Professor Discusses the Evolution of Lighting Design from Science to Aesthetics

\r\n\t As night falls and countless lights illuminate, lighting makes every night brighter and warmer. But you may not know that these ordinary light sources in daily life have had their functions constantly updated and improved. Lighting not only makes our lives more comfortable, but has also become a unique \"art\" in itself.

\r\n\t When did the history of lighting begin? What role does lighting design play in modern architecture? What trends will the future of lighting present? Recently, a reporter interviewed Professor Zhang Xin of the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University. In his view, the evolution of lighting design from science to aesthetics has not been an easy process.

\r\n\t Discussing the History of Lighting--

The earliest lighting designers appeared in the 1950s, with only about 10 worldwide

Reporter: Could you briefly introduce the history of lighting and lighting design?

Zhang Xin: The history of human research on lighting can be traced back a hundred years. The first thing was to study the eyes of people of different races, ages, and genders around the world, and to use a curve similar to a normal distribution to present the levels of human eyes around the world. Then, based on the convergent response of human eyes to light, scientists found suitable materials—silicon photocells and selenium photocells. Subsequently, humans began to study the standard illumination of indoor lighting.

Around 1930, the International Commission on Illumination was established. In the 1960s, work began on road lighting, stadiums, and sports broadcasting lighting. It wasn't until the 1990s that attention was paid to landscape lighting. The above is the history of illumination. In a broad framework, what we call daylighting, artificial lighting, color issues, and vision all belong to general illumination.

Next comes the history of lighting design. The earliest lighting designers appeared in the 1950s, with about 10 worldwide—2 or 3 in Europe and 7 or 8 in the United States. They opened their practices on different continents. There are very few heavyweight lighting designers globally. Their disciples are what we call the second generation. Those active on the international stage today are all of the third generation.

Illumination is a scientific, vertical concept that involves emitting light, perceiving light, measuring light, evaluation, and ecology, among others. Lighting design, on the other hand, is a horizontal concept that refers to the light environment. Lighting design is a horizontal endeavor—for example, it requires packaging and concepts in the early stages, and the need to convince architectural designers.

A change in mindset is key. Chinese people prefer bright things rather than experiencing atmosphere.

Reporter: Compared with other professions, what are the characteristics of the lighting designer profession? What is the current state of the domestic lighting design industry?

Zhang Xin: Functional lighting falls within the scope of electrical engineers. Lighting designers only emerged once there was an aesthetic demand; their work extends beyond what electrical engineers can handle, and they have a deeper understanding of luminaires and light sources. For example, most lighting layouts are done by electrical engineers; high-end spaces such as museums, hotels, and nightscape lighting require lighting designers. The most fundamental difference between the two lies in the presence or absence of artistic design.

Lighting designers are also different from architectural designers. Abroad, the two generally have a cooperative relationship, with dedicated lighting teams serving architecture. However, in China, due to a late start and slow development, lighting designers need to develop their own clients.

Currently, the lighting design industry in China is not yet standardized. Even at the university level, lighting has not yet become a major, and it still needs a relatively long time to develop. Although everyone sees this industry as booming, there are very few professional lighting designers. In addition, the emergence of LED has lowered the threshold for designers, which is an impact on lighting designers.

Another important issue is the change in concepts; it is relatively difficult to evolve from science to aesthetics. Chinese people have a tradition of looking at lamps, while foreigners do not have a lantern festival; they feel the atmosphere of light. The differences in aesthetic concepts are still relatively large. For example, the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube both exist in a state of lamps to attract attention, because Chinese people all like bright things.

The "Water Cube" project by Olympic night scene lighting designer Zheng Jianwei is actually a quite meaningful transformation; it gave the Water Cube new connotations, with traditional beauty being the original state. Now the lighting of the Water Cube can correspond to the weather, displaying different colors, with more emphasis on the feeling of light. Most importantly, they convinced the government to promote this technology and concept. From this perspective, the work they did is iconic, because promoting this kind of lighting design in China has certain difficulties; the main issue is still solving the conceptual problem.

Talk about future development--

When urbanization rate reaches 70%, lighting will have more advantages than architecture

Reporter: With the rapid development of urbanization, what role will lighting play in urban architecture?

Zhang Xin: When the urbanization rate can reach 70%, lighting has advantages over architecture. Because lamps have shorter lifespans, metal lamps perform for about three years, and LED lamps actually do not have such a long usage time as 50,000 hours, lighting work can be done repeatedly. China's interior design market is huge, but architectural repetition rates are relatively low. Additionally, using lighting to solve the utilization issues of large buildings like the Water Cube is a measure everyone is promoting.

On the other hand, from the perspective of 'lighting demand', the outlook for this industry is promising. The development of urbanization needs to improve efficiency and rhythm. On this issue, there is much that light can do. For example, Japan already has a feel of a 24-hour city, where all artificial environments are very bright. When China reaches a 70% urbanization process, to further improve efficiency, consideration must be given to how to utilize space; for example, some people may work at night, creating a demand for lighting. From this perspective, the lighting industry will have great prospects.