THE EXPLORATION OF LIGHT
FRED OBERKIRCHER, DIRECTOR, TCU CENTER FOR LIGHTING EDUCATION | TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
While lighting education commonly is thought of as existing within some context, we at TCU tend to practice lighting education from a holistic perspective that includes the concepts developed below. That being said, institutions may differ in the emphasis they place on the individual components; however, we believe in the components themselves. Additionally, we at TCU believe in experiential, hands-on education. This includes the vital, time-sensitive, production-driven experiences that come from classes taken within theater, dance, and TV production. In our experience, the traditional design fields—art, architecture, and interior design—spend too much time doing “paper” designs in which the student’s actual knowledge of what is really going on a space remains minimal.
LIGHT AS “LIFE GIVER” In this component, students spend the majority of their time outdoors observing the various colors, textures, and moods of daylight. Students study light as radiant energy, delve into the unique relationship of sunlight to the tilted planet Earth, and explore the varying nature of light around the Earth from equator to pole. Finally, students explore the relationship between sunlight and the weather to begin establishing additional connections between sunlight and human habitations.
LIGHT AS PERCEIVED BY LIVING BEINGS Light is responsible for life as we know it on planet earth and has guided subsequent evolutionary development. Thus, light is part of living creatures at the cellular level beginning with a cell’s response to the day/night cycle and the year long cycle. As living beings developed, specialized sensors to receive light developed. These sensors eventually developed into what we now call “eyes.” Thus, the study of eyes encompasses the investigation of wavelength sensitivity and color.
LIGHT AS SCIENCE Light also exists as an area of intense scientific investigation over the centuries. All current scientific understanding rests on the efforts of these past giants, and no study of light would be complete without the careful study of the principles and terms through which lighting practitioners communicate.
LIGHT AS ARCHITECTURAL FORM GIVER All of the traditional elements and principles of design are applied to architectural surfaces, both exterior and interior, and combine both sunlight and man-made light. This component also includes theatrical lighting principles.
LIGHT AS RESOURCE While sunlight is considered a “natural” resource, man-made light requires energy, and as such the production of man-made light impacts the global environmental system. Additionally, the production of man-made light involves limited resources, and the disposal of those resources impacts global sustainability.
LIGHT AS PRODUCT The traditional heart of any lighting design curriculum is that light exists as a combination of lamp and luminaire. The design, execution, installation, maintenance, and disposal of these products constitute the majority of a professional lighting designer’s efforts. However, without consideration of all of the above components, lighting would lack context; a potential problem, which defines many of today’s issues that exist between political efforts to control the quantity of lighting energy and practitioner efforts to maximize the quality of light.
LIGHT AS PROFESSION Finally, there is a group of organizations dedicated to communicating specific areas related to lighting to the lighting industry at large and the public. The philosophy and practices of these organizations are important as students consider future personal and career goals.
Clearly, all of these components could not be successfully addressed in a single university course. At TCU, students majoring in interior design can elect to minor in lighting through the acquisition of 18 hours (six classes) of lighting-related courses. This design-based minor successfully has prepared students to enter the field of lighting design.
FOSTERING AN AWARENESS OF LIGHTING DESIGN
RANDY BURKETT, ADJUNCT FACULTY, GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE | WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS
As a lighting instructor in a graduate school of architecture, my perspective on lighting design education is less about nurturing the next generation of lighting designers and more about fostering acceptance of lighting design as a design discipline.
Architectural graduate students at Washington University come from across the globe. I am struck by the fact that, although they represent a diverse geographical cross section of high-quality undergraduate programs, they share a common bond in their lack of exposure to lighting education. Many lighting educators find themselves in the position of teaching a single class that ultimately serves as the only formal lighting education an architectural student will receive. With such precious little time, what messages are the most important to impart?
At Washington University, the lighting syllabus is crafted as follows:
- Basics of human vision and its relationship to design
- The nature and role of light and the built environment
- Light sources and luminaires
- Basic lighting photometry and calculations
- Basic lighting controls
- Lighting design formulation
- Daylighting
- Architecture and lighting design integration
- Communicating lighting design concepts
This course work is augmented by visits to local lighting installations, hands-on mock-ups, and creative assignments that stress the union of light and architecture. These students will form the core of architectural design in the coming years. They can best be served by being given a heightened sensitivity to the importance of lighting and lighting design to the success of the built environment. We get so little time with so many; we must spend it wisely.