It is time for our lighting systems to move out of the analog Stone Age and into the Digital Era. I’m working on a new CEU focused entirely on the topic and actively exploring the case for change, the systems, and the benefits. I got a jump start writing for Residential Systems in January’s issue […]
Category: Design Theory
Fine Homebuilding Downlight Guide
Fine Homebuilding Magazine is a well-crafted publication focused on the craft of building better and I was honored to be included for my fourth article with them. This time, I focused on products more than applications, a bit of a departure for me and a fun exercise. The result is an 8-page guide to recessed […]
Breaking & Entering – with Light
Are you trespassing on your neighbors every night? I love my neighbors, mostly, except when they stand in their yard and go about watering their plants but send half of the water over the fence and on to my hamburger. Just to be clear, that never happens. Because I have good neighbors. And usually eat veggie burgers, […]
Vote NO to Layers of Light*
*Why TASK, AMBIENT, and ACCENT should retire and make room for the next generation. We all know people who stayed in positions of authority a little too long, folks who maybe served well in their prime but lately just seem to be preventing those with ideas and energy and enthusiasm from making much-needed positive changes. […]
We All Need Control
It is time to retire your light switches and dimmers…if you want to get the full benefits of good light back into your life. Get them back? Yes, you and I lost out on natural light’s benefits when our ancestors decided houses were better than tents and offices were better than fields. They moved indoors, […]
EXPOSURE: Simplify, Simplify
And…it’s a wrap. Two full years of writing for the residential focus in designing lighting comes to a conclusion with this month’s Simplify, Simplify article. This is a beautiful magazine full of great projects and important voices, and it has been a huge honor to be a part of it. I hope to return someday, when I […]
Circadian or Human Centric?
A few weeks ago I got to geek out a bit with some lighting colleagues during dinner, a rare treat for someone who works mostly remotely. My Zoom conversations are almost always task-oriented, designed to accomplish something and then move on to the next one, and that makes unscripted, unmeasured, non-billable communication somewhat unusual- and […]
EXPOSURE: Values & Stories
I continue to explore the overlap of lighting business and lighting language in the April/May 2024 issue of designing lighting in an article on light, values, and stories. The article is based on writing from the blog, but each time I circle back to the same topic I make new discoveries and find new ways to think and […]
Above-the-Ceiling TETRIS
Yesterday I saw a LinkedIn post from another lighting designer featuring a photograph of a hallway under construction, with three parallel ceiling joists running down the hall. Each was filled with a round duct for heat and air conditioning. There was no explanation; there need not be. One look and I understand the pain: there […]
Builders, Lighting, & A New Way
Lighting designers could help builders…if we can change our ways. Residential builders are often the most reluctant of the major stakeholders to support custom lighting design, and with very good reason. In a previous post, I meandered through the overlapping territories of lighting and building and thought about how lighting design is often a threat to […]