Light
Light is timeless. Its physical properties remain the same. Its qualities hold firm and true. And we can guarantee that in the next 25 years, light will still hold the same magical and illusory powers as it does today. It will still be able to elevate the experience of a street, a building, a room, or an event from the ordinary to the extraordinary. It will continue to create calm or chaos, order or disorder, beauty or ugliness. However we might respond to social and technological change, we will still keep coming back to light. Light must be considered a 24/7 system. Designing with natural as well as electric light will progress. This will respond to the call to regulate energy and contribute to a growing understanding of the impact that light has on our well-being.
Darkness
An appreciation of darkness has taken on new significance, and by darkness we mean the degree to which light is absent (rather than not being present at all). The idea of using less light may develop over ensuing years in response to conserving energy, reducing fuel bills, or minimizing environmental impact, but it may also come about as a result of cultural change. Since electric light became widely available in the 20th century, using more rather than less light has been seen as progress. We now take the availability of light for granted. Indeed, we often don’t fully appreciate its value until it is absent.
Only now are we beginning to see the paradigm shift toward considering whether too much light might not be the advantage that we think it is. Overlighting has become an accepted term. But the fact that we can make night into day doesn’t mean we have to. We can’t (and shouldn’t) turn the clock back to the limitations of pre-electric civilization. Treating light as a more precious commodity is the way forward. We should think of light as being valuable energy rather than simply a free commodity.
Light in the City
One of the more interesting trends of recent years has been the move away from planning in favor of urban design. Light has a vital role to play in urban areas both in terms of the basic requirements to keep people safe and secure, as well as in respect to everything from wayfinding and legibility to the display of media and brand awareness. Unfortunately, urban design, just like architecture, often does not give sufficient consideration to the importance of the condition of the city after dark. Failure to address the city at night will result in the realization of increasingly incoherent urban spaces and the perpetuation of visual pollution. Fortunately, a number of lighting designers, ourselves included, are becoming more dedicated to the subject of urban lighting. We see the continuing development of the use of light (and darkness) in urban, suburban, rural, and natural landscapes as being an important and progressive area of study and work.
Light and Architecture
The story of light and architecture is as old as civilization itself. That story will continue. But lighting design also keeps pace with the profound changes happening within the built environment. As new materials, techniques, and methods of procurement evolve, ever-more-radical building forms are realized—and in record time. While program and cost have always been key drivers, other factors such as risk, energy use, and the cost of maintenance now drive solutions.
As a result, the lighting designer, and indeed the whole lighting industry, will need to become more flexible. We must be willing to respond to change and to be in the vanguard of identifying new and exciting opportunities for the creative use of light. These opportunities should influence architecture, rather than simply respond to it. As technology frees us to realize more exciting and dynamic solutions, it cannot be used to the detriment of people in the buildings. Emphasizing the less-tangible human factors of lighting design such as comfort, biological and psychological effect, and how light contributes to well-being will provide exciting opportunities and challenges for architects and lighting designers in the future.
Light and Identity
Light helps create character and identity for buildings and spaces, entire cities, and for everyday objects. It is perhaps only now that society is beginning to realize the considerable value that good lighting can bring to daily life. Lighting design has a key role to play in contributing to the larger scale of architecture and to the plethora of smaller interventions that inform our daily lives. This includes a wide range of lighting products, information systems, and media. Nearly everything we touch has a life after dark, and we should consider how they might work and how they might be seen. As we know from theater and entertainment, light can be employed to change our mood, to tell stories, and to create magic.
Light and Technology
In considering the manner in which lighting technology has changed over the past 25 years, it is perhaps foolish to try and predict where it is headed. Will the promise of LEDs and OLEDs be fully realized? Will the world of lighting be entirely solid-state? Will lighting-control systems be as commonplace as heating controls? These are all questions that should be answered within a decade.
Perhaps, though, there are more consequential questions to ask: What will be the impact of nanotech and biotech on lighting design? Will we be able to grow light instead of manufacture it? Will lighting technology be embedded instead of simply integrated? Also, as the population grows and the cost and production of energy becomes more challenging, will energy be rationed? Will blackouts and curfews become commonplace?
The answers may lie in the relationship between the lighting designer and industry—those who manufacturer the tools of light. If we reflect on the knowledge that was around in the 1980s, we should not be that surprised at what has happened with LEDs. Unfortunately, the technical possibilities resided deep within the confines of the industrial infrastructure. Even today we continue to see industry produce amazing things without any clear idea as to its application. It is only when the creative mind of the designer is allowed to roam free with such knowledge that the promise of new materials is fulfilled.
In the next 25 years, the relationship between research, invention, design, and application must be reappraised in the interest of delivering new and tailored technologies to meet the demands of society—and in ever-decreasing time frames. Imaginative and creative lighting designers have a pivotal role to play, though it is one that requires us to reevaluate our traditional relationships. It is independence of thought, rather than commercial independence alone, that holds the key.
Light and Sustainability
Sustainability is not limited to reducing energy use and limiting light pollution; it is also about addressing social and economic issues. The key to the future is to take a balanced, holistic approach. Understanding the entire life-cycle cost in the production of lighting products will become more important, including the amount of embodied energy that is employed to actually manufacture various technologies. Wider issues about lighting design will also come into sharper focus. These issues will relate to the amount and quality of light employed, how it is directed and delivered, and the value it brings on a social and economic level.
Today, lighting design is still seen by some as a relatively elite and value-added activity. Lighting design is largely employed on a specific range and type of project. As a result, sustainable lighting development remains the exception rather than the rule. The quality of our lit environment could just as easily regress as a result of low-energy design as it could improve. There is an enormous amount of work to do to ensure that properly addressing energy use and environmental impact are not detrimental to the human experience.
Light and Design
Speirs + Major has moved from being “lighting architects” to “designers working with light.” This change does not reflect any lack of passion for our roots, but does acknowledge the wide range of skills that are now embodied within our team and the manner in which we work. It also underlines that not everything is architecture, although certainly we are challenged by the distinction that may be drawn between architecture and design. Design exists in the present tense and is responsive to the soft influences of political and cultural demands. Design doesn’t necessarily improve through the ages, it simply adapts to demands. For instance, a computer is not implicitly better than a pencil; it is just different and more appropriate for some 21st-century tasks.
Light and the Future
The future is as complex to imagine as the past is to decipher, but there are observations that can be made. Lighting design may succeed in becoming a professional term instead of simply a process by which we endeavor to create ideas in light. Consultants and designers may finally go their separate ways, recognizing that while the former provide advice, the latter engage in creative solutions. Good design and low energy will no longer be an oxymoron. The scale of lighting projects may no longer be directly proportional to cost. Experience and memory will be recognized design values. Design may slow down to recognize that innovative ideas evolve, while hurried ideas become perpetual works-in-progress. New tools will not necessarily improve design. The number of design-conscious consumers will increase. Good design will become an everyday event rather than only being solicited and appreciated by a knowing elite. The net gain of working overseas will be more closely examined.
And the “rumor” we most like is the one we just heard: that designers will learn to listen once again.
Epilogue
We live in age of uncertainty. We live in an age of austerity. We live in an age of conflict. We live in an age of profound social, technological, and economic change. And history shows that out of times such as these come the golden ages of creativity. Hopefully the next 25 years—and not just for lighting—will prove to be one of those periods.