Not many people in the lighting community are aware of the fact, that after electricity was invented and in general use in the United States from the late nineteenth century, only electrical engineers were responsible for the illumination of architecture. After 1906, when the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) was established in the USA, companies and individuals professionally involved in the field of gas...

Architectural Lighting Design (ALD) has never been a standalone professional discipline. Rather, it has existed as the combination of art and the science of light. Today, third generation lighting professionals are already creatively intertwining these fields, and the acceleration in scientific, technological and societal studies has only increased the need for reliable multidisciplinary information. Therefore, a thorough re-examination...

Ever since we began illuminating the exterior of the slender skyscrapers built during the of 20s and 30s in XX century, urban lighting has been considered a way to beautify cities, and make them more visually prominent and safe. At that time, we knew so little about the impact of lighting on humans, flora and fauna, so it never occurred to lighting designers then, that their actions would have harmful consequences. In those days,...

Thanks to state-of-the-art medical and environmental research, our current understanding about the impact of light and lighting is improving at a rapid rate. While the evolution of lighting technologies offers promising design possibilities, it also poses new challenges to planners and the general public. This is further complicated by the fact that today’s modern indoor lifestyle means we can be completely disconnected from nature...