"Artificial" Lighting

It is time to challenge our understanding of lighting design, given the opportunities by the new technologies. What will be the next standard and mindset of our lighting design community?

In the light of current developments, brand new and upcoming technologies, our design approach and creation process has to be rethought and evolve. In the long term it means to educate ourselves and our clients, so that we all understand that the functional, technological and emotional elements of lighting design merge.

The luminaire –which is only one of our work tools – has become a data collector. Not only data that is relevant for the operation of buildings and spaces, but also as an interface to digital devices which transport, request and provide information to data pools in the form of apps for a network, computer, tablet or smart phone.   

The idea of artificial lighting will be more than likely to be redefined. With regard to available technologies, the idea of AR to provide additional layers of information is fascinating and all what can be learnt from Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) might be the breakthrough. Thinking about the future, the potential impact of artificial intelligence in our lives cannot be dismissed. The concept of any device that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of success at some goal might not exclude lighting devices in the forthcoming years.

Everyone might be able to experience a personalized perception of space, including lighting. No “actual” artificial lighting might be needed. That way we could save energy and we could save resources in the real world on a larger scale.

As professional lighting designers, we must discuss our future now. If the lighting experience becomes merely a smart mathematic algorithm, it will change our world profoundly.

Learning Objectives 

• Identify the upcoming challenges with the current tool box of smart technology
• Encourage the discussion on the topic of the internal and external data & consequences upcoming designs
• Utilize analytic skills and design intelligence
• Evaluate their current situation and which topics in smart technologies being considered. 
• Pros and cons personalizing lighting schemes with third parties data pools