designing lighting (dl) December 2023

NATIVITY AT VATICAN 

ARTIST BRUCE MUNRO  THE HUB AND VERIZON ON CAUSEWAY  BENYA’S ART + SCIENCE: A LITTLE LIGHT

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VOLUME IV, ISSUE 3

A JOURNEY THROUGH

Light AND reflection

DECEMBER 2023

THEATRICAL LIGHTING DESIGN IN THE 21ST CENTURY  OFFICE LIGHTING DESIGN FOR THE VISUAL AND NON-VISUAL SYSTEMS

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Axis showcase lighting For big magic on a small stage

ERCO quality of light The benchmark for best light quality in the showcase

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Precisely illuminating From above and from below recessed or on a stem

Light is the fourth dimension of architecture

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Simple, flexible Magnetic light heads, interchangeable lenses and filters

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PERI PERIMETER FIXTURE

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Creativity.

Commerciality.

Collaboration.

Add your touch of genius to the 2024 IALD Enlighten Conferences.

The Call for Presentations for IALD Enlighten Europe 2024 (21 - 22 June in London, UK) and IALD Enlighten Americas 2024 (17 - 19 October in San Diego, California, USA) is now open, and we are seeking energetic and engaging speakers to lead impactful learning experiences.

We know that lighting designers learn best from one another, and the Enlighten conferences are built on this idea.

If you have a story to share, we want to hear it!

Both Enlighten conferences span multiple topics of community interest, featuring courses in the areas of Creativity, Commerciality, and Collaboration.

The IALD is looking for sessions of varying length, including hands-on workshops.

Submit today: iald.me/enlighten_cfp Proposals must be submitted online by 18 January 2024 for consideration.

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designing lighting

it’s good to be small, really small…

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Very small-aperture, low-brightness downlight for general and accent illumination.

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20º, 25º, 35º, 50º beam angles and Wallwash.

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Interchangeable optics and accessories.

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L70 (TM21 Projected 85ºC) = Static White 33K hours, Warm Dim 55K hours.

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Downlight UGR <16 meeting WELL Building criteria.

Downlight Round Suspended Cylinder

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table of

CONTENTS 10 13 14

Editorial Director’s Notepad

CONTRIBUTORS Vilma Barr

2023 designing lighting (dl)’s Lighting Designer of the Year Benya’s Art & Science

A Little Light

James Benya, PE, FIES, FIALD

By James R. Benya, PE, FIES, FIALD Staying updated on the latest solid-state lighting innovations, particularly small, intricate, and highly efficient luminaires.

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The Business of Lighting Design™️

Lighting the Past

By Randy Reid How modern controls are reviving historic NYC residences.

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Shirley Coyle, LC

Craig DiLouie, LC, CLCP

Light + Health

Office Lighting Design for the Visual and Non-Visual Systems

By Mariana G. Figuiero, PhD and David Pedler, BA Research found IES’s office lighting recommendations may not fully support the circadian system, but various lighting setups can efficiently stimulate it without exceeding power limits, offering the potential for effective, energy-conscious designs in commercial spaces.

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Light to Unite

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Verizon’s Icon Joins the Boston Skyline

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Cover Story

By Randy Reid

Mariana G, Figueiro, PhD

David Pedler, BA

Dean Skira's lighting design transcends language barriers in the Vatican's Nativity.

By Vilma Barr HLB Lighting Design’s strategy for Verizon’s signature building at The Hub on Causeway.

The Journey Through Light and Reflection

By Randy Reid

Sara Schonour

Matthew Tirschwell

Unveiling the lighting symphony of One Vanderbilt.

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Light Art

Crafting Light, Inspiring Lives

By Randy Reid

Delbert Unruh

A conversation with artist Bruce Munro.

40 42 6

Just In 2023 LIT Design Awards

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David Warfel

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Reimagining ’60s Architecture with LEDs

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The Vital Role of Lighting Designers in Residential Lighting

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Residential Lighting

By Randy Reid Honoring original architecture while infusing modern technology at the Olympus multi-family dwelling in Phoenix.

By Matthew Tirschwell Insight into the lighting design selection, installation, and commissioning process and the benefits of working with a lighting designer.

Light Can Help Us #3: Knowing More and Feeling Better

By David K. Warfel A shift in approach and engagement may alleviate the challenges that come with client involvement in residential lighting design.

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Get Control

Networked Lighting Controls Offer Deep Well of Energy Savings

By Craig DiLouie, LC, CLCP The major findings of “Economic Potential of Networked Lighting Controls in Commercial Buildings,” a study by the DLC.

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Circular Lighting

5 Simple Steps Towards Sustainable Lighting

By Sara Schonour The first feature in dl’s new column.

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60

Theatrical Lighting Design in the 21st Century

65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72

Still Shining!

By Delbert Unruh A critique of the acting area theory of lighting design.

A tribute to Claude R. Engle III.

Award Competitions Book Review: Light! Your Essential Survival Guide

Verizon Photo Credit: HLB Lighting Design

Events BDNY 2023 Shines in Manhattan People on the Move Advertisers’ Index Up Close with Geoff Bouckley

By Shirley Coyle, LC

designing lighting

ON THE COVER One Vanderbilt Photo Credit: Arup

Enduring Design, Universal Appeal We believe that great design should stand the test of time and be sustainably crafted.

Gunnar, Tumbler & Arne : Enriching the visual experience with timeless European design Designed by Urbidermis

Landscape Forms | A Modern Craft Manufacturer

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EDITORIAL DIRECTOR’S NOTEPAD

Editorial Director: Randy Reid Publisher: Cliff Smith Director of Audience Development: Angie Hullfish Contributing Writers: James Benya PE, FIES, FIALD Benya's Art & Science Contributor Principal at Design Services, Inc. and The Benya Burnett Consultancy Shirley Coyle Up Close Contributor Principal at RELEVANT LIGHT Consulting Inc. Juan Davila European Lighting Contributor CEO & Founder ICARUS Global Consulting Craig Dilouie Get Control Contributor Principal at ZING Communications Stefanie Schwalb Hospitality Lighting Contributor Interim Managing Editor at Boston Magazine David Warfel Residential Lighting Contributor Founding Designer Light Can Help You Staff Writers: Parker Allen Published by EdisonReport 1726C General George Patton Dr. Brentwood, TN 37027 Phone: 615-371-0961 designinglighting.com designing lighting is focused on the Business of Lighting Design™ and provides business information to the lighting design community. In addition to the website, designing lighting publishes bi-monthly online magazines featuring original content, interviews within the community and highlights successful award winning lighting designs. While designing lighting is based in the U.S., it has contributors from Europe and is developing a global presence.

(ISSN 2693-9223) Statements and opinions expressed in articles and editorials in dl are the expressions of contributors and do not necessarily represent the policies or opinions of the EdisonReport.

Advertisements appearing in the publication are the sole responsibility of the advertiser.

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Illuminating the Path to Sustainability: The Inception of Circular Lighting As the lighting industry evolves, the concept of a circular economy becomes increasingly integral to sustainability efforts.

This year's Circular Lighting Live event in London, hosted

by Recolight, highlighted Europe's strides in product development and standards—a stark contrast to the US. Recognizing this disparity and the burgeoning need for informed dialogue within our community, we are thrilled to introduce "Circular Lighting," a dedicated column that spotlights sustainable lighting progress and innovation.

Sara Schonour, a leading voice in lighting design, graces our inaugural column with her insights. Her perspective sets the stage for a broader conversation about where the US stands—and where it's headed. At the forefront of this conversation are IES and PNNL, who are not only working diligently on the subject but are also engaging in meaningful dialogue with their European counterparts. This transatlantic collaboration might fast-track our progress, as we consider adopting existing European standards or develop our own.

We're marking milestones, such as Smart EPD's first anniversary, which signifies substantial headway in Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). Our commitment to this movement is further demonstrated by the new section on our website, where manufacturers are invited to list links to their EPDs free of charge, fostering transparency and accessibility.

Kate Hickox recently highlighted the crucial role of Product Category Rules (PCRs) in the industry’s efforts to be environmentally responsible. PCRs are the backbone of embodied carbon calculation and other environmental impacts for lighting products. They level the playing field, allowing the industry to report on environmental performance and paving the way for the development of EPDs that enable specifiers and buyers to make environmentally conscious decisions. The formation of a North American PCR committee for luminaires is a significant step toward harmonizing our environmental reporting with global standards.

Upon further investigation, it's apparent that the US is engaging more actively in circular lighting discussions than it may seem.

With so much development and discourse already in motion, it's clear that the industry is aligning more closely with sustainable practices than earlier perceived.

The establishment of our new column is not just timely - it's a necessary forum to unravel the complexities and celebrate advancements in the circular lighting economy.

There is a wealth of activity and innovation happening beneath the surface, and through "Circular Lighting," we aim to shine a light on efforts shaping a more sustainable future.

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COMING IN FEBRUARY LEDucation and Light + Building 2024 Issue Project Focus: Commercial Trends: Sustainability, 3-D Printing Published in digital and print format, this issue delivers bonus distribution in hard copy at LEDucation in New York and Light + Building in Frankfurt.

Content Subject to Change

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2023 LIGHTING R E N DESIG OF THE YEAR designing lighting (dl) is honored to name Andrea Hartranft, FIALD, the 2023 Designer of the Year, celebrating her exemplary contributions to the field of lighting design. During her career, Hartranft has consistently demonstrated unparalleled expertise and visionary leadership.

Andrea is rare in that she seems to have mastered the balance between aggressively growing her business while significantly giving back to the industry, which culminated in her election as President of IALD beginning in 2024.

Educated at The Pennsylvania State University, Hartranft has a Bachelor's in Architectural Engineering, with a focus on Lighting and Lighting Psychology. Her belief that everyone should have access to and benefit from quality light in their environments has informed her design approach for the last 37 years, illuminating high-end public spaces, energy-efficient workplaces, and transformative renovations.

A Fellow of IALD, Hartranft has been lauded internationally, securing lighting design awards from IALD and IES, with

recognition through AIA awards at both regional and national levels. Her active involvement with IALD as a College of Fellows member, her LC certification, and her leadership within IES, where she has served as past chair of the Progress Report Committee, illustrate her influence on industry standards and innovation.

Further solidifying her reputation as an industry thought leader, Hartranft has held esteemed positions including President of the IALD Education Trust, Chair of the IALD Awards Committee, and as a respected judge for the International Illumination Design Awards. Her contributions as a speaker at prominent conferences, such as the IES Street & Area Lighting Conference and the IALD Enlighten Americas Conferences, have provided invaluable insights to her peers and the broader community.

Beyond project work, Andrea Hartranft is a visionary. Her firm’s virtual model, established long before the pandemic, has set a precedent for efficiency and adaptability. The strong relationships she has with representatives across various regions exemplify the respect for the integral role that reps play in the lighting design process.

Hartranft’s dedication to mentorship and education is demonstrated through her past tenure as faculty at the Corcoran College of Art and Design, where she imparted fundamental and advanced lighting design knowledge.

Her role in championing sustainability is particularly noteworthy, having served as a panelist on Lighting Sustainability in Architecture and advising on projects such as the Virginia Tech University "Lumenhaus" for the Solar Decathlon. Hartranft's global outreach includes presentations to the Souzhou Institute of China.

With her most recent acquisition of Gilmore Lighting Design, Hartranft Lighting Design, started 10 years ago, now boasts a team of 14 designers. The woman-owned (WBE) business has virtual offices in Washington D.C., Charlotte, Indianapolis, Boston, and New York. designing lighting (dl) recognizes Andrea Hartranft for her innovative spirit, her commitment to advancing lighting design, and her significant role in shaping the environments in which we live and work. It is with great respect and admiration that we honor her as the Designer of the Year, a true reflection of excellence in lighting design. ■ designing lighting

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BENYA’S ART & SCIENCE

A Little Light

By JAMES R. BENYA, PE, FIES, FIALD To be a good lighting designer, it is important to be aware of the industry’s most recent products, especially now as solid state lighting has embraced high technology. With so many new and emerging companies, it is a challenge to know where the next great product will come from. I appreciate the energy efficiency that LED technology has brought to every product type, but what truly excites me are products that could not have existed with legacy lamps and auxiliaries like ballasts or transformers. The constant improvement in LED efficacy has given rise to a new generation of luminaries in architectural, decorative, and outdoor lighting, filling the gap in style, delicacy, and flexibility that previous technologies lacked. The most exciting luminaires for me these days are physically small and precisely detailed.

It seems easy. LEDs are tiny and weigh very little, and in the hands of a skilled luminaire designer or engineer, can be made into almost anything imaginable, from miniature versions of standard luminaire types to tiny and delicate works of art. Downlights with 1” or 2” apertures. Linear downlights and wallwashers that are nothing more than small slits in the ceiling. Step lights that are 4 square inch faceplates – or smaller. Delicate wall sconces, chandeliers, and portable lamps. Tape light that is used in dozens of ways, from cove and undercabinet lights to sealed underwater tubes. As low-voltage DC devices, LEDs can be made inherently safe in most situations and have given luminaire designers and artists substantial design freedom.

The principal challenge to the luminaire designer is heat management.

If the LED chip overheats, its lifespan diminishes, leading to a rapid decline in light output and color quality. Not to mention that the surface temperature of the luminaire must not burn fingers or heat interior finishes. LED light sources must be cooled, no matter how many watts. That is because, unlike legacy light sources, LEDs don’t radiate infrared heat. Every BTU must be conducted or convected away, and for all practical purposes, some or all the entire luminaire must become a heat sink.

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BENYA’S ART & SCIENCE

The principal challenge to the luminaire designer is heat management. If the LED chip overheats, its lifespan diminishes, leading to a rapid decline in light output and color quality.

For legacy commercial luminaires like halogen downlights, heat management is tantamount and has been a part of luminaire design forever. However, LEDs changed the paradigm significantly. Now, with LEDs generating well over 200 lumens per watt, a reasonably efficient downlight or track light can produce 500 to 600 lumens for well under 10 watts. But those watts must be moved away from the LED and then dissipated into the air for the luminaire to be successful at maintaining long light source life. For instance, LEDs finally made it possible to create a very compact luminaire, like a step light or pin spot downlight, that is efficient and almost never requires maintenance. Many LED luminaires use very few watts, and the luminaire itself can be the heat sink as well as the enclosure. But as the lumen output and watts increase, compromises may arise, and the luminaire may need to be larger or have more robust heatsinking. In fact, the form of many LED luminaires is very often inspired by heat sink principles like fins and die-cast housings.

Aside from temperature issues, I also worry about brightness.

Lighting designers generally learn the limits of tolerance of source brightness the hard way. Now, I don’t usually lie on the floor and look up at a downlight, but I have tried to develop a sense of what is likely to exceed my tolerance level. Nevertheless, the capabilities of advanced, very compact light sources, along with the lenses and optical systems suitable for LED technology, have questioned my long-held rules of thumb. Especially with

FLYING ELECTRONS VERSUS PEOPLE If you haven’t noticed, lighting industry marketing has shifted mostly to the electronic medium. Daily I receive numerous messages presenting new products. I know it’s inevitable and can be controlled by using an email filter, but I also know it serves to keep me informed of advances in product design for which I am admittedly a willing recipient. My email filter is set up to avoid stuff like direct sales price lists and other unwanted spam, but I make a point of reading email marketing messages that I trust to be at least informative. I especially appreciate the vetted messages that filter out the gobbledygook and add a dose of intelligence, like designing lighting (dl), its procreator EdisonReport and a number of others do.

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outdoor luminaires having an array of individual light sources, pixel glare has become a new phenomenon that questions glare metrics I have previously used. Ultimately, if I worry about a light source being too bright, I test it in a darkened environment worse than my proposed application. For instance, I love the delicacy and understatement of a tiny step light, but I worry that unless it is well shielded, it could defeat its purpose by being simply too bright.

When it came to being small, the usual suspects came first – step lights, landscape lights, and track lights, to name a few. Today, I am even more enthusiastic about the many new types and styles of luminaires that appear in all parts of the lighting industry, from sconces and chandeliers to linear wallwashers and delicate desk lamps. Having spent many years designing architectural lighting around decorative lighting chosen by an architect or interior designer, I find myself specifying decorative lighting. So, do your client and yourself a favor. Like lighting designers have for years, consult the showrooms or rep and if possible, get your hands on the luminaire and make sure it not only looks good, but that it is what you will specify for the project. Long gone are the days when incandescent lamps were the norm, and everything worked fine. Check the light color temperature and CRI, test its dimming, and make sure the finish of the product is correct. We are increasingly capable of approaching perfection, but as usual, it will take a bit of work. P

Nonetheless, when it comes to product introductions, I still count on regularly seeing “my” sales representatives.

I believe I learn more about the products from these interactions and especially enjoy talking with the manufacturer’s regional and national sales managers who often accompany them. Throughout my career, I have trusted and relied upon this camaraderie to make me a well-informed designer and specifier. And I know that when something goes wrong, I can trust them and the companies they represent to deliver quality products, help resolve bidding and substitution issues, and provide afterthe-sale services. So even if you love electronic marketing, make time for your local reps, especially when they are accompanied by a person from one of the companies that your local agent represents.

THE DIFFERENCE IS IN THE DETAILS

VERSATILITY MEETS DESIGN Modular, versatile, resilient – these are the core principles of Sēnik Reflekt. This adaptable outdoor architectural luminaire system has been designed specifically for the most demanding projects.

The unique and distinctive features reduce the necessity for rigidly defined specifications.

Engineered to be a simplistic, additive, plug-and-play system incorporating à la carte nested components manages everything from scalable lumen output and interchangeable optics, to the highest impact rating and marine grade-coating intended to withstand the most abrasive environments. The Sēnik Reflekt system builds from a base luminaire head with the ability to add accessories in the field – tailoring the luminaire to the desired result, real-time, on the project.

Scan the QR Code to watch our Sēnik Reflekt video or visit PrizmLighting.com to find out more designing lighting

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THE BUSINESS OF LIGHTING DESIGN™

LIGHTING THE PAST:

HOW MODERN CONTROLS

are Reviving Historic NYC Residences

By RANDY REID

Original Village Control Panel

Pierce Lighting Studio often delves into the complex process of updating traditional homes with modern lighting control systems. designing lighting (dl) spoke with Eileen Pierce, Founder and Creative Director, about two ongoing projects aimed at bringing contemporary lighting solutions to older homes without compromising their existing structures. These projects are defined by their need

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New Meljac Plates

to respect the historical significance and personal value placed on them by the homeowners, which calls for a thoughtful integration of modern amenities with classic elements.

Located in the vibrant center of New York City, these two lighting retrofit endeavors represent the detailed work required to fuse current lighting technologies

THE BUSINESS OF LIGHTING DESIGN™

with the rich histories of the homes. One project takes place in the artistic quarter of Greenwich Village, while the other is situated in the upscale neighborhood of the Upper East Side. Each location provides its own set of challenges and prospects in the field of lighting design, serving as a testament to the specialized approach needed to enhance these distinctive living spaces.

replacement of many sockets.

GREENWICH VILLAGE: A BLEND OF HISTORY AND MODERNITY

HomeWorks enhanced the control functionality and offers the ability to interface seamlessly with other home systems including HVAC. Security, A/V, home automation including shades. This interoperability for a dwelling imbued with character, offers a centralized command point for lighting scenes that can transform the ambiance at a touch. Eileen stated that, “Because the Lutron Homeworks is multi-functional and complex, it requires close collaboration with the integrator.” The original Grafik Eye 3000 system keypads featured multiple underutilized buttons per wall station, of which only the topmost was ever used. Four years earlier, Pierce Lighting Studio was called to streamline the wall stations, stating, “We transitioned each wallstation to two buttons allowing for a single lighting scene aligning with the clients' preferences.“ Fast forward to the present, where a sophisticated Lutron HomeWorks app complements the streamlined 2 button controls, reflecting a seamless marriage of simplicity and technological advancement in lighting control.

The Greenwich Village project epitomizes the delicate dance between preserving historical charm and embracing modern technology. The existing lighting and control system was over 20 years old and featured halogen MR-16 lamps. Eileen said, “The apartment has beautiful, finished plaster ceilings that we want to preserve, so we upgraded the halogen with 2700K Soraa LED lamps.

The retrofit presented its challenges. The replacement of halogen lamps necessitated a rethinking of transformers and sockets to accommodate the new technology. Many sockets were broken, or broke when removing the exiting lamps, required a socket upgrade. Moreover, the contractor encountered several damaged ceramic sockets, some of which further broke during the removal of the old lamps, necessitating the

The original lighting controls were Lutron’s Grafik Eye 3000 series. The 2023 solution was Lutron's HomeWorks system, adept at handling the intricacies of a modern lighting scheme while utilizing the existing low-voltage wiring—crucial in a space where the architecture sings a song of the past.

"The clients have transitioned from the initial multitude of buttons to a dual-button system and now to a sophisticated Lutron HomeWorks app that complements the existing streamlined controls, reflecting a seamless marriage of simplicity and technological advancement in lighting control."

— Eileen Pierce

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THE BUSINESS OF LIGHTING DESIGN™

Pierce Lighting dedicates considerable time to engaging with homeowners to deeply understand their lifestyle and lighting preferences. Yet, the true nuances of a lighting scheme become apparent only after installation, leading often to real-time adjustments. Eileen observes a curious dynamic when it comes to lighting control preferences, especially among couples making joint decisions. One tends to show a keen interest in the array of functionalities offered by the control system, while their partner may prefer the simplicity of a traditional on-off switch. This dichotomy highlights the importance of versatility in lighting design, ensuring that the system is as intricate or as straightforward as the users desire.

Adding to the aesthetic charm, Pierce Lighting Studio specified Meljac switches, renowned for their metal plate finishes. These plates infuse a touch of Parisian elegance into the Village’s eclectic atmosphere. These switches complement the architectural integrity of the apartment while providing tactile and visual satisfaction to the act of controlling light.

UPPER EAST SIDE: MODERNIZATION AMIDST OPULENCE Simultaneously, Pierce Lighting is working on a second residential project in the Upper East Side , which presented a different set of challenges.

The existing setup, a remnant of the 1990s, featured a clunky, metal track system with bare 50 watt MR-16 bulbs that emitted a harsh glare, detracting from the apartment's opulence and the art collection. Eileen mentioned, "The ceiling was cluttered with large, surface mounted transformers and dropped curving track with bare bulbs contributing to uncomfortable living space."

The solution was to upgrade to a low-voltage 48V track system with 9-watt LED track heads.

When possible, Pierce prefers the 48v track as it accommodates more luminaires per run length than the 24V low voltage systems.

The new track heads allowed for a regressed lamp position, minimizing glare. The track integrates transformers within the track itself, thereby eliminating the visual disruption of bulky hardware. The result was a lighting scheme that

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harmonized with the room's aesthetics while providing the functional benefits of advanced illumination control. and provides superior glare control—an essential feature for showcasing art.

For this project, the Casambi control system was a great fit. Its wireless capability made it an ideal fit for this classic apartment where invasive installations were not an option; the Casambi module sits in the junction box. Casambi’s intuitive interface meant that residents could easily adjust their lighting preferences, blending the system into their daily lives without the steep learning curve often associated with smart home technology. Pierce discussed the simple commissioning with Casambi and how the user can easily make changes via app as needed.

THE ART OF LIGHTING RETROFIT IN LEGACY SPACES Through these projects, Pierce has deftly navigated the intersection of legacy and innovation. In Greenwich Village, the narrative was about upgrading without intruding, while on the Upper East Side, it was about transformation— turning a dated glare into a curated glow. Both endeavors demanded not just technical acumen but also a deep understanding of the clients' lifestyles and the spaces they inhabit.

Pierce Lighting Studio's work underscores a crucial aspect of lighting design: the necessity to educate clients about the capabilities and nuances of lighting control systems. Welldesigned lighting can only be appreciated to its fullest when the users lifestyle is considered when designing.

The retrofit projects in these iconic New York City locales underscore the evolving narrative of residential lighting design. They highlight the crucial role of the lighting designer as both a conservator of the past and an innovator for the future, capable of tailoring light to life, room to mood, and systems to simplicity. In a city that never sleeps, these lighting solutions stand as a testament to the idea that while the canvas may be historic, the lighting upon it can be as contemporary as the city itself. P

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LIGHT AND HEALTH

OFFICE LIGHTING DESIGN FOR THE

By MARIANA G. FIGUEIRO AND DAVID PEDLER

Light and Health Research Center at Mount Sinai

D1

D2

D3

Distribution: direct (Axis, LHRC) LPD = 3.70 W m-2 (0.34 W ft-2)

Distribution: direct (Satco/Nuovo) LPD = 2.26 W m-2 (0.21 W ft-2)

Distribution LPD = 5.07

D4

D5

D6

Distribution: direct (Axis), indirect (Satco/Nuovo) LPD = 5.82 W m-2 (0.54 W ft-2)

Distribution: direct-indirect (Axis) LPD = 7.98 W m-2 (0.74 W ft-2)

Distribution LPD = 1.08

It is becoming more widely recognized1 that horizontal illuminance (EH) levels recommended for office lighting systems

by IES do not satisfy existing recommendations for supporting the human circadian system. A recent study found that meeting IES recommendations could increase energy use by at least 10%, and in some instances perhaps as much as 100%, if one followed the current WELL circadian lighting design recommendations.2 Is this universally true, or just one example?

A previous study by our lab3 compared over 100 photometric simulations for a modeled, typical open office space, examining how well they achieved the goals of delivering low glare, low lighting power density (LPD), and adequate levels of circadianeffective light for stimulating the human circadian system.

Our latest research effort in this area, which was funded by the McClung Foundation and just accepted for publication in

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Lighting Research & Technology, followed a similar approach using human subjects in a controlled experiment conducted in the LHRC’s upstate laboratory in Menands, NY. Our new study examined five different circadian-effective lighting distributions (designated D1 through D5) provided by ceiling-mounted commercial office space systems, including one distribution (D1) that added a local luminaire on the work plane to serve as the primary source of circadian-effective light.

(A sixth distribution, D6, was added as a dim-light experimental control to facilitate comparisons of circadian effectiveness between the active distributions.)

To evaluate the distributions’ efficiency and effectiveness as conventional lighting systems, we measured their respective LPDs and assessed the experimental subjects for subjective

LIGHT AND HEALTH

VISUAL AND NON-VISUAL SYSTEMS Figure 1. The lighting distributions used in this study. D1 through D5 were active conditions, and D6 was the dim-light experimental control.

sleepiness, subjective appraisals of discomfort glare, and objective measures of task performance (numerical verification and go/no-go). We ran the study at night to determine how effective the five distributions were at activating the circadian system by measuring salivary melatonin.4, 5 It was our expectation that though the LPDs might differ, the five active distributions would prove essentially equal in terms of their circadian effectiveness and influence on task performance. It was also hypothesized that the direct lighting systems would be rated as more glaring than the direct-indirect lighting systems.

D3 Distribution: direct (Axis, Satco/Nuovo) LPD = 5.07 W m-2 (0.47 W ft-2)

THE EXPERIMENT Three discrete lighting systems from three different sources (Axis Lighting, Satco/Nuvo, and custom-built LHRC using a Cync smart bulb) were employed in the lighting distributions (Figure 1), either alone (D2, D5, D6) or in combination (D1, D3, D4). The indirect component of the Axis system (shown as rectangular grids in Figure 1) was dimmed to minimum output for all distributions but D5 (where both components were energized), and both Axis system components were dimmed to minimum output in D2 and D6. The direct Satco/ Nuvo luminaires were installed in pairs, butted together at their mounting locations to form both down-light (direct, as in D2 and D3) and up-light (indirect, as in D4) elements.

The horizontal illuminance (EH), vertical illuminance (EV), and CS levels recorded for all lighting distributions are shown in Figure 2.

D6 Distribution: direct-indirect (Axis), dimmed LPD = 1.08 W m-2 (0.10 W ft-2)

Illuminance (lx)

LEGEND

600

EH EV

0.4 0.3

CS

400

0.2 200

0.1

0 D1

D2

D3

D4

D5

D6

0

Circadian stimulus (CS)

0.5

800

Figure 2. Mean horizontal illuminance (EH), vertical illuminance (EV), and circadian stimulus (CS) measurements recorded for the study’s six lighting distributions.

The active lighting distributions (D1 through D5) delivered the same high level of CS to the participants.

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LIGHT AND HEALTH

If we think creatively when designing lighting for commercial office spaces, circadian-effective light can be delivered efficiently and without compromising comfort.

The study’s 19 participants were exposed to each of the lighting distributions over the course of six consecutive weekly nighttime (11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.) sessions in September and October of 2022, prior to the change from Eastern Daylight Time to Eastern Standard Time. Before, during, and after exposure to the lighting, they underwent three sets of two visual performance tests (numerical verification task,6 go/nogo7), submitted four salivary melatonin samples and subjective sleepiness surveys,8 and performed three subjective glare assessments.9 After the study had concluded, the participants were also surveyed about their general preference among the lighting distributions.

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Think beyond the ceiling to effectively deliver circadianeffective light: The most preferred distribution was D1, which employed direct overhead lighting and the local work plane luminaire as the primary source of circadianeffective light.

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As recommended by UL-DG 24480,10 luminaires that have a luminance greater than 8500 cd/m-2 (if luminous element is greater than 0.3°) will likely be glaring and not acceptable: D2, which had a luminance of 10,000 cd/m-2, was the least preferred by participants.

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Brighter is not always more glaring: Among the active distributions, D5 (direct-indirect) was the least glaring despite having the highest EH and EV levels.

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People get used to bright light: The overall perception of glare decreased as the experiment progressed.

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Computer work is not affected by EH: The lighting distributions had no differential effect on the visual performance tests.

RESULTS AND TAKEAWAYS ◆

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Circadian-effective lighting does not necessarily exceed power density requirements: Although all the active lighting distributions produced the same CS, D2 had the lowest LPD (2.26 W m-2, 0.21 W ft-2), while D5 had the highest LPD (7.98 W m-2, 0.74 W ft-2).

Many lighting distributions can meet a CS design criterion: None of the active distributions (D1 through D5) differed reliably from each other with respect to nocturnal melatonin suppression, a reliable measure of the lighting distributions’ circadian effectiveness.

If we think creatively when designing lighting for commercial office spaces, circadian-effective light can be delivered efficiently and without compromising comfort. The results of this study can potentially be extended to other applications. ■

References 1.

Safranek S, Abboushi B. The Impact of Circadian Lighting Design Strategies on Lighting and Cooling Energy of an Office Space.

Alexandria, VA: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy 2023.

2.

International WELL Building Institute. WELL v2™. https://v2.wellcertified.com/v/en/overview

3.

Jarboe C, Snyder J, Figueiro MG. The effectiveness of light-emitting diode lighting for providing circadian stimulus in office spaces while minimizing energy use. Lighting Research and Technology. 2019; 52: 167-188.

4.

Rea MS, Nagare R, Figueiro MG. Modeling circadian phototransduction: Retinal neurophysiology and neuroanatomy. Frontiers in Neuroscience. 2021; 14: 1467.

5.

Rea MS, Nagare R, Figueiro MG. Modeling circadian phototransduction: Quantitative predictions of psychophysical data. Frontiers in Neuroscience. 2021; 15: 44.

6.

Rea MS. Visual performance with realistic methods of changing contrast. Journal of the Illuminating Engineering Society. 1981; 10: 164-177.

7.

Figueiro MG, Sahin L, Wood B, Plitnick B. Light at night and measures of alertness and performance: Implications for shift workers.

Biological Research for Nursing. 2016; 18: 90-100.

8.

Åkerstedt T, Gillberg M. Subjective and objective sleepiness in the active individual. International Journal of Neuroscience. 1990; 52: 29-37.

9.

Bullough JD. No more modifications: Glare control from a circadian perspective. Lighting Design and Application: LD and A. 2022; 52: 42-46.

10. Underwriters Laboratories. Design Guideline for Promoting Circadian Entrainment with Light for Day-Active People, Design Guideline 24480, Edition 1. Northbrook, IL: Underwriters Laboratories, 2019.

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Photo Credit: Fabrice Gallina

Photo Credit: Fabrice Gallina

Photo Credit: Dean Skira

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designing lighting

Dean Skira's Lighting Overcomes Language Barriers in the Vatican's Nativity

By RANDY REID

finely adjusted to not only display the sculptures but also to enhance their presence and story. The lighting was continuously dynamic, shifting Dean Skira Meeting Pope Francis softly to highlight different figures like the kings or the animals, long after the initial reveal. Skira stated, “I wanted to show the texture of the sculptures, and I also want to give them this During the Christmas season of 2022, the Vatican's St. Peter's three-dimensionality, regardless of where you are viewing the entire Square was aglow, not just with the spirit of the holiday but also scene.” with Dean Skira’s masterful lighting design of the Nativity scene.

This installation became an international focal point, showcasing a The challenge was not just technical but also cultural. Skira had harmonious blend of tradition and innovation in lighting design. to ensure that the lighting was respectful and appropriate for the setting. "It's about striking that delicate balance between visibility, Skira, tasked with illuminating the 18 life-size sculptures of the aesthetics, and reverence," Skira noted. The result was a carefully Nativity crafted by woodworkers from Sutrio, Italy, approached the orchestrated play of shadows and light, achieving a balance that project with a meticulous blend of art and technology. "Lighting is honored the sacredness of the scene. not just about visibility; it's about enhancing the story the sculptures are telling," Skira remarked. His team began by scanning the The pinnacle of this assignment for Skira was not just the successful sculptures with LIDAR to create a detailed 3D model because the completion of the project but also the opportunity to meet Pope scene was far too complex to plan with a hand-drawn map.

Francis. "I had the privilege to shake his unbelievably warm hand. It was a very touching, emotional experience," Skira shared.

For Skira, the concealment of light sources was paramount as the visibility of fixtures could detract from the viewer's experience. This The town of Sutrio, having won the competition to create the Nativity led to a unique system: oval openings with conical interiors were cut scene, played a pivotal role in commissioning Skira. The mayor, into the stage floor, housing reflectors that could be tilted and turned present at the grand opening, acknowledged Skira's contributions in for precise lighting angles. This setup allowed each sculpture to be his speech, marking the successful collaboration between the town's bathed in light that revealed texture and three-dimensionality without traditional woodworking and Skira's contemporary lighting design. any glare.

In a candid recount of how he was chosen for this prestigious Throughout the festive nights from 3 December to 8 January, St. task, Skira revealed a cascade of referrals within Italy's lighting Peter's Square transformed into a beacon of storytelling, embracing community, a testament to his reputation for tackling "crazy stuff." the diversity of its international visitors. Skira’s design uses light Initially, due to misunderstandings from language differences, Skira as a universal language to depict the Nativity, rather than relying nearly declined the offer, mistakenly thinking he was too occupied on a single spoken language. As choirs sang, each beam of light for the job. It wasn't until one of the people who had recommended sequentially highlighted the angel, the children, and the townsfolk, him clarified the assignment's true nature—that the Nativity scene transcending language barriers and drawing all eyes to the pivotal created in Sutrio was destined for the Vatican—that Skira grasped moments of the Christmas story. its significance. With this realization, he committed to the project, applying his characteristic fervor and meticulous attention to detail.

In the initial moments, the scene is shrouded in secrecy, the backdrop hidden from sight, cloaking the unfolding narrative in a Looking back on the project, Skira's reflection was one of humility veil of anticipation. First, the angel is lit to let the audience know and pride. "It's an honor to work on a scale like this, where lighting that something big is about to happen. Next, the comet is lit, then transcends its functional role and becomes an element of wonder, the star. Finally, as if drawing back curtains, the cave is gradually an integral part of the Christmas celebration at the Vatican," he mused. illuminated. This revelation is followed by the figures of Joseph and Mary coming into the light. Last, to a swell of organ music, the infant This project in St. Peter's Square, under Skira's luminous touch, Jesus is softly lit within the manger. Thus, light became the shared became a testament to the power of light as a universal language. language, eloquently narrating the timeless story to an audience It is clear that his work was not just about illuminating sculptures gathered from every part of the world. but about bringing to light the deeper narrative of Christmas, showcasing how light, in the hands of a master, can indeed be a "The lighting design was not static; it was a storytelling medium in powerful storyteller. P itself," Skira explained. Multiple lights were used for each statue, designing lighting

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VERIZON’S Joins the ICON Boston Skyline

An LED Crown Tops The Hub on Causeway

By VILMA BARR

Photos: Courtesy, HLB Lighting Design

hues are programmed for celebratory events and holidays. Composition of pattern and color were selected for a dynamic visual effect.

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At the thirty-first level Sky Deck, color-changing LED nodes are placed between acrylic rods and rows of structural bars.

Verizon visually announces its 17-story vertical campus in Boston’s The Hub on Causeway with a color-changing canopy capping the glowing corporate icon. Occupied by Verizon in mid-2022, six years after the multi-complex broke ground, the 450,000-sq-ft space was designated to house 3,000 Verizon employees, bringing together staff members previously stationed throughout the greater Boston area.

Architects of the two million square feet building, built on the former site of the Boston Garden, were Gensler and Stantec.

HLB Lighting Design created the illumination program for the exterior structure, entrance, 8th-floor sky lobby, roof decks, and rooftop canopy, working in collaboration with experienced design firms ESI Design and Michael Stiller Design.

Boston’s commercial construction industry is one of the most diverse and active in the country. According to a recent CBRE monthly report, Boston has consistently outperformed the top 12 U.S. office markets during the pandemic, and continues to improve, setting the pace for the U.S. office market recovery.

The backlit rods that continue into the lobby interior are suspended in channels. A backlit perforated panel provides, motion sensors that activate rods. Each acrylic rod is mounted in a continuous channel and backlit by a digitally addressable RGB LED node.

Operating in Boston’s world class office market, Verizon’s signature building and offices present an elegant contemporary place to work, a major objective of its long-term strategy to attract and keep employees whose talent is a major driver to the organization’s successful corporate performance.

The project seamlessly merges and connects with the existing local and regional transportation and TD Garden as the entertainment destination. It re-defines the idea of a community

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hub with office, residential, and hotel towers rising from a podium of retailers, high-concept dining, and specialty offices.

“For the podium level, the integrated façade lighting and grand entry color-changing lighting are balanced for intensity and contrast,” says Carrie Hawley, principal and founder of the Boston branch of HLB who was the project’s team leader.

Along with motion capturing and digital mapping, lighting transformed the street-level at 100 Causeway Street in the city’s West End. HLB conducted extensive studies and calculations to ensure that the mounting, positioning, intensity, and beam angles of fixtures that light the podium facades, eliminating glare and light trespass. The East building uses linear luminaires to create an even light pattern of each floor’s terra cotta façade.

The West building’s prominence is engaged with the retail environment with luminaires mounted on top of canopies aiming upwards. Centered between the podium facades is the entry, named Champion’s Row, in recognition as the long-time home of the Boston Celtics basketball team.

The office tower’s street level canopy contains individually addressable custom light rods which brighten or dim based on activity below. “The length of the light rod and angle cut were

precise,” Hawley indicates. “This ceiling system connects to the thirty-first floor sky box canopy, containing same light rods with a digital mapping control system.”

Reception and concierge services are provided in the building’s eighth floor Sky Lobby which has access to an outdoor terrace, events space, café and elevators to Verizon’s workplace floors.

A whole-complex networked with DMX capabilities weaves together the project’s elements. “The building’s complex lighting requirements required sophisticated lighting controls solutions, from motion sensing to data capture to colorchanging to digital media, as well as visually communicating Verizon’s innovative brand,” Hawley observes.

Developers of the $1.1 billion project were Boston Properties and the Delaware North Companies. In addition to Gensler and Stantec as the architects responsible for the commercial spaces, the architect for the building’s residential component was Solomon Cordwell Buenz. Le Messieur served as the structural engineer, Cosentini as the MEP, and VHB was the civil engineer. The project received the 2022 Americas Award from the Urban Land Institute, and two 2023 IALD awards: an Award of Merit and a second for the Digital Media program. ■

floor Sky Lobby serves as a gathering and casual workspace. The uplit ceiling and canopy beyond the glass provide ambient illumination.

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A JOURNEY THROUGH

Light and Reflection

By RANDY REID All photos by Arup unless otherwise noted.

Unveiling the Lighting Symphony of One Vanderbilt

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COVER STORY

One Vanderbilt stands at 1,401 feet (427 meters), ranking as the fourth tallest building in New York City, surpassing the Chrysler Building by over 400 feet. It is the tallest office tower in Midtown and hosts an exceptional observation deck that could be considered the best in the world. The observation deck, SUMMIT One Vanderbilt, was designed by Snøhetta, with Arup responsible for the lighting design. This area spans floors 91 to 93 within the towering structure and features a 65,000-square-foot entertainment space positioned over 1,000 feet above ground level, offering unparalleled views of the city. I had the opportunity to meet with Tanner Chee from Arup, the main lighting designer on the project.

Descending into the lobby, located one level below ground, we were greeted by a bustling scene of queued visitors. Floor-level fixtures from Designplan cast a warm glow, complementing the Q-Tran luminaires nestled in coves and panels above. The walls came alive with illuminated quotes, and in the midst of the queue, a symphony of light and sound unfolded in unison. The ambiance was electric, a curated prelude to our forthcoming journey. With a hint of anticipation, Tanner noted, "These lights are here to set the stage for the experiences that await us." The synchronization of the visuals and the audio wasn't just a feature; it was a storytelling device, engaging and priming us with each pulsating beat and radiant flicker.

The next part of our tour was upward, a 91-floor trip in the all-glass elevator. Simes threshold lights adorned the elevator entrance. Traxon e:cue lights installed along the elevator's glass edges crafted an awe-inspiring effect. To merely describe the elevator's ascent as 'wow' would be to diminish the experience; it was nothing short of breathtaking. This was particularly poignant for someone like me, whose fear of heights made the journey as exhilarating as it was terrifying.

Tanner Chee at the Observation Deck, SUMMIT One Vanderbilt. Photo by Randy Reid.

Reaching the 91st floor, Tanner drew attention to the ceiling crafted from Newmat stretch fabric, chosen for its translucency that allows light to diffuse. We then proceeded to the Hall of Light, where the coves are fitted with Q-Tran lighting. Advancing towards the exit, the space unfolded into Transcendence 1, an expansive room covered in mirrors, even beneath our feet.

Arriving at dusk, trying to distinguish between the vast interior mirrors and the exterior glass was initially disorienting. The warm hues of the sunset streamed through the windows, casting vibrant reflections on the mirrors. The initial design did not include the extensive use of mirrors, but this element was introduced to enhance the reflective quality of the space, aiming to create an atmosphere that feels like 'experiencing air,' with the ambiance shifting in response to the time of day and weather, ensuring a unique experience with each visit.

As we entered the tranquil Reflect room, we experienced a shift from the vibrant, immersive colors to a setting bathed in soft, soothing white light. This space provides a sensory reprieve, allowing visitors to absorb and rejuvenate. Tanner's work in this area focuses not only on creating awe-inspiring moments but

also on fostering periods of calm. Here, the gentle illumination offers visitors a chance to 'refresh their palette' before continuing their exploration.

In this reflective journey, Clouds, an installation by Yayoi Kusama, emerges as a pivotal transition, leading guests from the interior towards the outdoor observation space and the glass elevator. Unlike the other more vibrant areas within SUMMIT, Clouds appears as large, liquid silver drops pooling across the floor. This display presents a more interactive experience, prompting visitors to stoop down and discover new angles and perspectives, thereby enriching their appreciation of the artwork's interplay with the surrounding views and architecture.

The Infinity room was the next stop, a dreamlike realm where hundreds of silver balloons are gently moved by unseen fans, under the gleam of the custom-made chrome-trimmed Zaniboni downlights that meticulously orchestrate the lighting in the room. Chrome was the right trim color, as the ceiling appeared like chrome due to the reflection of silver balloons on the mirrors. Because of their various sizes, the reflections of the balloons multiply and distort the light. The balloons seem

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COVER STORY

The Arup design specification for each backlit panel was precise.

This required Tanner to make a courteous yet firm request to the contractors to deconstruct and then accurately reposition the lighting by a mere half-inch. This painstaking process was essential to achieving the refined pixel control desired; otherwise, the pixels would be visible through the panels, compromising the visual experience.

to dance around you, and even with you, offering a complete sense of immersion as the boundaries between self and room dissolve.

Directing our attention to the five-by-five-foot panels, Tanner noted the extensive coordination required to integrate security cameras, speakers, sprinklers, and downlights into the design – with the stipulation being just one of each per panel.

“Collaboration with architects and various trades is crucial,” he explained, “to ensure that lighting levels across the panels remain uniform as we were requested to move luminaires to accommodate other equipment.”

Behind the structural columns, the design incorporated Nova Flex tape lights. The initial plan called for a larger pixel which, upon execution through various mockups, proved too bulky.

The pursuit of a more nuanced and dynamic display led to the selection of a finer pixel option.

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Moreover, Tanner had to account for the fact that each panel needed to be accessible for maintenance. To maintain a seamless appearance, Tanner directed the contractors to fill any gaps between panels with foam or a similar substance, preventing any internal lighting from being visible through the crevices or gaps between the panels. These small yet significant details are vital in sitespecific design execution.

As we moved along, Tanner pointed out the sleek XAL MOVE IT system, which has revolutionized channel systems. No tools are required, as tracks, slots, and other inserts are installed using magnets, which gives the flexibility to combine and configure them in a variety of ways.

Taking the escalator up to Transcendence 2, we entered a second, larger mirrored room with circular windows cut into the floor for views of the level below. It was impressive in its size, feeling more open and less packed, even with quite a few people around. Levitation, a glass box you can step inside to get the sensation of floating above the city, was an event that I cheerfully skipped!

COVER STORY

Arup’s design brings life to Transcendence 2, which transforms through a vivid play of colors, thanks to an array of RGBW LED lights. The lighting setup includes both RGBW and static lights for ease of maintenance. When activated, these lights elevate the ambiance, aligning with the artist's vision that played a pivotal role in the project's conceptualization.

The development of this immersive experience required extensive experimentation and dialogue. For mock-ups, Tanner had access to an off-site mock-up room that was completely mirrored. This unique space provided a reflective backdrop for the team to experiment and discuss the design intricacies and the implementation of lighting in an entirely mirrored environment. They entered this mirrored mockup space armed with a variety of color-changing samples and tubes, enabling them to test and tweak the lighting effects in real-time.

When it came to programming the precise hues and transitions of the lights, Kenzo Digital took the helm. They determined the gradients, the transitions, the animations, and even the audio elements to create a cohesive sensory experience. Arup's role was to provide the technical means for these artistic decisions to manifest within the space.

The control of this intricate lighting system is managed through ETC Mosaic, a sophisticated platform that allows for the complex orchestration of lights and colors as envisioned by the artist. It is through this control system that the artist's vision for the space's lighting is realized, enabling the room to become an ever-changing canvas of color and light.

During the 93-floor white-knuckle descent down the elevator, Tanner concluded our conversation with confidence, stating, “This design is unprecedented. In my view, it stands out as the most extraordinary observation deck globally—not simply due to my role in its creation but because it offers unparalleled views and an interior experience that is truly exceptional, especially here in New York City.”

A PERSONAL REFLECTION For Tanner, One Vanderbilt is not just another project; it's the pinnacle of his professional journey thus far. Reflecting on its significance, he shared, “This is the first major project that I've worked on from the very beginning to the very end, the first project that I've seen all the way through as a lighting designer.”

His pride in the project is palpable, as it represents a full cycle of his expertise and dedication.

“And it's such an honor to be part of such a high-profile project with such a great client and architect,” Chee adds, acknowledging the collaborative effort and the prestige associated with One Vanderbilt. His personal investment in the project goes beyond the technical aspects, touching on the emotional and career-defining milestones. “This is the most important,” he asserts, solidifying One Vanderbilt's place not just in the landscape of New York but in his own professional legacy. P

Reflecting on the design process, Tanner recalled meticulously positioning each element in the Revit software—determining the precise placement for the linear fixtures and spot luminaires. “It was so rewarding to see the formation that I calculated come to life.”

The profitability of such projects can vary, with some designers expressing concerns about the additional, uncompensated work required during commissioning.

However, in this case, Tanner reports a very positive experience, explaining that their compensation was distributed in typical tranches aligning with the AIA stages of Programming (Pre-design), Schematic Design (SD), Design Development (DD), and Construction Documents/Drawings (CD).

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Crafting Light,

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designing lighting

INSPIRING LIVES

LIGHT ART

A Conversation with Artist Bruce Munro

By RANDY REID All photos by Serena Munro unless otherwise noted.

At IALD Enlighten Americas 2023 in Banff, Bruce Munro, a luminary in light-based installations, gave an engaging early morning talk that left attendees captivated, despite feeling nervous about speaking publicly for the first time since before Covid.

Following his presentation, I had the rare opportunity to explore his creative mind. Munro, whose works have etched themselves into the landscapes of cities and onto the hearts of onlookers around the globe, graciously shared the narrative of his career, his philosophies, and the undeniable impact of his work on society. Our conversation underscored the power of lighting to not just illuminate spaces, but also to inspire and move the human spirit.

Munro’s path to becoming a renowned light artist was both unique grounded, and his professional journey wasn't immediately artistic. After completing his degree in painting and sculpture in the UK, he moved to Sydney and took a brief detour into business, starting a company that was eventually bought out. This led to a three-year tenure in a factory, where he gained valuable insights into manufacturing and

commerce—knowledge that would later proved to be crucial in realizing his large-scale installations.

At the age of 24, he discovered his passion for light as an artistic medium while living in Sydney. A simple encounter with an ultraviolet light in a shop window piqued his interest. Driven by childlike wonder, he purchased a bulk quantity of these lights, unknowingly igniting a lifelong passion for lighting design.

His return to the UK marked a pivotal transition. Faced with the responsibilities of family life, he directed funds earmarked for home decoration to bring the now iconic ‘Field of Light’ concept to life in his backyard. The inspiration had come to Munro in 1992 at the Uluru sandstone formation in Central Australia, but it was a decade before Munro's vision first came to fruition.

Munro recounted an impactful experience that occurred after setting up this installation. His home happened to be along a popular walking route, and his work began to attract the attention of passersby. Every evening, about ten people would stop by, curious about the sudden appearance of lights.

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LIGHT ART

One night, a woman from the local village met with Munro to explain that she had a very ill friend who would not be able to walk up to the field. She asked if she could drive her ill friend into the area. Munro obviously said yes. When they arrived the following evening, Munro flipped the switch, and, upon experiencing the field of lights, the elderly woman was moved to tears.

Munro, who had not anticipated such a personal and emotional response, reflected on the experience, "I was totally flummoxed. I wasn't expecting that sort of reaction, but for the first time in my life, I felt that I'd really connected with somebody through art." This poignant moment underscored the silent yet powerful dialogue between art and observer, marking a pivotal milestone in his career as an artist.

Field of Light later spread its luminescent tendrils to public venues like a small museum in Bath and the Eden Project in Cornwall before making its way across the Atlantic to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, marking the beginning of its global odyssey.

Another iteration of Field of Light debuted earlier this month in New York City. The Soloviev Group, praised for their philanthropy and commitment to the arts, invited Munro to create an installation at the Freedom Plaza. This site spans over six acres near the UN building and is intended to be a space of open access to New Yorkers. Munro expressed his awe at the opportunity, finding the offer impossible to decline.

"Field of Light at Freedom Plaza stands as a beacon of infinite creativity and the liberty to envision," Munro stated. "My desire is for it to kindle a sense of warmth and inspire people of all ages to take away something meaningful, and in turn, foster a cycle of creativity that they can share with others."

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The Soloviev Foundation, the philanthropic branch of the Soloviev Group, has committed approximately $1.5 million to fund the creation and upkeep of this light installation, the New York Times has reported. Michael Hershman, CEO of the Soloviev Group, described the installation to the Times as a "gift to New York."

Munro, who finds his favorite project is always the next one, "the one you've never done," is currently channeling his innovative spirit into another ambitious venture, the Fiber Optic Symphonic Orchestra (FOSO). This project is a striking blend of art and music, a fiber optic symphonic orchestra that reimagines the philharmonic experience through light.

The FOSO is set to debut as a smaller ensemble piece in Paso Robles and will later manifest in its full glory in Mildura, a regional town in Victoria, Australia. Here, in a landscape far from city lights, Munro plans to lay out an entire orchestra, represented through an intricate array of lights and sounds

LIGHT ART proposal, which, upon agreement, is executed with a single, all-encompassing fee. This fee includes not only the installation but also the transportation of the pieces to and from the site.

Munro emphasizes the importance of overseeing the installation process to ensure the quality and integrity of the work, a factor that also allows for the reusability of components. However, he notes the reality of environmental wear, which means that not all parts of an installation can be repurposed. In light of this, he stresses the responsibility artists have towards recycling and conscientiously repurposing materials whenever possible.

Through this lens, Munro's approach to the business of art is not just about financial transactions but also about sustainability and ethical practices. His perspective is a valuable lesson for young artists navigating the complexities of creative work and commerce, illustrating the balance between artistic integrity, client relationships, and environmental considerations. spanning a 200-yard distance. This installation promises to be a symphony not just of music but of illumination, utilizing unconventional materials like rotary washing lines from Australia, intertwined with fiber optics.

Munro's studio operates as the birthplace of these ideas, where a small team of twenty brings to life the designs and concepts he envisions. They meticulously craft prototypes, combining components sourced globally – a process that Munro describes with palpable passion. He humbly considers himself the least useful member of the team, yet it's clear his leadership and vision are the driving forces behind their success.

Munro spoke of his role in fostering young talent within his team, emphasizing the importance of passing on opportunities to the next generation. "I think they are our future, and we have to believe in their talents," Munro stated. It is this forwardlooking mindset that ensures the evolution of art and innovation in his field. Munro's humility and dedication to his craft underscore his belief in the continuous progression of art, a journey he is delighted to share with the world.

Munro's story is a reminder that the road to artistic success often involves a combination of passion, practicality, and the willingness to take risks. His experience across different industries not only shaped his work ethic but also enriched his approach to art, allowing him to create installations that resonate globally.

As the conversation came to a close, his humility was as evident as his talent, with a modesty that belied the profound impact of his words and works. Bruce reflected on the privilege of his role, remarking, “I'm so privileged to be here at this conference. I said I have probably one of the best jobs in the world. The worst bit of it is having to speak in front of all those people.”

His presence at the IALD Enlighten Americas conference, much like his work, was a gift to those in attendance, leaving us with a renewed appreciation for the transformative power of light.

Munro's installations are not merely displays of visual splendor; they are profound encounters, weaving together light, land, and the human experience into a tapestry of illumination that echoes long after the lights dim. ■

That journey recently brought the Field of Light to Cheekwood in Nashville, where I had the pleasure of experiencing the installation's tranquil beauty firsthand. This visit offered me a profound connection with Munro's work ahead of our interview.

His dealings with Cheekwood are an exemplar of this philosophy, highlighting a decade-long relationship marked by mutual respect and creative freedom.

Ten years ago, Cheekwood first invited Munro to create an installation, which led to a longstanding partnership culminating in the current anniversary exhibition. Munro describes the process as collaborative, with Cheekwood providing a platform for him to freely express his artistic vision rather than dictating terms or specifics.

In return, Munro provides a comprehensive

Editor Randy Reid speaks to Bruce Munro at the 2024 IALD Enlighten Americas conference in Banff. Photo by designing lighting (dl).

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JUST IN...

New architectural lighting products available for specification

The Naturals collection, launched by Focal Point, presents nature-inspired finishes for luminaires and acoustic solutions. Chestnut, gray elm, light oak, walnut, and woven linen textures enhance various products including acoustic baffles, linear luminaires, pendants, downlights, and ceiling tiles, aiming for cohesive interior design.

Acclaim Lighting launches ALPS Power Supplies, catering to architectural lighting needs. These units offer auto-sensing voltage inputs and overcurrent and over-voltage protections (110-130%, 24-32 VDC SELV) to minimize risks. Operating at 100-277VAC/ 50/60 Hz, they provide stabilized 24VDC output, meeting NEMA-410 requirements and working with various Acclaim low-voltage products. IP67-rated for wet locations, they're durable in temperatures from -40º C to 50º C. ALPS Power Supplies are backed by a five-year warranty.

DMF Lighting expands the M Series Commercial Collection with high lumen packages up to 3500 lumens for hospitality and mixed-use spaces.

Featuring a modular design with field-interchangeable trims, modules, and optics, these lights offer versatility and easy serviceability for applications from outdoor entrances to guest rooms. The ENERGY STAR compliant system supports dimming protocols and sustainable design, catering to LEED projects and wet location requirements.

CSL introduces Whisper Flex, an adjustable system with SilentVu™ optic tech, tilting 0-30° and panning 360°.

Available in round or square trims in various colors, it allows easy install, service, and adjustment from below the ceiling. Custom colors and decorative drop lens options are available, delivering adaptable lighting solutions.

Light Art presents the Acoustic Wing, addressing noise in busy areas like offices and conference rooms. It comes in three sizes, offering fully wrapped construction for effective sound absorption. The product's strong NRC rating of 1.30 ensures impactful acoustics. Using the Casper Beam, it delivers soft, even illumination, with tunable white and RGB options for versatility. Available in multiple materials.

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designing lighting

Amerlux expands its architectural outdoor lighting offering with the Rook X Bollard and APQ Pole collections. The Rook X Bollard allows up to four adjustable accents, offering versatile illumination for outdoor areas. The APQ Pole series introduces three new decorative pole base options suitable for various environments, providing quick fulfillment with 12 decorative styles. These expansions aim to meet specific needs of architects and lighting designers for seamless indoor-outdoor integration.

AMARI, a new LED mini pendant by Modern Forms, presents a clean, sculptural design with interlocking panels. Available in aged brass or black finishes, it emits 3000K illumination, providing over 2400 lumens and 90 CRI. Featuring concealed LED drivers and adjustable suspension height, it is Title 24 JA8 compliant, perfect for impactful design statements over kitchen islands, dining tables, or bars.

Alloy LED introduces the Suspan 1 Gen 2 pendant light, featuring a pendant luminaire and suspended tape light channels. Constructed with precision-cut end caps and recessed hex screws, these products offer a sleek design ideal for commercial spaces. The 1.42-inch wide pendant luminaire provides up to 648 lumens per foot, consumes 9.3 watts per foot, and is available in custom lengths and various color temperatures. The UL-listed fixture includes field-cuttable cables and a canopy kit for a modern look.

Archlit unveils AnCar Slots 5, an extruded aluminum minimal design luminaire featuring remote drivers up to 60' away. It boasts a powder-coated finish and diffuser film protection, consuming 12 watts per foot and ensuring even illumination at its peak 960-lumens-per-foot output. Available in dimmable and non-dimmable options, it's designed for Armstrong WoodWorks linear solid wood panels and WoodWorks linear veneered panels, with a lighting module width of 5.25".

Optique Lighting introduces the Orbita Collection, a series of linear architectural luminaires with modular design for custom configurations. Featuring 360-degree rotation, sleek 0.63-inch light segments, and multiple lengths, these lights offer a high CRI, are compatible with control systems, and come in a range of CCTs, from 2700K to 5000K. Available in satin brass, gloss white, and matte black, with customizable RAL finishes.

Introducing Curt, a low-profile backlit unit number sconce by Alva. Sized at 25” H x 5” W x 1 3/8” D, it offers customizable door numbers and braille, boasting 90+ CRI, Title24 JA8, UL Damp Listed, BAA, ADA compliance, and a 10-year warranty.

Curt features a 10W LED module, various architectural finishes, ELV/ Triac dimmability, and LumenSelect® for adjustable light output settings. It elevates multi-family housing entries, providing illuminated numbers and perimeter graze lighting for an enhanced experience.

SPI Lighting's Zynn 2” Ring Collection offers sizes from 2’ to 16’ for diverse application needs.

Featuring a sleek design, the luminaire delivers seamless lines of light, maintaining superior fit and finish. The direct/indirect distribution provides a range of uplight and downlight options for various environments. With over 40 finishes available and high-performance capabilities, Zynn 2” Ring ensures efficient and comfortable lighting across spaces. designing lighting

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Magellan Architectural Luminaire

Luminarias NOON Luminaire

Flora Pendant Luminaire

Luminous Sound Chandelier Luminaire

Mark Architectural Lighting

LDE - Light Design Exporlux

Soffi Lighting

Zenisk

Ambient Lighting

Ambient Lighting

Artisan Glass Blown Lighting

Artisan Glass Blown Lighting

Monopoint Luminaire

Punica Luminaire

Voltik Luminaire

Mokuren Luminaire

Lucifer Lighting Company

Folded Light Art + Design

Sean Eichelberger

Lladró

Ceiling Lights / Pendant Lighting

Ceiling Lights

Chandeliers

Chandeliers

Tangram-Cut Luminaire

Tubie Concept Lamp Luminaire

Faucet Lamp Luminaire

Infinity: Sculpture in Light Luminaire

Eureka Lighting

Andrei Korsun

Blanca CB

Edison Price Lighting

Decorative Accent Lamps

Decorative Accent Lamps

Decorative Accent Lamps

Designer/Custom Lighting

Flowing Lamp Series Luminaire

Star - Flower LED lighting lamp family

A Garden Breeze Luminaire

Modular Light Collection Luminaire

Xiamen Smg Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.

Medveczky & Gothárd Kft

Nulty Bespoke

Waxy Design Studio

Designer/Custom Lighting

Designer/Custom Lighting

Designer/Custom Lighting / Ceiling Lights

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designing lighting

Piola Luminaire

Virtue Rings Luminaire

Totem Standing Lamp Luminaire

SUNFLOW biodynamic circadian LED floor lamp

Danilo De Rossi Designer

Serendipity Design

Yonathan Moore Studio

Spectrasol, s.r.o.

Designer/Custom Lighting

Designer/Custom Lighting / Hanging Lights & Lamps

Desk Lamps, Floor Lamps

Desk Lamps, Floor Lamps

E25 Luminaire

The Eternity Lights Luminaire

PianoLight Grand Luminaire

Plane Luminaire

Sox

HH Designs

KABO & PYDO design studio

Stella Lighting Brazil

Desk Lamps, Floor Lamps

Desk Lamps, Floor Lamps

Desk Lamps, Floor Lamps

Hanging Lights & Lamps

EVO®/Incito™ 4” and 6” Emergency Battery Backup Cylinders

Qalibra Luminaire

Folia Acoustix Family Luminaire

Yona Luminaire

Acuity Brands

One to One Design Studio

Lumenwerx

About Space

Hanging Lights & Lamps

Hanging Lights & Lamps

Illuminated Home Décor

Illuminated Home Décor

Tempus Luminaire

3D Configurator for LED Lighting

Obscura, a professionnal tool for real-time atmospheres simulation

INLINE Luminaire

Rousseau Design Ltd

Led Labs S.A.

L'Observatoire De La Nuit

Luminis

Illuminated Home Décor

Innovative Lighting Software Applications

Innovative Lighting Software Applications

Landscape Lights

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Clermont Luminaire

Hyphen Luminaire

ScreenBar Pro Luminaire

The RAIL Luminaire

Luminis

Fluxwerx Illumination

MNML LLC.

Rab Lighting Inc.

LED Lighting Products & Fixtures

LED Lighting Products & Fixtures / Energy Saving Lights

LED Lighting Products & Fixtures

LED Lighting Products & Fixtures

UNO downlight Luminaire

REV Flex Luminaire

QUOVA - Knife Edge Luminaire

Complete wireless solution including Emergency

Nurco Lighting

Meteor Lighting

Q-Tran, Inc

Tridonic

LED Lighting Products & Fixtures

LED Lighting Products & Fixtures

LED Lighting Products & Fixtures

Lighting Control Systems

PERI - Perimeter Fixture Luminaire

Vigat Luminaire

Modular pixel flex linear for curved building facade, endless length without visible seam

Tangram-Trace Luminaire

Q-Tran, Inc

Insight Lighting

Vivalyte bv

Eureka Lighting

Linear Lighting Systems

Linear Lighting Systems

Linear Lighting Systems

Linear Lighting Systems

Peerless Proper Luminaire

Aculux New patented WarmDim®

3D LED Flex 40 WE System IP 20

Tech Tickness Luminaire

Acuity Brands - Peerless Lighting

Acuity Brands

Radiant Architectural Lighting

Luce5

Linear Lighting Systems

Mood Lighting / Ceiling Lights

Mood Lighting

Other Lighting Products

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Acrobat™ Wall Wash Downlights

Melli™ Luminaire

FLAME Lighting Technique Luminaire

iO CoviO Graze Luminaire

Creative Systems Lighting

Selux Corporation

Hydrel

Cooper Lighting Solutions

Other Lighting Products

Outdoor Spotlights / Street Lighting

Outdoor Spotlights / Landscape Lights

Outdoor Wall Lighting

Lino Luminaire

Arcilla Cluster Luminaire

Blazer Luminaire

RUTA Luminaire

Stitch Luminaire

A-Light

STACKABL OBJECTS INC

Nzhangdesign

NA Lightstyle

A-Light

Outdoor Wall Lighting

Pendant Lighting

Pendant Lighting Street Lighting

Pendant Lighting

Halo Portable Table Lamp Luminaire

PARAFINA Luminaire

XSLIM Luminaire

Arca Pro Luminaire

Astro Lighting

PAAT STUDIO

EDC

Selux Corporation

Portable Lamps

Portable Lamps

Street Lighting

Street Lighting

Juno Trac WarmDim® Technologye

Juno T105xL Narrow Profile Wall Wash Track Fixture familye

Continuum Track Luminaire

Cono W Luminaire

Acuity Brands

Acuity Brands

ET2 Lighting

Catellani & Smith Srl

Track Lighting

Track Lighting

Track Lighting

Wall Sconces

Wings

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REIMAGINING '60S ARCHITECTURE with

LEDs

By RANDY REID

Photo credit: PureEdge Lighting

In the heart of Phoenix, where Central Avenue intersects with Missouri, stands a testament to mid-century modern architecture: the Olympus multifamily dwelling. Built in the 1960s, this structure epitomizes the era’s design aesthetics with its distinctive concrete barrel vaults and exoskeleton that seamlessly flows into the interior of each unit. Yet, while the design remains timeless, the lighting within these spaces required a contemporary upgrade— one that honors the original architecture while infusing modern technology.

Chad Rothe, principal of Lightform Lighting, was approached by Janet Traylor, the HOA president, based on a strong referral. Traylor's dissatisfaction with the standard six-inch flat panel LEDs, installed by a contractor, sparked the transformative journey of the Olympus project's lighting design.

"We aimed to respect the architecture while delivering on modern lighting needs. The in-wall LED solution we implemented was not just about illumination; it was about paying homage to the building's design," Chad shared.

His approach was to employ a brand-new product that would accentuate the building's unique barrel vaults without the need for recessed fixtures, especially important given the arched concrete ceiling. This innovative thinking stemmed from his desire to preserve the essence of the building's design while also enhancing functionality.

"Every LED manufacturer produces LED tape, but what Greg Kay of PureEdge Lighting has created is truly forward-thinking. He calls it a Laser Line, and it resembles a laser beam shooting across the sky," explained Chad.

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The ‘laser’ is, in essence, a single COB LED tape that, when powered, creates a line of light akin to a laser beam.

The effect is a dramatic, continuous streak of light that can transform a space. Chad’s design did not just stop at aesthetics; functionality was key. The luminaire was fed by remote drivers cleverly housed in the kitchen cabinets, avoiding any exposed wiring and maintaining the sleek appearance.

The design allowed for a dual lighting system with independent controls.

Each luminaire was installed with separate drivers allowing for direct or indirect operation. Both the upper and the lower system offer 120-degree beam angles for a very uniform appearance.

Chad's lighting design incorporated the use of the Lutron ELV Diva Reverse-Phase dimmer, which he selected for its cost-effectiveness and ability to manage both direct and indirect lighting sources. "The Lutron dimmer system provides a straightforward and affordable solution for adjusting light levels," Chad remarked. In his personal office, Chad prefers the advanced capabilities of the PureEdge Wiz system for its added functionality in color control. However, for the Olympus project, the lighting scheme was standardized at a color temperature of 3000 Kelvin, negating the need for color control and thus making the Lutron ELV Diva ReversePhase dimmer a suitable choice.

TRANSFORMING SPACES WITH STRATEGIC LIGHTING In multi-family buildings like Olympus, lighting plays a pivotal role in transforming communal spaces.

Chad’s work on this project underlines the significance of lighting as a design element that extends beyond mere functionality—it narrates the story of the space it inhabits.

In our discussion, it appeared that the lit part of the arch was a different color, but Chad assured me everything was painted the same shade of white.

"You don't just see the lighting; you feel its impact. It goes beyond illumination; it's about creating an experience," he emphasized.

With a CRI of over 90 and a lifespan of 50,000 hours, the PureEdge solution offered not only an aesthetic enhancement but also longevity and sustainability. As Chad aptly put it, "It's not just about the fixtures; it's about how you use them to bring a space to life." ■ designing lighting

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GUEST COLUMN

The Vital Role of Lighting Designers in Residential Lighting

By MATTHEW TIRSCHWELL

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GUEST COLUMN

Lighting designer Matthew Tirschwell of Tirschwell & Co. shares his perspective on the lighting design process

In the world of residential lighting design, a skilled lighting designer plays a pivotal role.

We orchestrate a carefully thought-out process that spans from the initial design concept to the final commissioning. As the industry and lighting technology have evolved, the relationship between the lighting designer and technology integrator has become murky — and occasionally tenuous. Lighting designers' level of technical knowledge, engineering, and code compliance has been forced to increase. Those firms that are still living in the design-only, “don’t bother me with the specifics,” force the integrator to essentially pick up the pieces where the lighting designer left off — often with no road map at all. This is due in large part to the way that lighting control and new lighting fixtures are being introduced, and the lack of education and the oversimplification of lighting design. When a lighting designer is on board, many questions arise for the integrator: What is the lighting designer responsible for? What is the technology integrator responsible for? What does the lighting design process look like? Where do we take up the responsibility? This article was written to provide integrators with my insight into the lighting design selection, installation, and commissioning process and the benefits of working with a lighting designer.

First, a bit about myself. I began Tirschwell & Co. in 1999. My company is known for very high-end residential work. What makes my company unique is that our process doesn’t start with light at all. We want to understand the entire experience from the entire design team and the client. While not every lighting designer will have the same process, there will be similarities and best practices that every lighting designer strives to execute.

SELECTION The heart of any remarkable lighting design lies in the process. At Tirschwell, our residential projects begin with a deep understanding of the client’s needs and lifestyle.

We don’t just look at the fixtures; we aim to create experiences. To arrive at that, there are several key questions we ask our clients, such as: How are spaces going to be used? What are the types of places that resonate with materials, light, touch, smell, and taste? What does their environment look like when they wake up in the morning?

Do they wake up before dawn or at 11 o'clock? Do they want to come in and turn on all the lights, or do they only want a whisper of light? Are there special considerations not easily identified? How do other materials — paint and other finishes — complement the owner’s expectations? Do they immediately head to the gym or ease into their day?

By understanding clients’ daily lifecycles and routines, a lighting designer can cater to them. Their answers form the foundation of the lighting design, from fixture to control.

We translate this information into hierarchies of light. We first establish what we want to see. How we achieve that comes later.

After we establish and craft the visual experience, we begin to work back into the actual fixtures, but the next step isn’t only fixture selection; it’s identifying the control system and protocols. We start thinking about controls very early on. That’s because lighting control — the user interface — makes the experience tangible for clients.

A carefully thought-out keypad also helps to smooth out any issues in the commissioning stage. We develop protocols, systems, and procedures to provide a holistic approach to the entire project. By identifying the type of user interface, the client’s expectations, and the capabilities available, we communicate salient information to other designers, the electrical contractor, and the technology integrator.

Down the line, this identifies how much wall space is needed — and where — for lighting control panels, remote drivers, etc. It’s too late in the process to learn, for example, that there are three elevations of shades and blackouts with doors, and the client wants to control every shade independently, but there’s only a single keypad.

Worse is when keypad space is cut out of a marble slab, only to determine later only one keypad is needed. By working through the interface and even doing the engravings early, there’s a clear understanding of what we need that user interface to do and what programming directives to give the integrator.

We will enter the keypad engravings directly into the control manufacturer’s software, but often, our AV partners have already created a file that we borrow. This allows us to mockup engraving examples and layouts and locate them in each space to visually understand location and wayfinding.

One challenge that both lighting designers and integrators collectively face is device compatibility. Often, inter-compatibility is mistaken to mean interoperability. To better designing lighting

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GUEST COLUMN manufacturer, Vantage has given lighting designers the freedom to design around fixtures that will meet clients’ needs and lifestyles. Many of the fixtures I use are from companies in Vantage’s LHUMAN Light Fixture Alliance, which are tested to be interoperable with Vantage’s LHUMAN human-centric lighting solution. With client expectations, providing advanced dim to warm or color tuning options is critical. Similar to entertainment lighting fixtures, the company has even gone as far as creating a continuously growing library of fixture profiles that have passed the specs of both the fixture manufacturer and Vantage. These profiles take the guesswork out of achieving smooth dimming and the color temperature, so that all the fixtures in a room and over a house are in alignment. The less obvious benefit is that they smooth the communication between designer and integrator.

The lighting designer’s job is to factor in all these scenarios so there’s one very clear system that will work with the myriad of different light fixture manufacturers that we select. Like all things, it sounds much easier than it is to accomplish. understand this, let’s take a look at what is involved when we specify a typical strip light. First, we have the strip light itself, which is manufactured by one company. The driver for the strip light comes from another manufacturer, and it may have unique programming requirements and capabilities. Next, we have the interface for the particular control protocol, and lastly, the lighting control manufacturer and programming... That’s three to four different components that have to all work together.

Throw in wire distance and gauge, various driver dimming curves, location of equipment, and electronic interference along the way, and even in the best of projects, you still have opportunities for failure.

On paper, each should play well in the sandbox, but what we’ve found is that lights don’t always perform at the level that we need for our clientele, which can show up in several ways. The most common is flicker when lights are dimmed down, or they don’t dim down far enough. Another challenge is when one linear strip dims down while the rest do not. In projects where a driver is running multiple-length sources, it’s not uncommon for the closer, shorter light source to be brighter than the source farther away.

There are a lot of technology problems that lighting designers and integrators have to resolve. For this reason, we test lighting fixtures and controls in the office, with the actual lighting control system we intend to use. We also lean heavily on light fixture and lighting control manufacturers and are very selective about the brands we choose and rely on. Given the number of different protocols — forward phase, reverse phase, PWM, 0-10V, 1-10V, DMX, DALI, Zigbee, Casambi, BubblyNet, Z-wave — as well as the protocols for the equipment to communicate with each other, partnering with manufacturers who understand the lighting designer’s role and what it is that we need is essential.

More importantly, having a direct relationship with a controls manufacturer who understands and appreciates what we achieve for our clients is sacrosanct.

For this reason, we have leaned on Vantage more as our preferred lighting control vendor. What makes Vantage unique is that the company has brought balance and understanding between the lighting designer and the technology integrator.

Vantage lighting control technology and technical support addresses common pain points of modern tunable lighting.

Rather than be restricted to certain fixtures from one

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We believe the handoff to the integrator takes place after we have established the lighting plan and keypad locations. Both our specifications and the lighting plan identify the protocol for each light, and how many channels are needed for digital addressing. The integrator, who is responsible and often running the low-voltage wires, takes over as means and methods. They build and locate the backend with panels and interfaces. As they take ownership of the system, they determine the correct addresses they want to use for each device. They work with the contractor to determine where the remote drivers will reside so they can pull the wires to that location. We have enough experience in the field to know what it takes to get this done. We rely on our integrator partners, who are the real miracle workers.

INSTALL AND COMMISSIONING It’s during these phases when collaboration between the lighting designer and other professionals, such as technology integrators and electricians, is crucial. The clear communication and clearly defined responsibilities we defined early in the design process ensure the project proceeds smoothly. Consistency of design and programming offers a cohesive lighting experience.

For this reason, lighting designers must provide a comprehensive pre-commissioning and commissioning directive. The precommissioning directive provides all the details the technology integrator needs to set up and program the system including the types of protocols, keypad function, LED states, high and low trims, advanced programming requirements, conditionals, schedules, etc. We require that the keypads are installed and engraved prior to commissioning.

The final touch of the lighting design process is commissioning.

This is where we finetune and ensure that every element of the system is operating at its peak. A lighting designer's keen eye can pick up discrepancies, such as uneven dimming or inconsistency in the lighting system. For example, if a fixture isn’t dimming the same way as the others the problem could be the gauge of the wire, the reversing of polarity, or the fact that lighting fixtures dim at different rates due to the dimming curve programmed into the driver. This is where it’s critical in the technology integrator and lighting designer relationship to have that vendor partner to help — not just when problems arise but at the front end by enabling the programming to be adjusted to achieve a more uniform light level. This meticulous approach

GUEST COLUMN

Photo Credit: InGear for Legrand

ensures that the entire house operates seamlessly, regardless of the room or area. Plus, it has the benefit of saving the integrator numerous hours of labor. Once commissioning is complete, the lighting designer can aim accent and art lighting, and set final light levels.

Collaborating with a lighting designer offers several indispensable advantages. We bring a unique perspective to the project, ensuring that lighting goes beyond merely functional illumination that could be done by anyone. We are meticulous

about details, from fixture selection to control protocols to the commissioning, that serves to streamline the integrator’s job.

We have the experience to pinpoint issues when they appear.

Our goal is to create a lighting design that is both aesthetically pleasing and technically flawless. As our industry continues to evolve, so does the value of the lighting designer’s unique role in delivering a transformative experience for our clients.

It’s critical as we all take our next step forward, we do so collectively — technology integrators, lighting designers, and lighting fixture and lighting control manufacturers. ■

Matthew Tirschwell is the founder of Tirschwell & Co., Inc. Founded in 1999, the architectural lighting design firm has completed significant commissions in all areas of lighting design: public and private, opulent and minimal, grand and intimate. Operating out of New York City and Los Angeles, Tirschwell’s mission is to design evocatively lit spaces that blend with architecture, meet design and financial criteria, and perform for many years into the future. Learn more at t-ld.com.

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RESIDENTIAL

Light Can Help Us #3:

Knowing More and Feeling Better

By DAVID K. WARFEL

How we talk about light can make the difference between a client willing to invest and a client reluctant to take our advice.

It is all too easy for me to soothe a team member, upset after a meeting with a difficult client, with attempted humor: “Lighting design would be a lot easier without all these clients.” If our clients would trust us to make the decisions, provide us with an unlimited supply of cash, and stay out of the design process, we could achieve extraordinary results, every time. But instead, our clients push back, make cuts, fight the expense, and ask for more proof in the way of cost estimates, fixture options, calculations, and more, all while demanding we keep our fees in check. Lighting design for the residential market is easy; convincing clients to let us do our job is the real challenge.

There was a time when I was convinced that the ends justified the means. If I was a jerk, used scare tactics, or overwhelmed resistance with technical jargon, I could consider it a job well done, so long as the results were beautiful. This works to a 52

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point, but if the process is painful for our clients, then we have detracted from the experience even after the beautiful results are revealed. If we change our approach, I believe we can achieve extraordinary success while ensuring a better process for our clients along the way. Changing our approach can be as simple as changing our words.

In the first articles of this series, I explored the general concept of lighting terminology and proposed that we seek our own languages of light that communicate beyond “what” into the more powerful realm of “why.” I dug into beneficial darkness, the foundation upon which good light is built. I then looked at how light for our hands can help us see what we are doing so we can do it better.

Light, the first gift of the universe, can also help us know more and feel better. What client does not desire these?

RESIDENTIAL

KNOW MORE

Light for our feet can also help allay some of our fears, like the fear of stepping on a bug, tripping on a log or stepping into a hole. We may not intellectually fear falling into a hole inside our homes – this is more often a reality outdoors than in – but our primal brain will still be nervous and alert if the floor is difficult to see. We are afraid of the dark for other reasons, of course, like the inability to see something lurking overhead (every scary movie has us yelling at the screen, “Look up! It’s up there!”) or the ability to see who is coming towards us in the darkness (is that a monster, or my cousin?). Light for our fears, then, goes beyond our feet to provide light ahead and above us. Perhaps this kind of light is similar to (or even achieved by) ambient light, but the point is that our clients are more likely to understand the need for light for their feet and fears than they are some obscure, borrowed term like “ambient.”

I love tinkering with our lighting design process, constantly trying new things and incorporating refinements from proposal through delivery. I try to improve our pitch decks, our meeting agendas, our presentation graphics, our deliverables, and more.

I enjoy every aspect of this work, from analyzing cost data to tweaking graphic designs to clarifying drafting notations, and language or wordsmithing is no exception. In fact, it might be the area of improvement with the biggest impact on our company. “No one talks about light the way you do” is a frequent response from new contacts, and we take that as very high praise indeed. Our language of light is focused on how light can help us live better lives. There is nothing sacred about the language of light I share here; I simply want to encourage you to think beyond task, ambient, accent, average illuminance levels and ceiling uniformity ratios when talking to a client.

Light for our feet, fears, faces, and places can help us know where we are, where we are going, and who we are with. In short, light can help us know more, and this constitutes our third so-called promise of light.

Light can calm our fears when used in the right places.

Light for our feet is most comfortable and least disruptive to our sleep when it comes from below our waistlines.

Light for our feet is taken for granted in nearly every residential application except on garden paths. Indoors, we expect light to hit the floor so we can see where we are going, but rarely do builders and homeowners consider lighting that delivers light for our feet without also flooding an entire room with light. This may be fine in daytime settings, but our homes are occupied more hours after dark than during the day. Why not consider light for our feet indoors just like a garden path outdoors?

There are plenty of reasons to have light for our feet: when our children were younger there were plenty of sharp plastic items on the floor to avoid. LEGO bricks conveniently come in nearly every color, so at least one is bound to blend in with the floor until you find it with bare feet. There are also plenty of reasons to keep light out of our eyes after sunset, so light for our feet is best when it comes from below our waistline and is directed away from our eyes and towards the floor.

Light for our faces and our places can help us know where we are and who is with us.

Light for faces also helps us know more, specifically who we are with and what they are thinking or feeling. This can tie into light for our fears, like meeting someone in a dark alley, and not knowing until it is too late if they are who we think they are. But light for faces is also more than simply light for our fears; we communicate with each other, we understand each other, we connect to each other through non-verbal visual communication as much as we do with words. When we can see the emotions on the faces of our companions, we can know if they mean us designing lighting

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harm (fear) or if they are feeling any other emotion such as being happy to see us, sad about something else, scared of us, or more.

Light for places helps us know where we are and where we are going, and this is critical outside at night. We can approach the well-lit front of a store with comfort even when the sidewalk is a bit dim because we can see where we are going. We can feel relaxed in a large hotel lobby if we can see a bit of the entire

FEEL BETTER We have witnessed some pretty big changes in the lighting industry over the last few decades. When I began my career, the future of lighting appeared to be T5s, compact fluorescent downlights, and fiber optics. Today, we use entirely different technologies to deliver light more efficiently and creatively than ever before. We have seen even bigger changes in our scientific understanding of light and its impact on human wellbeing. In the late 1990s, I was concerned with painting a pretty picture, meeting recommended illuminance levels, and encouraging clients to consider energy-saving technologies. Sleep patterns were not part of my dialogue.

space; it is much harder to relax when the room tapers into total darkness.

Light for our feet, fears, faces, and places can help us know more. Try asking a client in your next meeting, “Would you consider ambient light to be important?” Then ask, “Would you like to be able to better read the emotions of your companions during after-dinner conversation?” The light may be the same; it is the words that drive the change.

How do we simplify the science so that an average client, who may devote a total of a mere twenty minutes to the subject over their entire lives, can make an informed decision? Here are a few possibilities, each of which is based in a shared common experience that clients already understand.

Today, we know that light and darkness, when used in the proper amounts at the proper times, can help us feel more rested in the morning, more alert in the afternoon, more relaxed in the evening. We know that light and darkness can help us sleep better, score higher on tests, and even heal faster.

The industry’s research leaders are showing us new ways to think about light, and we are learning new acronyms like SCN and IPRGCs and new terms like social jet lag. It can be a bit overwhelming, but it is very exciting.

How can we talk to our clients about the benefits of light without diving into terms like “circadian” or “correlated color temperature?” Does a homeowner really need to learn to speak in degrees Kelvin? How can we talk to our clients about the benefits of light without getting technical?

Light for our bodies can help us feel better. This simple statement is based on the idea that light can help us live better lives but includes the type of light (for our bodies) and the intended result, the emotional and practical justification (to feel better). Ask a client if they are interested in circadian lighting and you will get an occasional “yes.” Ask a client if they are interested in feeling their best, and you will hear yes far more often.

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Our bodies do not respond well to sudden changes in light, which makes convincing our children to go to sleep more difficult than it need be.

Talk about bedtimes. When we were raising our children, my wife and I enjoyed decent lighting but knew absolutely nothing about light’s impact on our children’s sleep. Like most parents, we had the lights on throughout the evening for dinner, reading, games, and brushing teeth. Then we turned them off, plunged the nursery into darkness, and were surprised when the children did not feel comfortable or instantly fall asleep.

When we compare this to the alternative – gradually preparing children and ourselves for rest over the course of several hours

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through gradually changing light – it is easy to see that light could be a part of a more successful bedtime routine.

Talk about nutrition. Many of our clients have a basic understanding of food and nutrition; they know that eating Twinkies and french fries for every meal will leave them in poor health. Simply equating light to nutrition can be an easier way to discuss the value of light without getting too technical. For example, preparing a simple chart with nutrition over the course of a week in both fruits and light can quickly make the point that a fixed diet of 3000K white light is equivalent to malnutrition.

You could use fear to motivate them: “Would you like to avoid malnutrition in light?” Or you could flip it to the positive: “We can recommend lighting that will provide a more complete nutritional profile for your family.” Either way, it is easier to understand than CCT and circadian and SCN. Talk about daylight. I think one of the mistakes we made as an industry was marketing warm-dimming LEDs as “incandescentlike.” Yes, that was a solid appeal to nostalgia and recognition that fixed-white LEDs were somehow less desirable, but it missed the point. Warm-dimming LEDs are only incandescent-like because incandescent bulbs mimicked sunset. Some people like incandescent bulbs; nearly everyone likes a good sunset.

Talking about daylight (and nighttime) will get better results from your clients, but it does not stop there. Daylight – and the cycle of light and dark we experience in nature every day – is universal and universally desired. You could tell your clients that tunable white light that shifts from 2200K to 6000K over the

course of six hours and then back again with a relative shift in intensity will trigger reactions in your IPRGCs and then your SCN, resulting in increased melatonin production, but you could also just say, “We feel more relaxed when we watch a sunset around a campfire, and we can deliver some of that same experience every night.” We have tried both, and you can guess which approach yields happier clients and better lighting.

LIGHT CAN HELP US Light can help us live our best lives, but we need to know why and how. Light for our feet, fears, faces, and places can help us know where we are going and who we are with. Light for our bodies can help us feel more alert in the morning and more relaxed in the evening. Combined with beneficial darkness and light for our hands that helps us do better, these promises of light can replace task, ambient, and acronyms that befuddle residential clients with more accessible terms that excite them.

When one of our clients chooses fixed white light from tidy grids of recessed downlights for their home, it is easy to blame them for making poor choices. Real change comes, however, when we change the words we use when we talk about light.

Try changing your language of light with clients. The results may astound you.

Stay tuned for the next article in David’s Light Can Help Us series to learn more about how light can help us focus clearly and adapt to changes easily. ■

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Networked Lighting Controls Offer

Deep Well of Energy Savings

By CRAIG DILOUIE, LC, CLCP

Craig DiLouie, LC, CLCP serves as education director for the Lighting Controls Association (www.LightingControlsAssociation.org), a council of NEMA dedicated to educating the public about lighting controls.

As first-generation LED lighting systems begin to be replaced, a significant opportunity to maximize energy savings by incorporating networked lighting controls is emerging, particularly when HVAC integration is included.

Networked lighting controls have been demonstrated in research to reduce LED energy consumption by 50+ percent. By integrating HVAC control via lighting systembased occupancy sensors, total commercial building energy consumption can be reduced by up to 5-10 percent.

Applying these energy savings to Arizona and Connecticut as regional models, Arizona would realize net benefits of $217 million by 2030 and Connecticut would realize net benefits of $1.2 billion.

These are major findings of “Economic Potential of Networked Lighting Controls in Commercial Buildings,” a 2023 study conducted by the DesignLights Consortium (DLC), a consortium of utilities and energy efficiency organizations. The study was undertaken to evaluate networked lighting controls from a utility point of view so as to properly consider them for energy efficiency programs.

Energy efficiency programs are looking for cost-effective sources of energy savings. As energy efficiency programs begin to see saturation of LED lighting, they are evaluating the future feasibility of lighting, traditionally a deep well for energy savings. The DLC undertook the study to evaluate the energy savings opportunity for including networked lighting controls.

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The results demonstrate that significant energy savings are achievable, but widespread adoption will require strong support from energy efficiency programs.

In review, networked lighting controls are control systems in which devices are networked for the implementation of multiple lighting control strategies. These devices may be embedded in luminaires at the factory or field installed. Networking connections may be wired or wireless. Programming and control zoning are software based, while data collection provides the potential for nonenergy benefits related to occupant comfort, wellbeing, and security.

Integration with HVAC operation can occur at various levels of the building management system. Generally, the higher the level of integration, the greater the energy savings, system sophistication, and end-user expertise needed to control both the lighting and HVAC systems.

At the sensor level, a lighting system-based occupancy sensor could feature two outputs, one for the lighting circuit and one for an HVAC relay contact. At the field controller level, programmable controllers can be deployed. At the server level, the lighting and HVAC systems integrate via software and, if they are not designed based on the same protocol, an interface module is deployed.

The DLC study modeled benefits for Arizona and Connecticut. Conducted by NV5, the DLC study model used these states as fair representatives for their respective regions, the Northeast and Southwest. The building stock in these states was profiled using National Renewable Energy Laboratory

GET CONTROL!

ComStock and Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey data.

The commercial building population was split into small and larger buildings, with different applicability for lighting controls. NV5 estimated that room-level lighting controls would be installed in small buildings (<25,000 sq.ft.). For larger buildings, the study assumed the installation of comprehensive networked lighting control systems for the purpose of evaluating potential energy savings. NV5 further estimated that 60 percent of large (>50,000 sq.ft.) buildings use a building automation system to control heating and cooling.

NV5 made assumptions regarding HVAC energy savings, active demand response (ADR), and plug load control. For large buildings using a building automation system to control heating and cooling, a 30 percent reduction in HVAC energy consumption achievable via integration with networked lighting systems was assumed, based on recent studies by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Another assumption was that non-critical loads could be reduced by up to 40 percent during peak power demand periods, provided the installed lighting controls (passive demand response) weren’t already reducing power beyond that level.

Finally, plug load control via networked lighting controls was evaluated for larger buildings but was found to not be costeffective for energy efficiency programs to incentivize in most applications.

The DLC established two scenarios, one in which LED luminaires are installed paired with networked lighting controls, and the other in which LED luminaires are installed ready to accommodate future addition of networked controls. The study assessed the energy efficiency potential of these scenarios compared to standard LED luminaires, additional energy efficiency gained via HVAC integration, and demand reduction potential gained via using networked controls for ADR. Networked lighting controls can produce significant energy savings. Networked lighting controls proved cost-effective particularly when integrated with HVAC systems. In the most optimistic scenario, Arizona’s commercial buildings would reduce total building energy consumption by 5 percent, resulting in net benefits of $217 million through 2030, and Connecticut’s by 10 percent, resulting in net benefits of $1.2 billion. Both states would also reduce peak demand and natural gas consumption by marginal percentages.

Networked lighting controls are well-suited for the next step in the evolution of energy efficiency incentives. LED has largely displaced traditional lighting systems in commercial buildings, particularly in regions

of the country with high energy costs.

Building owners are now beginning to replace first-generation LED systems, creating a fresh opportunity to incorporate lighting controls that if missed, could result in this opportunity being lost for a considerable amount of time.

Energy efficiency program administrators need to deliver energy savings and are evaluating lighting, once considered the lowhanging fruit, as a category. The country as a whole is entering an era of decarbonization and electrification with increasing potential costs and risks for relatively energy-inefficient buildings. All these stars appear to be aligning toward support the widespread adoption of networked lighting controls.

A growing number of rebate programs do support networked lighting controls, producing some valuable lessons learned.

Unfortunately, the prescriptive approach to rebates is not conducive to integration with other building systems, according to the DLC, despite the study concluding that incentives for networked lighting controls are good investments for energy efficiency programs, particularly when integrated with HVAC. NV5 calculated a Utility Cost Test Benefit/ Cost Ratio of 3:1 to 6:1 for networked lighting controls integrated with HVAC, indicative of a high value.

“To achieve maximum, long-term energy savings, programs need to shift the paradigms that incentivize first-year savings and short-term goals,” the study’s authors stated. “Supporting NLC systems and integrations effectively will also require custom and turnkey incentive programs coupled with technical assistance and trade ally and customer education.”

Regulators and energy efficiency programs should take action. The DLC study recommended that energy efficiency programs should only offer rebates and other incentives for luminaires that include networked controls or are controls-ready.

These programs should revise existing metrics and think longer-term to maximize energy savings. Funds should incentivize networked lighting control-HVAC integration and design programs that support this integration.

“This study demonstrated the economic wisdom and substantial demand reduction benefits of adding NLCs to planned and future LED lighting upgrades, especially the value of pairing networked LED lighting with HVAC systems,” the DLC concluded in its summary of the full report. “Inherent in these findings is the imprudence of installing new LEDs today that don’t either include NLCs or are equipped for the addition of future controls.”

Click here to download “Future-Proofing Energy Efficiency with Networked Lighting Controls,” a summary of the DLC report published in August 2023. ■ designing lighting

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CIRCULAR LIGHTING

Photo credit: Lightly

5 SIMPLE STEPS TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE LIGHTING Sustainability in lighting - a broad, sometimes confusing topic, that can be looked at in many ways. Circular lighting economy, material ingredient reporting (MIRs), environmental product declarations (EPDs), life cycle analyses (LCAs), factory working conditions, carbon counting, recycling/buyback programs, and more – are all different lenses of sustainability in lighting.

There’s a lot of buzz and it can seem overwhelming, but getting started is easy! Here are five practical actions you can take – today! – to move towards designing more sustainably.

1.

itself does not inherently contain these hazardous substances, so luminaires can very feasibly be RoHS compliant – and many already are.

How to do it: In design: •

Require all lighting products you specify to be made with RoHS-compliant components.

• •

Why? RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) is a directive that restricts substances that are known to be harmful to the environment and human health in manufacturing.

When electronic products containing these hazardous materials are disposed of improperly or end up in landfills, there is a risk of them leaching into soil and water, posing environmental hazards. The manufacturing and disposal processes of electronic devices can also expose workers and communities to health risks associated with these substances. While RoHS originated in the EU (all applicable products must be compliant since 2001), its influence has extended globally, and many manufacturers worldwide adhere to RoHS standards to ensure market access and address growing environmental concerns. LED technology

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By SARA SCHONOUR, LC, MIES

Design around RoHS-compliant products, seeking the "RoHS Compliant" stamp or the CE mark on product cutsheets.

Clearly state "RoHS compliance required" on the luminaire schedule/notes for all products.

If suggested products fall short of compliance, request the product manufacturer’s local agent to convey the criteria to the manufacturer and encourage RoHS compliance.

In Bidding/Construction Administration: • During submittal reviews, verify the presence of the "RoHS Compliant" stamp or the CE mark on product cutsheets.

2.

Reach out to Your Reps

Why? A great manufacturer’s rep can be a valuable resource, and being clear with them about your goals can supercharge their effectiveness for you and your team.

CIRCULAR LIGHTING How to do it: Consider sending an email like the one below (feel free to borrow this text!) or having a chat with them covering similar points: Hi [Rep’s Name], At [Your Firm], we prioritize sustainability and are seeking your assistance in identifying manufacturers who share this commitment. Considering the broad nature of sustainability, we are specifically interested in prioritizing products that meet the following criteria: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

It has a Declare label, Health Product Declaration (HPD), LPC, or similar designation detailing material ingredients and human health impacts.

It has an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), LPC, or equivalent documentation outlining embodied carbon.

It is Zhaga-D4i-certified or is comprised of Zhagacertified components, or has field-replaceable/ upgradable critical parts (LED light engines/ modules, drivers, and connectivity/fit systems, etc.) documented for future availability.

Is PVC-free, including all wiring Supports a circular economy via a Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) or similar certification Manufacturer demonstrates a dedicated working plan to reduce carbon, waste, and pollution, with public information available via the website or confirmation of commitment from the CEO on company letterhead.

Offers an associated recycling/re-use/buy-back program.

Manufactured by a company certified as a B-Corp/ JUST certified or similar designation.

We’re eager to discover products that align with these criteria. Please share this information with your manufacturing partners.

Thanks!

(Your Name)

•

•

4.

Encourage circular thinking and explore sustainable alternatives by engaging with reps or using search tools like LightAZ, which filters for certifications like RoHS and Declare.

Manage your collection over time using digital tools like Sourcery. This cloud-based platform allows collaboration with manufacturers and agents to keep your library current.

Set An Achievable Goal Based On Your Project Size

Why? While every project offers sustainability opportunities, implementing a comprehensive sustainable lighting agenda might not be equally practical for each. Aiming for achievable, scalable project goals by focusing on common fixture types leverages economies of scale and strengthens bargaining/ purchasing power.

How to do it: • •

Establish targets for products with Material Ingredient Reporting (MIR), such as HPDs or Declare Labels.

Tailor sustainable criteria based on project size, as exemplified by the LAL toolkit v2's sample targets.

Goals by Project Size: Small (<70K SF): Top quantity fixture to have HPD or Declare Label Medium (70-200K SF): Top 1-3 quantity fixtures to have HPDs or Declare Labels Large (200+K SF): Top 1-5 quantity fixtures to have HPDs or Declare Labels

5.

Talk about the topic!

Why: Creating a signal for change takes a little noise, and manufacturers need to hear from the market (that’s us!) about our preferences. The clearer and louder the “ask”, the better! We have lots of tools at our disposal to help communicate the kinds of lighting tools we want to use in our practices.

How to do it: •

•

3.

Build Out Your Sustainable Lighting Toolbox

Why: Staying updated on sustainable products is challenging.

Save time and energy by creating a library database of your sustainable favorites once you discover them.

How to do it: •

Review your go-to products for sustainability criteria (refer to the example rep letter above).

•

Educate yourself! If any of the terms or designations in the info above are new to you, do a little research. The Lighting Advocacy Letter’s Toolkit and webinars hosted on Mindful Materials’ website are a great place to start!

Ask questions! Start the conversation with your local reps or your favorite manufacturers and ask about sustainability goals and product roadmaps. At your next tradeshow, ask your reps to give you a tour of their most sustainable lines, or attend one of the many educational seminars trending on the topic.

Share your knowledge! If you’re part of a team, bring your group up to speed, and when opportunities arise, let your other design partners and clients know about the ways lighting can support their broader sustainability goals. Post great resources on social media, follow manufacturers and designers leading the charge, and engage in the alwaysongoing dialogue.

Moving the needle is easier than you think. By making informed choices and advocating for change, designers can contribute to a healthier, more sustainable future for lighting. ■ designing lighting

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Theatrical Lighting Design in the 21st Century A Critique Of The Acting Area Theory Of Lighting Design

By DELBERT UNRUH Illustrations by Mark Reaney

The acting area theory of stage lighting was invented by Stanley McCandless in 1938 – 1938! He was then teaching lighting at Yale University. The theory was disseminated by his book, A Method Of Lighting The Stage, which is still available in print today. However, in 2023, the book and theory are now out of date.

A BRIEF HISTORY Louis Hartman, David Belasco’s electrician, invented the plano-convex spotlight in 1879. It was the first spotlight in the American theatre, and it came in 250 watt and later in 400 and 1000-2000 watt versions. The small diameter Fresnel spotlight became popular when the large diameter Fresnel lens, originally invented for lighthouses, became available for stage lighting purposes. Small Fresnels first came in 400 watt, 6” lens versions, with larger wattages and diameters coming later. Even larger units now exist for TV and motion pictures.

By at least 1930, electricity had replaced all other forms of power in theaters in the US except Broadway, which held onto its ancient DC current supply.

Theodore Fuchs published his book, Stage Lighting, in 1929.

The ellipsoidal reflector was developed in Germany, first demonstrated in the US by Kliegl Brothers and first introduced into the theatre as the Leko by Century Lighting in 1933.

In 1938, Stanley McCandless published his book, A Method Of

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Lighting The Stage. The work of Fuchs and McCandless, and others, resulted in the birth of the “Acting Area Method” of stage lighting.

The method was invented as a way of getting maximum results from minimum materials, and minimum materials were all that were available in 1938.

THEATRICAL STAGE LIGHTING The first function of stage lighting is visibility. If you can’t see the performer, whatever else you are doing doesn’t make any difference. Here is a simple test: Give a person one light, a simple spotlight, and tell that person to light a performer

What is the distinguishing feature of the light that is produced by the sun? Its direction. In normal exterior environments that are lit by the sun, we do not cast two shadows, and one side of our body is warm while

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The historic acting area method of stage lighting invented by McCandless in 1938 is out-of-date! It should

We live in a world that is most often illuminated by a single source – the sun. Stage lighting design often seen in the playhouses of America is usually attempting to imitate the effect of sunlight in its various forms and situations.

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Give that person a second spotlight and tell him or her to now use both to light the performer. The correct answer is for them to put the second instrument directly to the side of the performer at 45 to 90o. If the person re-positions the two lights into a front position, and creates the now familiar 45o cross-spotted acting area, all is lost!

not be used any longer, although it is almost always taught in school, from high school through university.

It is artificial, unnatural, and it cannot be achieved in a typical proscenium theatre.

L I G H T I N G standing stage center. Inevitably, the person will put the lighting instrument on the center line, pointed directly at the performer.

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the other side is cool. This condition, however, is demonstrated as the truth in the classic acting area system. It takes two instruments separated by 90 degrees to make this happen. In order to take our discussion to the next level, a brief history of the of stage lighting in 1938 is necessary.

What would the environment and equipment be in the typical American theatre – say, on Broadway – for stage lighting in 1938? First, there is a conventional lobby, box office and audience area opening from a public street. The auditorium has two side aisles and two aisles far right and left, with conventional seating of up to 1000 seats on a slightly sloped floor and continuing in one or two balconies. Side seating boxes line the auditorium walls from the proscenium arch to the first balcony. At the rear of the auditorium, there is usually a booth for followspots and perhaps a motion picture projector.

The first and second balcony faces would have three to six planoconvex spotlights mounted on them, pointed at the stage. The stage’s front edge would have a full stage footlight pit recessed into it, with at least three color circuits with general service lamps

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with spherical reflectors behind and perhaps a low small pipe or chain rail immediately upstage of it.

Immediately upstage of the proscenium arch and the act curtain there would have been a full stage three-circuit border light unit with primary red, green, and blue glass roundels and 500 watt general service lamps. This kind of unit would be repeated at approximately 8-foot intervals above the stage.

Directly below the first border light and right or left would be a resistance dimmer board, with an electrical patch panel built into it. Broadway houses may also have had additional portable “piano boards” with resistance dimmers supplied by lighting supply companies for a particular production, along with any number of full-stage 1.5-inch steel pipe battens for canvas drops. The last borderlight unit may have had 1000 watt general service lamps in it to light a canvas sky drop. The stage floor would have two to four circuits each in multiple pockets cut into the floor and covered with metal lids. That was about it.

Incidentally, Stanley McCandless actually designed a Broadway show during this time. The Internet Broadway Database shows

This was the best McCandless had in 1944. It is unclear as to whether the theatre that McCandless used for the first illustration of his acting area method book actually had a ceiling port. Nevertheless, he drew out his new theory, assuming such a port existed. Let’s examine what he actually did.

Typical lighting in the 1938 theatre in America was

Now let’s examine, briefly, the most positive result of the McCandless method – it brought to stage lighting, for the first time ever, a sense of the third dimension. Stage lighting was changed! Artfully placed shadows were not possible in the lighting solely from borderlights and footlights. This fact alone would lead in many later years to the revolution of the “New Stagecraft” in Europe and America, and it made the dimensional construction of stage scenery logical.

It was the beginning of a new way of seeing in the theatre. But, that would take a long time to accomplish.

When I arrived in Evanston, Illinois, in the fall of 1966 to begin graduate study in theatre at Northwestern University, the stage floor in Annie May Swift Hall had the downstage and midstage acting areas – all six of them – painted in Roman numerals on the floor in

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that, in 1944, he designed the lighting for an operetta, Rhapsody, that opened in the New Century Theatre in NYC on November 22, 1944. It closed ten days later.

Sets were by Oliver Smith, and costumes were by Frank Bevan. This theatre, like all Broadway theaters of the time, did not have a ceiling lighting port, which made McCandless’s job very difficult. His new acting area theory was impossible to implement correctly.

The second balcony position, if this theatre had one, was the best McCandless could use. This theatre, incidentally, was also noted for its horrible acoustics and was demolished in 1962.

Readers of McCandless’s first book may also notice that complementary tints are not suggested as appropriate colors for the two cross-focused acting area lights. That idea was an unfortunate invention by later designers. Complementary lighting tints could be mixed on the actor’s face, and while it did result in a very crude approximation of white light, it was too harsh for an audience member to believe.

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Jean Rosenthal, a United Scenic Artist Union lighting designer on Broadway in the mid-century, was most influential in the introduction of side lighting, which she transferred to Broadway from her work with the Martha Graham Dance Company. The introduction of new side lighting ideas into the normal Broadway fare made her the most popular Broadway lighting designer of the period. These ideas are the foundation of her first important book on lighting design – The Magic of Light.

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Later on, other designers suggested a warm and a cool color for the two plano-convex instruments that were used to cross-focus for each area. It was then possible to crudely approximate daylight and evening light by dimming one set of lights against the other. This made the new system even more popular. Readers of the first edition of his book will notice that side lighting, back lighting, and top lighting are not mentioned. They were probably not in the commonly held lighting vocabulary of lighting designers (of which there were very few at the time).

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What McCandless proposed with his new acting area division was revolutionary! Each acting area on the stage, six in the first version – three downstage and three midstage areas – could be controlled separately.

It was new! But, the new theory was deeply flawed because each acting area was lit by two separate instruments separated by 90o. Nevertheless, it became instantaneously popular, and it is said that the stagehands union gave McCandless an award for his idea.

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from footlights and border lights. It was uniform, with simple color variations, bright and flat. There was no dimension. It was the perfect light for the two dimensional painted scenery that was hanging from the battens over the stage. If emphasis was needed, a carbon arc followspot would provide it. Separate control of stage areas was not possible or even thought to be desirable.

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Today, front lighting, or acting area lighting, should be done directly, in a straight ahead, parallel-to-the-centerline fashion, with ellipsoidal spotlights from the ceiling port or the first beam to light the three downstage areas. The midstage areas are lit from the first electric in the same manner. The lighting of the acting areas in this “straight ahead” manner creates simple and strong advantages.

First, and most important, the shadow from these lights falls directly behind the performer and thus cannot normally be seen by the majority of the audience. Most audience members likely assume that the light must be

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Ellipsoidal spotlights, the kind that are used for direct front light, have a beam angle and a field angle. The beam angle is where the light falls off by 50%. The field angle is where the light falls off by 90%. Direct front light beams, especially from the ceiling port, and the 1st electric need to overlap by 50% so that the beam angles touch and there are no dark spots. The average acting area is 12 to 15 feet wide and overlaps its neighbors by 50% – the beam angles touch.

The old acting area cross–spotted method (the McCandless method), when the right and the left unit are sometimes on the same circuit – always a bad idea – makes the blending of acting areas near impossible because of the light pattern that results from such an arrangement. For reasons lost to history, every lighting designer, when laying out a theatrical lighting plot, has either drawn an ellipse on its side or a circle to define a

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This position of the direct front light is logically arranged into numbered areas across the stage from stage left to right – the way humans read. These rows always end in odd numbers. This allows for a center stage area, which is always important in the theatre. It also allows the areas to easily overlap by 50%, so there are no dark spots.

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But, just as no one drives a 1966 car today, lighting instruments and lighting theory have progressed in the years following. Fuchs, McCandless, and Ball did the best they could with what they had at the time, but that was decades ago. Times have changed, and we are indebted to many known and unknown designers and electricians who have improved on those initial ideas.

Second, this position for the front light makes a shadow cast by a sidelight more pronounced and dominant.

Each acting area front light must have two sidelights – one left and one right. And they must be independently circuited, as they are essential to the working of this new position for the front light. Ultimately, in a real production, the DS 3 acting areas must be sidelit.

That means a total of six lighting units devoted to side lighting the DS 3 acting areas, and only from one side.

L I G H T I N G

Sam Ball, the newly hired stage designer at Northwestern, had replaced the plano-convex spotlights in the first beam of the so-called theatre with new Altman Ellipsoidal Spotlights. He had also replaced the old resistance dimmer board with a new Ward Leonard 2-scene SCR system, which was remarkable for the time.

coming from the performer. This is a very powerful and useful illusion!

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reflective paint. They were holy writ, and Theodore Fuchs, former lighting designer, was in his office downstairs. It was his adaptation of McCandless’s method. The “stage” in Annie May Swift Hall was just an adaption by Fuchs of a large and very limited classroom space.

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lighted acting area in the “Method” system. But, reality shows what the area lighted actually looks like. That reality also shows why dark spots are inevitable in the McCandless acting area method.

Anyone who has set up the acting area method knows this to be true, and fixing this flaw in the system has been accomplished in the past by hanging a three or four color strip light over the acting areas and using its diffused light to blend the acting areas together. “Blending lighting” is one of the kinds of lighting called for in all descriptions of the traditional acting area method. The most frequently used way of widening the beam of the two cross-focused acting area lights was using Fresnel spots. They were frequently used in the ceiling port and 1st electric and running them at near flood focus would widen the beam. This explains why the large theatre where I worked in the ’60s and ’70s had 8” Fresnel spots in the ceiling port position—a most unfortunate solution—because the whole proscenium arch was always lighted, and its shadow was visible on any background.

Further, seemingly unknown, or ignored by all, the typical architectural layout of the proscenium arch and the house ceiling port was almost always compromised. Consider this: The focus point of the down center area is located on the centerline, 5’-0” from the front edge of the stage. A 45o angle intersecting a point 5’-6” high and 5’-0” from the edge of the stage floor

shows the ceiling port to be approximately 35’-0” above the stage floor, at a 45o angle. By extending the math we find that the length of the ceiling port should be, at a minimum, 160’-0” long in order to make true 45o cross-spotting remotely possible.

This dimension of the length of the ceiling port is almost never achieved.

As a result, the correct method angle for the three downstage acting areas lights left and right is never achieved. They are always crowded together at the right and left ends of the ceiling port, making true 45o lighting impossible.

Further, seemingly no one has ever asked why two crossfocused lights – one warm, one cool – are necessary for a single acting area. The only reason seems to be that having warm light from one side and cool light from the opposite side made it possible to create a crude approximation of daylight and evening light on the stage by dimming one set of lights against the other. The much later introduction of side lighting creates a more successful and flattering method of doing this.

The absence of a side lighting system, in favor of the McCandless acting area system of lighting creates a non– dramatic scene. The new arrangement of the front light solves this problem. ■

STILL SHINING! In Memoriam: designing lighting (dl)’s salute to great lighting talent, now departed.

Claude R. Engle III March 30, 1938 – December 3, 2023 A world-renowned lighting designer, Claude Engle was a visionary whose career spanned over 50 years. In 1963, Claude played a crucial role in establishing the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) along with nine other lighting designers. Claude's impressive portfolio includes lighting designs for iconic structures such as the Sears Tower, the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center, and the Freedom Tower (now known as One World Trade Center). He also designed lighting for several memorials, including the Vietnam, Korean, and Japanese American Memorials, as well as for renowned cultural institutions like the Louvre in Paris, the Reichstag in Berlin, and the British Museum in London.

His legacy will continue to inspire many lighting designers and professionals across the globe for generations to come.

Photo courtesy of Claude R. Engle III Estate and IALD.lighting designing

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Light Middle East Awards

NLB Tesla Awards™

FINAL SUBMITTAL DATE Closed

FINAL SUBMITTAL DATE 22 January 2024

ANNOUNCEMENT DATE EST 18 January 2024

ANNOUNCEMENT DATE 14 March 2024

AOLP Lighting Awards 2024

IES Illumination Awards

FINAL SUBMITTAL DATE Closed

FINAL SUBMITTAL DATE* 23 February 2024

AWARD PRESENTATION EST March 2024

AWARD PRESENTATION EST 15 or 16 August 2024 2024 Submissions Open January 4, 2024

The IALD Lighting Design Awards 2024

IESNYC Lumen Awards 2024

FINAL SUBMITTAL DATE* TBD

FINAL SUBMITTAL DATE 12 January 2024

ANNOUNCEMENT DATE EST September 2024

AWARD PRESENTATION 20 June 2024 Lumen Gala, NYC

*2024 Call for Entries Open December 2023

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BOOK REVIEW

Light! Your Essential Survival Guide

By RANDY REID

In "Light! Your Essential Survival Guide," Dr. Shelley James illuminates the intricate relationship between light and life. With a focus on practicality and accessibility, Dr. James translates complex scientific concepts into actionable advice for the everyday reader. This book is her response to the recurring question she encounters after her talks: "Where can I find out more?"

The structure of the book is deliberately user-friendly, with six chapters that address various aspects of how light influences our well-being.

The first chapter delves into sleep and the body clock, explaining the significance of light in regulating our circadian rhythms.

It includes a discussion on chronotypes—our genetic and environmental sleep preferences—and how understanding them can improve our quality of sleep.

Chapter two tackles mood, exploring how light interacts with the brain's pathways to affect our emotions and mental state.

Dr. James describes how the right lighting can declutter our visual environment, uplift our spirits, and enhance our sense of well-being.

She notes that like our tastes in food, our visual preferences are unique and can be adjusted to improve our mood and emotional health.

Memory is the focus of the third chapter, where Dr. James uses the mnemonic "can do" to encourage a proactive mindset toward learning and remembering. She emphasizes the importance of organizing our spaces with light to create conducive environments for retaining information.

The fourth chapter discusses the eye and brain, detailing the development of our light-sensing systems from infancy through old age. Dr. James delves into how light quality impacts not only eye health but also our cognitive and motor skills.

Lighting technologies make up the fifth chapter, where Dr. James demystifies the inner workings of different light bulbs and their implications for color rendering and dimming. This section is particularly useful for understanding the technicalities of what we're buying and how it affects our environment.

The book concludes with a buying guide, steering

clear of brand endorsements to maintain impartiality.

Instead, Dr. James focuses on educating readers about the various types of lighting— ambient, task, decorative—and what to look for in terms of brightness, color rendering index (CRI), and color temperature.

Control options, technology preferences, and sustainability considerations are also discussed, enabling readers to make informed decisions that suit their specific needs and values.

Dr. James' work is based on a wealth of research, boasting nearly 200 references. She notes that while the scientific underpinnings are robust, her approach in delivering the content is light-touch, ensuring it is digestible for those without a scientific background.

The guide is born out of a personal journey as well. Following a cycling accident that led to a significant head injury, Dr. James' experience with light and recovery infused her work with a deep personal understanding of the subject. Her insights are not merely academic but lived and applied.

Dr. James asserts that the book is meant to be a "secret weapon" for enhancing one’s performance in daily life. It's about small, incremental improvements that are easily integrated into daily routines, resulting in compounding benefits over time.

The practical tips offered are meant to optimize health and productivity—like situating desks near windows or ensuring proper room darkening for sleep—without necessitating drastic lifestyle changes. "Light, Your Essential Survival Guide" fills a niche that, according to Dr. James, had not been adequately addressed in recent literature. She presents it as a firstof-its-kind resource, a pioneering effort rather than a definitive tome, signaling the start of a broader conversation about the role of light in our lives.

The book serves as a tool for cultural change, advocating for a greater awareness of how light affects us and how we can harness its power to lead healthier, more fulfilling lives. Dr. James invites us to consider how we interact with light and encourages us to make small, yet impactful, changes that can illuminate our path to wellbeing. ■

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EVENTS

10-14 JAN 2024

16-18 JAN 2024

22-23 FEB 2024

DALLAS

DUBAI

SAN ANTONIO

26-29 FEB 2024

3-8 MAR 2024

19-20 MAR 2024

*

PHOENIX

FRANKFURT

16-21 APR 2024

21-22 JUN 2024

15-17 AUG 2024

NEW YORK CITY 17-18 SEP 2024

*

MILAN

LONDON

NEW YORK CITY

DALLAS

9 OCT 2024

17-19 OCT 2024

10-11 NOV 2024

4–8 MAY 2025

SAN DIEGO

NEW YORK CITY

LAS VEGAS

*

LONDON

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*dl is alighting proud sponsor and participant of these events. designing

BDNY 2023 Shines in Manhattan

By STAFF WRITER BDNY (Boutique Design New York) continues to attract thousands of key designers, architects, purchasing agents, brand leaders, suppliers, property owners, and other important hospitality industry pros.

A leading trade show/conference for hospitality’s boutique and lifestyle design community, BDNY is held every year in November.

Designers and property owners were challenged on how to incorporate working space into hospitality design.

Many Americans want workspace in the guest room, with some believing that video meetings can create disruptive noise in common areas, whereas the European model puts workspace in common areas. A panel of interior designers acknowledge that 75% of travelers want properties focused on sustainability.

The International Furnishings and Design Association (IFDA) presented the "Best in BDNY Show for Lighting" Award to Schonbek.

“BDNY continues to deliver as the premier venue for the Contract community,” explains Harry Moshos, LS, Director of Business Development for Schonbek, WAC Lighting and Modern Forms. “The show this year felt like it was better attended, our space was certainly busier than years past.

Our strategy this year was to focus on luxury lighting and custom solutions with Schonbek, a 150-year-old brand with a stellar reputation and domestic US manufacturing capabilities,” continued Mr. Moshos.

The stunning 13ft tall Infinity tower showcasing 42,500 Heritage hand cut crystals stole the show with the large diamond shaped baronet adorned with over 4000 hand pinned European Radiance crystals coming in close second place.

Also on display was Schonbek Beyond, a luxurious modern collection of LED powered luminaires and Schonbek Forever, the new designer jewelry inspired lighting collection.

A panel of design leaders with major hotel brands admit to an over-proliferation of brands in the hospitality industry currently.

Experts noted that business travel is coming back with the new trend in business travel being relaxation time on the front end or back end. Lodging Econometrics forecasts that remodel activity in the hospitality sector will be strong into 2025 as brands hold property owners accountable for minimum brand standards.

“BDNY is honored to present state-of-the-art product innovation, of-the-moment talks, and creative solutions throughout the fair,” says Keisha Byrd, Brand Leader, BDNY. “This includes four distinct, experience-driven designed spaces, each featuring a unique narrative. It’s all about sparking ideas and looking at boutique/lifestyle design through a different lens."

A multitude of lighting companies were on display including artful decorative pendants from Arkansas Lighting,

Schonbek Custom INFINITY Column Hubbardton. Forge’s design driven fixtures handcrafted in Vermont, Elegant Lighting, Hudson Valley, and CAL Lighting.

Lusive debuted a dichroic glass finned multi-tiered chandelier while Sonnomon presented modern orb styled pendants with matching sconces.

2nd Ave Lighting received a strong response to its Beckam collection and many other custom lighting fixtures. All are manufactured in Yorkville, New York.

A standout BDNY 2023 has wrapped, and the winners and finalists of this year’s Best of BDNY Product Design and Best Exhibit competitions were awarded on the show floor.

Chosen by two panels of industry experts, product winners and finalists were judged on aesthetic progress, functionality, and innovation; while Best Exhibit honorees earned nods for creativity in design, visual impact, effective and efficient use of materials, and outstanding use of space, color, texture, lighting, and graphics in their display.

In the lighting category, the Winner/Best in Show was PushUp Pro Cordless Lamp from Zafferano America. Finalists included Locket from Studio M Lighting and Murano Bulb from Multiforme. ■ designing lighting

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PEOPLE ON THE MOVE Lam Partners

Oculus Light Studio

Jack Koch started a new position as a Lighting Designer at Lam Partners in their recently established Denver Studio.

Saubhagini Mahajan joined Oculus LightStudio as Designer.

Apeiro Design Samantha Hollomon and her LightWork team have joined Apeiro Design to support its east coast clients.

Xiaoying (Sarah) Wang was promoted to the firm’s first Associate Principal.

Women in Lighting + Design Women in Lighting + Design Announces Charlotte, NC as its New Chapter!

Angela Saladino (Landscape

Forms), Leader

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Sebastien Payannet was promoted to Associate.

Haley Darst (HLB Lighting Design), Liaison

Stephanie Chou was promoted to Senior Designer.

Kate Junio (SESCO Lighting, Inc.), Finance Leader

Leslie Crapster-Pregont was promoted to Senior Designer.

salutes and thanks its advertisers for their support.

We applaud the achievements of lighting practitioners and recognize the importance of their work in architecture and design. page 29

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UP CLOSE WITH GEOFF BOUCKLEY

By SHIRLEY COYLE, LC It was a good gig in his early twenties – based in Toronto, and armed with a Fine Arts degree from York University, Geoff Bouckley was doing the theatrical lighting design for modern dance productions, first locally, then Quebec, then on to Europe (Spain, Portugal and Germany). “Europe has an appetite for arts that supports budgets, where even a small town of 10,000 people will have a fully functional, professional theater that seats 1000 people – and they brought over North American shows.” It was heady, rewarding work in lighting, but eventually, he felt a need for financial stability. During a late-night wander in downtown Toronto many years ago, Geoff looked up at the lighted office towers and thought, “Someone has a job that does that lighting, and probably makes a steady income versus me!”

Casting a net to find out where one gets an architectural lighting design education, Geoff found amazing US-based programs – Parsons and Rensselaer in New York, Penn State, Boulder, Colorado, and even Bismark, Germany. But what about programs in Canada? He eventually found the one Canadian post-secondary lighting design program – in Toronto, at Metropolitan University (then called Ryerson). He enrolled, going to school in the evening to learn architectural lighting, while working during the day at Harbourfront Centre. The limited options for learning architectural lighting design remains a significant challenge that Geoff sees in Canada: “We need more educational opportunities for lighting design.”

Geoff is now based in Calgary, Alberta, with the Rocky Mountains in view and easily accessible. He leads the architectural lighting design studio, lightSPACE, within SMP Engineering, a vibrant electrical consulting engineering firm. He attributes his success to “staying open to opportunities, and not overly defining what I’m capable of…the focus was on lighting design and calculations, but gradually I became as interested in the business of lighting – how projects are attained, the process, the phases of development.”

Taking inspiration from several Eastern Canadian engineering firms, especially in Toronto, that had established a branded lighting design group within their engineering firm, Geoff thought, “Why not? I can make this happen. We were already SMP’s lighting group – we launched lightSPACE, which was not a radical change from the inside at the time. But we’ve been able to make a name in lighting, and we’re fortunate to have the best of both worlds – shared resources, SMP's great internal marketing team, and we support SMP for all their projects. We’re in the infancy as a lighting design studio, just two years, but it’s exciting to hear people use the lightSPACE name!”

Reflecting on current issues facing the lighting community,

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Geoff points to the challenge of communicating the value of a professional lighting design, including the selection of products. “Once we’re on a job, the value of our work is evident. But for a client who has not engaged a lighting designer, I focus on relationship building, showing the client how we bring value by including portfolio examples, showing the differences with more professional, educated thought on lighting design – how it increases the quality level at the end of things. For example, reminding the client they are spending $X amount on granite countertops, so why wouldn’t you spend a little money on the lighting to make them look like the money you spent!” More recently, Geoff has been working to understand the potential of AI – without a catastrophic mindset. “What does AI mean for lighting design? How do we harness it – trying to not get fear-mongered that all lighting designers will be replaced by architects using bots!”

Asked for his advice to new people entering the lighting industry, Geoff offers, “Get involved, that’s my number one piece of advice. Maintaining your education, getting contacts – all that happens through involvement, and IES has the network. If I were to move from Calgary to, say, Austin, Texas, I would join the local Austin IES Section! Also, IALD membership – the recent IALD conference [in November, in Banff, Alberta] was eye-opening – what I expected, wanted and more! It was a great chance to see people, connect, talk with manufacturers – serious, deep value conversation – not just looking at the latest gizmo. And the learning sessions were great! Also, there was the Canadian event – has there ever been such a great gathering of the Canadian lighting community?”

When Geoff is not working on lighting design and developing business for lightSPACE, you will find him taking maximum advantage of the great outdoors. “I really enjoy being out in nature. In my opinion, Calgary might be Canada’s best naturally-connected city… you can get out of the city in about 10 minutes and be in the prairies, or be in the mountains.

In the winter, we are skiing or snowboarding; in the summer, we are hiking, canoeing. And if I’m not out in nature, especially as winter sets in, with my wife’s encouragement, I’m starting to dabble in creative writing.” ■

We are a community of women and allies in the architectural lighting industry, using the power of collected experience and action to drive change. Come be a part of our community!

Participate in national events across North America, as well as local chapter events nationwide

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EdisonReport.tv serves as a hub for all digital content in the lighting industry. A premier source for critical information surrounding lighting, EdisonReport.tv is dedicated to delivering industry news by way of video and serving its audience by spotlighting product launches and up-to-date educational videos, as well as information about upcoming webinars.

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Inter-lux | LineaLight Dwave

Amerlux’s Commitment to Best-In-Class US-Made Lighting Design Solutions

Bruce Munro at Cheekwood in Nashville

Jill Cody on the IALD Education Trust Fund

Andrea Hartranft on the Firm’s Acquisition of Gilmore Lighting

Ulrike Brandi on Her New book, Light Nature Architecture

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