The Trustees of the Jonathan Speirs Scholarship Fund (JSSF) have announced the recipient of its 2014 award: Cashel Brown, a post-graduate student of lighting design at Edinburgh Napier University. Brown, who has a degree in architecture from the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA), University of Edinburgh, was selected from a candidate class compiled from architecture schools in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Brown is the second recipient of this scholarship named in honor of the late lighting designer Jonathan Speirs. The
first award was made to Alex Stewart, who at the time was a second year graduate student in the Master of Architecture program at the School of Architecture, Parsons, the New School for Design in New York City.
According to the fund’s press release, Brown’s “passion for light” and “strong recommendation received from his university” led to his selection as the recipient of the 2014 scholarship, which carries with it a £10,000 purse. Brown will put the monies toward his education and ongoing explorations of light and architecture. “I feel extremely privileged to have received the second Jonathan Speirs Scholarship, and intend to use the opportunity to fuel my passion for lighting design,” said Brown.
“We are delighted to have made this second award. While the selection process was every bit as demanding as our inaugural award in 2013, it was a unanimous decision to offer a scholarship to Cashel Brown,” said John Roake, chairman of the JSSF. “As a graduate architect who is now engaged in a postgraduate course in lighting design, Cashel absolutely represents the quality and type of student this award was originally aimed at. We have no doubt that the financial support will help him immensely as he makes his way in his chosen profession as a lighting designer.”
Additional information about the fund, and ways one can donate, can be found at
jssf.org.uk.
Elizabeth Donoff is Editor-at-Large of Architectural Lighting (AL). She served as Editor-in-Chief from 2006 to 2017. She joined the editorial team in 2003 and is a leading voice in the lighting community speaking at industry events such as Lightfair and the International Association of Lighting Designers Annual Enlighten Conference, and has twice served as a judge for the Illuminating Engineering Society New York City Section’s (IESNYC) Lumen Award program. In 2009, she received the Brilliance Award from the IESNYC for dedicated service and contribution to the New York City lighting community. Over the past 11 years, under her editorial direction, Architectural Lighting has received a number of prestigious B2B journalism awards. In 2017, Architectural Lighting was a Top Ten Finalist for Magazine of the Year from the American Society of Business Publication Editors' AZBEE Awards. In 2016, Donoff received the Jesse H. Neal Award for her Editor’s Comments in the category of Best Commentary/Blog, and in 2015, AL received a Jesse H. Neal Award for Best Media Brand (Overall Editorial Excellence).Prior to her entry into design journalism, Donoff worked in New York City architectural offices including FXFowle where she was part of the project teams for the Reuters Building at Three Times Square and the New York Times Headquarters. She is a graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, Me., and she earned her Master of Architecture degree from the School of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis.
