Who Are Your Mentors?

By James R. Benya, PE, FIES, FIALD

The history of lighting design has been very, very brief. It has only been about 125 years since electric lighting started to become commonplace, and it made lighting design for buildings a relatively brand-new specialty profession.

At first, lighting was predictably utilitarian, even when light bulbs were used in chandeliers that once held candles. Industrial luminaires followed using high wattage lamps and reflecting shades. Lighting specialists were hardly considered “designers,” as illuminating engineering was in the forefront of lighting in all facets of human existence with emphasis on industry, commerce and safety. Lighting choices fell onto the shoulders of electrical engineers, electricians, architects and interior designers. Lighting design, if considered at all, was relegated mostly to the style of the luminaire, especially chandeliers and lamps. Modernism made it worse; lighting design became “laying out” recessed cans and boxes into flat white ceilings. Decorative lighting mostly disappeared, save for ornate chandeliers and a few modern art luminaires. A huge percentage of what was considered lighting design was due to the efforts of lighting sales representatives and design showrooms who always have and still provide considerable and beneficial input to many architects’ and engineers’ lighting designs.

Theatrical lighting designers were among the first to use the effects of lighting in an artful manner in buildings. The late Howard Brandston, one of the founders of International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD)(1), often cited "A Method for Lighting the Stage" by Stanley McCandless (2) as essential in learning lighting design. He, like other founders and early members of IALD, believed that the artistic principles of theater lighting could be directly interpreted into rooms and buildings, and from this they created and built a lighting design industry in New York in the dawn of lighting design for the built environment.

The late Howard Brandston, a generous mentor and teacher to many in the lighting design community.

Photo courtesy of Melanie Brandston.

Most professions begin with higher education for which we turn to colleges and universities. For lighting design in buildings, there weren’t any until the late 1960s and early 1970s, when two professors – the late John Flynn at Michigan and later, Penn State, and Ron Helms at Colorado and later, Kansas – set out to provide a classic academic foundation for a new profession. A new generation of their students offer expanded academic options in lighting design for which the IALD Education Trust provides funding and support around the world (https://iald. org/trust). But, relative to the size of the lighting industry, the number of higher education programs remains miniscule.

To make up for this, a lot of lighting designers (myself included) have taught lighting classes at schools of architecture and design. Additionally, manufacturers filled the void by teaching lighting to students and professionals alike through sales agents and in lighting training centers like Cooper Lighting’s “SOURCE.” But, perhaps the biggest difference was made by a new generation of accomplished lighting designers, like the late James Nuckolls, who stepped into a college design programs to teach lighting design as adjunct faculty members. This was accompanied by a surge in professional development and education in lighting through conferences and trade shows like LightFair. Many successful lighting designers joined the part time teaching ranks. At Parsons in New York, an exemplary degree program in lighting design began, started by Nuckolls and still running strong. The new profession of lighting design for architecture and the built environment became legitimate and influential worldwide in less than 50 years, a sure sign that something was done right. But, it was only partly due to academics.

In my opinion, that “something” behind the rapid emergence and growth of professional lighting design was and is the widespread use of mentoring. It is reminiscent of a classic master/protégé concept, but unlike traditional arrangements, the roles can often reverse. Perhaps it is especially successful in lighting design because the best designs realize a harmony of the vision of the architect, landscape architect or interior designer with the skills of a lighting designer. After all, the breadth of knowledge affecting lighting design today is vast, multidisciplinary, technical and contextual, and it is darned easy for two persons to see a design problem differently. Together, they find a result that is best for the project and client. Their different backgrounds often allow for that unique synergy from which the best lighting designs are created.

I will admit that for quite a while, theater lighting designers had a distinct advantage…and may still. Steven Rosen, president and founder of Available Light, recently told me that he has always preferred and hired theatre lighting people. On the other hand, my main mentor, Stephen Squillace, was an engineer who loved lighting, and as Chief Electrical Engineer for the Smith Group, he founded its Lighting Group in 1975. At first, almost all Group members were students of Flynn or Helms from Penn State or Colorado, but over time, members of the group included theatrically trained lighting designers, electrical engineers, architects and interior designers, all who caught the lighting “bug.” It was because of Squillace that I chose electrical engineering in the construction industry, and it had a lot to do with being able to design lighting because, as with Steve, lighting was my true passion. But, I am a better lighting designer because of the cross-mentoring within the Group. Imagine being able to seek the advice of Jan Moyer and David DiLaura without leaving my office!

David DiLaura

Steven Rosen

Janet Lennox Moyer

When it came time for me to build my own practice in San Francisco, I ensured that we had that diversity, and I learned to encourage the cross-mentoring among us. Always remember that age or position doesn’t matter – I have sought and was mentored by partners and staff who were younger than me. I strongly believe that from diversity comes considerable improvement in the quality of the work. I occasionally relive moments sharing a design challenge with Naomi Miller, Michael Souter or the late Ross De Alessi.

You can pursue other mentors with whom you are not employed, too. Some of them will be brief but will impart something important; some will become life-long friends and mentors forever. For example, there was a period during which I could spend time with Howard Brandston, and as his partners and staff will happily confirm, he was generous and willing to teach and share. At the time, I was beginning to play a larger role in the IES, and he offered me welcome personal advice on how to successfully participate. I relied on him as an occasional mentor until his passing, and from the ongoing success of the practice you can bet that his successors received many more mentoring benefits even after he (supposedly) retired.

As I look upon lighting design in the world today, I see this method of developing a lighting design practice helping the industry blossom everywhere. Formal lighting design education remains limited, so the creation of new lighting design firms and the expansion of successful firms into other cities could only be possible if done this way. I also see a glimmer of it among the many lighting experts employed in manufacturing, sales and academia. The system of mentoring in lighting design is without doubt the reason for the rapid success and development of our profession, and making sure that it is part of your daily life is the secret to success in the field of lighting. As long as you can find and/or be a mentor, take advantage of it.

Inspired by the passing of Howard Brandston. “Light is everything. Light is life. It is art, it is science, it is whatever you wish to make it.” – Howard Brandston, 1935 – 2023 ■

1. IALD was founded in 1969 by 13 lighting designers in New York who practiced lighting design for buildings. IALD now has over 1600 members in 30 countries.

2. McCandless, Stanley, "A Method for Lighting the Stage", Theater Arts Books, 1927. Fourth Edition 1958.