Pioneering sustainable lighting design

How do we go from business as usual to pioneering and creating a better future? For me, it seems we already have many tools at hand, it’s just a question of how to use the tools available.

At BuroHappold we have started to look into what is necessary for the planning of lighting design to make our projects and buildings future-oriented and truly sustainable.

Sustainability has many aspects and there’s a lot to tackle, but if we look into ways of creating change in the way we do business as usual, slowly but certainly the huge task might become something more easily digestible.

We see a huge business opportunity in changing the status quo of the lighting industry – and indeed, many industries. The will to change and actually both the pressure of climate changes happening around us and of future generations are all already there. We need to act.

Let’s look into ways of integrating daylight into designs as a building material, which is as necessary for construction as bricks were in the past – the only difference being there’s no true artificial substitute for daylight – it’s full-spectrum, it’s circadian connection and obviously it’s zero cost.

Let’s look into the SDGs (the Sustainable Development Goals) set by the United Nations back in 2015 and how they are connected to lighting design and the lighting industry.

Let’s look into ways of planning for reduced use, re-use and recyclability of materials, planning therefore with the future in our mindset – not only the immediate use of resources.

Let’s look into the adaptability of the design and the equipment to suit future needs – given that we expect equipment will last as long as the building and might need – as buildings do – to adapt for different and sometimes unknown future uses.

Let’s look into social, ecological and economic factors, as we believe in a future where the interests of the community are highly regarded in detriment of individual interests; and that without change, no future can guarantee economical stability.

Let’s look at low-impact and long-life products, which are in line with our goals of preserving a prosperous future for generations to come.

As we see all of the above as business opportunities, many other factors will change with “thinking for the future”: asset value, market value, building operations, changes in established systems and all of those leading to trust. Trust in the man-made environment, trust in the design of products that are future-oriented and trust in people, with the belief that this generation has done what was needed to protect the future.

By doing this, we want to make visible the cost – social and ecological costs – of the designs we do. We want to go much further than self-criticism. Rather, we want to raise awareness and start innovation in a rapidly changing industry where technology and the use of electronics have become inevitable and need some re-thinking in the way equipment is designed.

Hope you have enjoyed.

See you in the next post

#thelightingtips