DL
What moved you to go into
lighting design?
DS
I wanted to go into a profession
related to architecture and form. When I
discovered that light has a form which is
invisible, but influences our emotions in
a powerful way, this really intrigued and
attracted me. Evidently, I was gravitating
towards light, architecture and interior design
so in my twenties I moved to NYC to study
these disciplines. Back then, I envisioned that
my career would develop in between constant
travel and the drawing desk. What I didn’t
know, is that I would be travelling in light,
and walking through shadows. After a while,
I met several lighting professionals and star-
ted working with light. That’s how I became a
lighting designer. My professional life is from
that moment on based on strong, passionate
belief in light, and I feel very lucky to be able
to engage in this practice with all of my heart
and enthusiasm. What started as design work
with tangible forms has, over the past thirty
years, developed into building and creating
with the intangible and the ephemeral.
DL
Do you have a design or a lighting
philosophy?
DS
During the years I did develop a
lighting philosophy as I had to theorize about
lighting to transmit more clearly my ideas to
others. I’m convinced that everything we do
is not important for the architecture itself but
for the people that live in it. Providing the
utilitarian quantity of light is a process that
doesn’t really depend upon creativity today,
it doesn’t require an artistic or philosophical
approach if we just want to illuminate space
for the basic necessity to see at night. Light is
much more than that and with light, we can
transform any space in the nocturnal setting
because it is the light that directly influences
our perception, our spatial recognition and
all other qualities of the space which can be
manipulated, controlled, enhanced or ruined
with light. My professional life is obviously
the result of my deepest inner self. I needed
to physically present my personal approach
towards architecture, form, light and design
so I built our office building the House of
light that literarily speaks about the synergy
between these disciplines. When I’m occu-
pied with product design, I actually design
the lighting effect I want to achieve. Lighting
fixtures are like my paint brush in space.
DL
Is all architecture as important at
night as it is during the day?
DS
Peter Eisenman once said that
90% of the building isn’t really architecture.
So if we agree with him, then yes, all archi-
tecture is as important at night as it is during
the day.
DL
How do you view the relationship
between architecture, lighting and
landscape?
DS
In a successful project, lighting,
architecture and landscape are interdepen-
dent and integrated. There is a strong bond
between light and its forms, and the solid
objects it illuminates. I like to use the phrase
integration with inspiration when describing
this synergy. I always emphasize the impor-
tance of integration in lighting design, which
assumes a close cooperation with architects,
landscape architects and interior designers
from the very beginning of the project
development.
DL
What elements are essential to
come up with a good exterior
lighting plan?
DS
Imagine being in a museum and
looking at a wonderful painting, where the
artist showed the perspective of the space,
the colours, shadows, people’s expression,
surrounding landscapes, maybe even
buildings. Those paintings from big masters
are telling a story from every angle into the
smallest details. Everything is in balance, even
if that painting has so many elements they are
all necessary for understanding the feeling,
emotions, the message that the artist wanted
to transmit through it. This is how I view our
space, our environment and the ecology of all
the elements in the space. Every single ele-
ment in it, at night viewed as a whole, should
bring the same feeling as viewing a good
painting in a museum. Controlling every
device that is emitting light into that space
is important throughout the entire field
of vision. That is why this methodology is
important, that is why we should not distin-
guish any element when we paint with light.
Interview
Dean Skira
116
OUTDOOR
DELTA LIGHT
