Up Close with Chrysanthi Stockwell

By Shirley Coyle, LC

As a young girl living in the Czech Republic shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, Chrysanthi Stockwell was not fully aware of the political situation, but she does remember weekend trips to Germany to get peanut butter. While attending an international school in Europe, she took up classical Indian dance (Bharatanatyam) after seeing a dancer perform; Chrysanthi went on to perform for many years as a dancer, often 2 hours a day. Only a sixth-grader when the family moved to Nebraska – her father was transferred there for his work in agriculture –she attended an all-girls school, where the science and math program led to her interest in architecture. It was always going to be something that combined science and creativity for Chrysanthi Stockwell.

Looking at options for college, she liked the idea of building systems, and right there in Nebraska was a great program in architectural engineering. Within the Architectural Engineering program, her love of lighting design was sparked by Kevin Houser, one of her professors. She loved the amazing, hands-on lighting lab facility where she could dig into the intricacies of science and light.

Chrysanthi’s second round of internship during her University of Nebraska AE program led to an offer to join HGA Architects and Engineers in Minneapolis to do lighting design. The lighting design group was then made up of 3 people. Now, 15 years later, Chrysanthi is Associate VP and Senior Lighting Designer, part of a team of 14 with a strong creative and technical identity. The lighting design group is a standalone discipline within the firm – responsible for its own P&L, providing services for HGA as well as completing their own lighting-only projects.

The impact of mentors cannot be overstated in Chrysanthi’s lighting journey. “I’ve had a lot of amazing mentors…that kept me in lighting.” At the beginning of her time at HGA, Chrysanthi sat beside Pat Hunt, a key figure in her growth. “I never wore headphones…I learned so much just listening to Pat talk to contractors!” Another important mentor has been the respected lighting educator Dee Ginther, who is now passing on the baton and, much to Chrysanthi’s delight, her teaching materials and lighting samples, as Chrysanthi takes over teaching Dee’s course for the IES Fundamentals of Lighting later this year.

Reflecting on challenges throughout her career, Chrysanthi cites balancing time, figuring out the chain of roles in the lighting industry, learning about what you can and can’t control, advocating for the lighting design, and making sure your voice is heard. Her advice to those coming into the industry? “Be curious, listen, go see lighting…get involved in education, take advantage of sponsorship available to attend programs (like the IES Emerging Professionals program) – it gives you a larger perspective of our industry. It gives you interconnections.” Chrysanthi has dedicated years of volunteer service to her local IES Section (she is a Past President of the IES Minneapolis-Saint Paul Section) and also at the Society level, supporting the IES Emerging Professionals program.

Asked what issues she sees facing the lighting community, Chrysanthi raises the challenge of the risk-averse, conservative nature of engineering making the dynamic nature of LED lighting difficult to incorporate, explaining that “with the long cycle time for building designs, the lighting can be outdated by the time it’s worked into our designs.” She sees a need for more data-driven information on the results (post-occupancy) of lighting installations – there is not much available, and rarely any budget to do this kind of research. She sees PNNL doing amazing work and some manufacturers working at it, but, in general, senses a disconnect between research/academia and practice.

Chrysanthi states that her success has come from others –mentors, colleagues – and she wants to do the same for others now. She views every opportunity as a learning opportunity – giving the example of explaining the importance of lighting to the client. “I’m good at boiling down complex concepts to simple concepts.” A talent that no doubt makes Chrysanthi herself a mentor – to her colleagues, her lighting community and for her two young daughters. ■