickman installed ColorBlast 6 and ColorBlast 12 LED luminaires (now specified with Blast Powercore). The colored light catches the different textures of the plants and creates a multi-dimensional effect. "Sometimes because of the way the color mixing works, the bark on the trees looks like a painting," says Brickman.
Brickman enjoys creating light shows with the Pharos LPC1 controller, especially when he and his wife are entertaining. "I love the flow color-changing program in the evening. I turn the lights on, make pizza in the wood-burning brick oven, and it's a party. Easy." In fact, the control system, which is accessible from portable devices such as his iPhone, is so easy to use that his two and a half year old daughter is often the one who selects the light show for the night.
Brickman is pleased with the decision to use a Color Kinetics system for his residence. "It looks unbelievable. It is beautiful and turned out exactly how I wanted it to."
Marc Brickman has amassed a hefty amount of credits over the years—he has worked on concert tours for artists such as Pink Floyd, on opening and closing ceremonies for two Olympic Games, and on production for films such as Steven Spielberg's Minority Report.
