What moved you to go into lighting design?
DEAN SKIRA
'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
started 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.'
Do you have a design or a lighting philosophy?
'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 occupied with
product design, I actually design the lighting
effect I want to achieve. Lighting fixtures are
like my paint brush in space.'
Is all architecture as important at night as it is
during the day?
'Peter Eisenman once said that 90% of the
building isn’t really architecture. So if we
agree with him, then yes, all architecture is as
important at night as it is during the day.'
How do you view the relationship between arch
tecture, lighting and landscape?
'In a successful project, lighting, architecture
and landscape are interdependent 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 importance 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.'
What elements are essential to come up with a
good exterior lighting plan?
'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 element in it, at night viewed as a whole,
should bring the same feeling as viewing a
good painting in a museum. Controlling every
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