44|PROTAGONISTA At the Verumhd Studio, where you are partner together with Jordi Cuenca and Ferrán Vila, do you work with lighting designers? Our studio is collaborative, we strive to associate and work with the best specialists of each sector. For lighting, specifically, we get together with lighting designers for the final touches of the first proposal. Each project requires special attention and lighting is an element that cannot be separated from the rest. That is why we get involved with the lighting designers and the manufacturers. Who is the interlocutor inside a hotel when you want to propose a lighting Project? No two projects are the same so you have to adapt to the each new client, to their firm, to every detail that makes them special and distinguishes them from the competition. This entails that there is not just one interlocutor to propose a lighting project. Now, if we are talking about people the whole personnel has to be taken into account; every opinion is valuable to bring the proposal to the “complete point” of optimal development. Receptionist, waiters, maitre’d, manager, maintenance crew, etc., they all contribute basic and important needs that we channel, study and take into consideration when projecting the lighting. Nevertheless, there are other interlocutors: the inherent architecture of the space, the orientation of the openings of the building’s façade, the materials covering the walls, ceilings and floors; every element that makes up the space can be an interlocutor. Lighting should not be separated from the rest of the components that form a project. The sum of all of them helps create the desired environment. What is the ideal lighting project for a large-scale, four or five star hotel? There is an almost endless list of elements that shape an “ideal” lighting project, but I believe that one that should not be left out is: bring to the project team a lighting designer to work with architecture, interior architecture, and engineering. Of all the rooms in a hotel, which one is the most complex to design lighting for? There really is not one more complex than other but the rooms that require more attention are those that have different uses during the day and/ or night. A restaurant is differently illuminated when serving breakfast than when serving dinner. This would possibly be the most complex because you have to recreate different scenes in the same space. Nonetheless, every space has its idiosyncrasies and its complexities: the bedrooms, the halls, the common areas, the outdoor areas, etc. They all behave differently when projecting an adequate lighting for them but they all have to be in harmony. The transition from one space to another should not be violent. The perception of light is something we are aware of without a conscious effort; good lighting goes unnoticed. In the bedrooms, what is the ideal balance between artificial and natural light? As I was saying, good lighting goes unnoticed so particular dedication has to be devoted to the transition between day and night. There certainly has to be a balance between natural and artificial light and for me this is accomplished when one does not compete with the other. In this case, the color temperature of the artificial light and the elements that filter natural light, be it valances or screens, help achieve this balance. Lighting control systems are rarely used in the bedrooms of the big hotels. Why is that? There are different arguments for not implementing lighting control systems and they all are more or less debatable. Naturally, for the property, the economic argument carries more weight, but in my