Whoops. I just spent a lot of time re-designing the "light and health" section of our design presentations to include updated sections on the latest research, examination of snake-oil-sounding miracle products, and in-depth explanations of our six strategies for incorporating the science into our design work. I was very proud of the finished product. "Pride... Continue Reading →
More BS* + Beer
And...we're back. The conversation around my first BS* + Beer guest appearance was so, er, illuminating that we found ourselves together just a few weeks later. This time the focus of the conversation was on lighting for the rest of us, or practical strategies we could apply on our own projects. Once again the hosts... Continue Reading →
BS* + Beer Show
*BS = Building Science When Green Building Advisor and Fine Homebuilding friends asked me to join an episode of the BS* + beer show, I was honored and a little scared. Why? Because builders and lighting designers do not always get along. In retrospect, I need not have feared. BS* + Beer is a weekly... Continue Reading →
Layout Versus Design
https://www.technologydesigner.com/2020/12/10/lighting-layout-is-not-design/ I recently wrapped up my year of writing for Technology Designer, an elegant quarterly publication that also featured my stories on baths, living in place, and linear lighting. I was given an open invitation to share my final thoughts for design professionals to finish the series. I returned to one of the most common... Continue Reading →
Seven Saintly Solutions
Seven Saintly Solutions, Presented by David Warfel from DMF Lighting on Vimeo. One of the perks of starting your own company is that you get to pick your job title. At some point I decided that "Chief Evangelist of Light" (CEL) would be my own. Evangelist is a term that can have positive and negative... Continue Reading →
Humble Know-it-alls
"They are total know-it-alls." I often ask homeowners, integrators, architects, and others if they have ever worked with a lighting designer. Most homeowners have not, and many do not know that we exist. The story is different for those in the trade. And in residential lighting design, from the responses I receive, there are know-it-alls... Continue Reading →
Bedrooms: Beyond Sleeping
We have a certain number of formulas for illuminating a bedroom. We layer in lighting to deliver our five promises of light in these rooms just as we would anywhere else in the home. The solutions are different in a bedroom than in a kitchen because the function and form of each space is vastly... Continue Reading →
Lightseeing Blues
This series of posts may lead you to believe that I am always looking at lighting and that would be a false impression. I also look at billboards for injury attorneys, the back of the airplane seat in front of me, the speedometer, the GPS. I usually do not set out intentionally to look at... Continue Reading →
Are We Sell Outs?
WHY WE DON'T SELL FIXTURES...AND WHY WE PARTNER WITH PEOPLE WHO DO. About twenty years ago, a fresh and eager younger me was hired into his first professional architectural lighting design job. I was thrilled. I knew everything already (of course!!) because I was twenty-something and had two college degrees. Over the last twenty years... Continue Reading →
Human Centric Lighting…or Profit Centric Lighting?
Human Centric Lighting (HCL) is a nebulous term quickly replacing Circadian Lighting as the go-to language for describing lighting strategies intended to improve our lives. The more expansive idea behind HCL is that it includes circadian rhythm science but also accounts for moment-to-moment human wellness, comfort, and needs. Human Centric Lighting sounds awesome, doesn’t it? Recently... Continue Reading →