Examining the complexities of hospitality megaproject design There are unique complications that come with designing hospitality megaproj­ects, specifically those relating to the design of integrated resorts. These are projects with square-footages measured in the millions, budgets in the billions, and design/construction schedules that can last for half a decade or more. For example, design work…

Crafting a magical design journey through Hobbiton When visitors step from their tourist coaches onto the rolling hills of Hobbiton in Matamata, New Zealand, they enter a land that has lived in the collective imagination of millions since J.R.R. Tolkien first described The Shire. Originally a temporary film set for The Lord of the Rings…

Beginning in the summer before my final year at Oregon State University (OSU), I decided to start an IES Student Chapter, as our university had never had one before. This began one day as just an idea, heavily inspired by my manager at the time, Chip Israel, CEO and founder of Lighting Design Alliance, who…

Recruitment Faux Pas: When hiring turns into self-sabotage In LD+A, July 2025, I wrote about the tides shifting toward a more balanced job market; course correcting from the hyper candidate-driven landscape that followed the pandemic. At the time, it appeared that both employers and candidates were finally meeting in the middle. Unfortunately, the pendulum now…

An office for fun, innovation, and community In the heart of downtown Vancouver, Canada, the rapidly expanding mobile entertainment company Kabam sought to create an office environment that was as dynamic and engaging as its flagship games. The design brief was clear: craft a bespoke, adaptable, and intuitive lighting control system that could elevate the…

Music listening experiences can be strongly influenced by the surrounding environment. A recent study conducted by researchers at Arizona State University and the California Lighting Technology Center at the University of California, Davis, investigated how indoor lighting conditions influence music listening satisfaction. The study aimed to examine how different lighting environments affect music perception, as…

The AO Arena in Manchester, England, one of Europe’s biggest music venues since the mid-1990s, featuring Pop headliners like Lorde and Katy Perry in 2025, underwent significant redevelopment to offer a greater number of music fans a more dynamic experience. The venue now includes standing room for an additional 6,200 people and a host of…

Performance and aesthetics are often treated as trade-offs in lighting design, with efficiency on one side and visual appeal on the other. With 360 Solar by Landscape Forms, that compromise disappears. Developed in collaboration with Netherlands-based FlexSol Lighting Solutions, 360 Solar delivers advanced off-grid lighting in a sleek, minimalist form that redefines what solar can…

The outdoor lighting revolution is underway I’ve always been drawn into the dark. Even before working at DarkSky International, I often found myself getting up before sunrise for morning runs or out climbing with friends beneath a full moon. I’m always on a quest for new experiences; the night is a treasure trove for adventure,…

Sometimes designing lighting isn’t only about providing illumination, but how to celebrate the darkness that surrounds it. The recreation project at Squamish Oceanfront Park in The Great White North’s British Columbia was such a case. With the 700-meter (~2,297-ft)-tall granite monolith Stawamus Chief Mountain along one side, the park contains a multitude of natural wonders…

Can one man help the U.S.’s most densely populated state “see the night?” Back in 2002, Verizon’s “Test Man” character shot to popularity with a series of commercials, where he evaluated the cell phone coverage in various locations by coining the catchphrase, “Can you hear me now?” Decades later, another bespectacled man from Verizon is…

As astrotourism trends, responsible lighting is essential As an astrophotographer, I’ve circled the globe in search of dark skies, from hunting the Northern Lights on sheep farms in Greenland to admiring the Milky Way above Chile’s otherworldly Atacama Desert. Yet, it took schlepping 2,000 vertiginous feet into the Grand Canyon for me to discover my…

Dallas Market Center will present a top-tier lineup of thought leaders at the January 10–13, 2026 edition of Lightovation, building on the success of the debut Design + Build Day which was held during the June 2025 show. METROPOLIS Editor-in-Chief Avinash Rajagopal and INTERIOR DESIGN Editor-in-Chief Cindy Allen will headline the January 13 Design +…

Indigenous culture, nature, and light converge at Indian Community School Indian Community School’s lighting retrofit stands as a testament to the power of design in educational environments. Located in Franklin, WI, the school’s original lighting, while functional, failed to honor the architectural language of the building and did not meet the dynamic needs of students…

Science is the backbone of our industry In my LD+A May 2025 column, I called attention to the increasingly fractured landscape of organizations in the lighting industry. Since then, the conversation around advocacy, unity, and transformation has deepened, and over the last several months of considering the many voices contributing ideas, wish-lists, criticisms, advocacy plans,…