Topic: Using Your Head to Light From Your Heart

We are all engaged in creating a fairly narrow part of our built environments, and it is turning out to have a much greater effect on us than anyone who made the first light fixtures ever expected. Neurological research is showing us so many important responses to light. While this is expanding, the effectiveness and fun we could have with unlimited use of electricity to accomplish healthy and exciting lighting has been drastically curtailed by sustainability goals and thus the need for cutbacks on energy consumption. The challenge for us is to still give our clients truly great outcomes. Lower energy allowances have a positive side: paring down the ideas for a project lets the very best of them be stronger and work for the aesthetic of the project. This forced editing can actually be a strong driver of clarity in design. Like all fields of design, lighting requires artistic vision applied to solving problems. Both the functional problems and tools for solving them are changing. What remains timeless are projects that function as needed and go far beyond, evoking emotion, promoting health, and delighting us. Successful lighting designers achieve these results because they see what the project can be regardless of the materials or energy allowed.