Lighting in Design Q3 2023

While at BroadwayMalyan, lighting designer Daniela Viloria worked on projects such as 1: 2: 3:

A holistic approach to lighting solutions

Venezuelan lighting architect and designer Daniela Viloria explores how humans are being shaped by lighting, why illumination should not be isolated during conceptualisation, and how lighting affects our overall health.

S peaking at the 25 th annual Lighting Seminar in Mexico City earlier this year, lighting designer Daniela Viloria delivered an important mes sage to her colleagues: “Lighting is an integrated element in constructive solutions. It should be rooted in the concept that the building itself should become a luminaire.” Viloria has been based in Spain for the past 16 years and currently runs her design company, Dany Viloria Design Consultancy, while lecturing at universities around Madrid. She also worked as a lighting design professor at the Universidad Antonio de Nebrija for six years while heading up the lighting design division at architectural firm BroadwayMalyan, also in Spain. “I have been fortunate to reflect on a lot of my work over the years,” she explains. “The impact of lighting, as we see it physically and how it affects our biological systems, is important. We have reached a critical juncture in the industry, where we can no longer ignore the light that we are subjecting our bodies to.” According to the light architect, there are

short- and long-term effects to be aware of. “Short term effects involve understanding perception processes and the influence they have on people who live and interact in an area that has a specific lighting setup. A lighting designer must approach the design consciously and always based on the knowledge of these perception processes.” She adds, “In recent years, the influence of light as a regulator of circadian cycles and the impact it has at a physiological level has been scientifically demonstrated. This long-term effect needs to be consciously monitored and evaluated, and it is important to maintain healthy lighting constructs for this very reason. Lighting has a great influence on our bodies and environment.” In 2002, photoreceptor ipRGCs (known as intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells) were discovered, leading to the discovery of the biological mechanisms that regulate the circadian rhythm (those that determine physical, mental and behavioural changes in a 24-hour cycle and respond to light and dark cycles). “The wealth of information gathered from this research needs to

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LiD Q3 - 2023