Ketra sat down with Caitlin Toczko (pictured to the left), Senior Lighting Designer at Atelier Ten and project lead for the WELL-Certified Delos New York HQ project, to talk about her experience in the lighting industry. Caitlin shared keen observations about the industry's ongoing transformation and what inspires her to continue creating experiences with her craft.
1. Describe your path to becoming a lighting designer.
While earning my Bachelor’s degree in architecture, I learned how light can really create a mood or a feeling in a space. I was studying at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - where they have a fantastic lighting program - so I took a lighting design elective and absolutely loved it. From there, I pursued a masters from the Lighting Research Center and have been working in the field for over 5 years.
2. What are some of the biggest changes in the lighting design field you have seen since starting your career?
The first change I saw was the rapid shift to LEDs. At the beginning of my career, LEDs were only being used for special conditions or certain luminaires. Soon, we began specifying our projects to have all LEDs.
More recently, fixtures are getting smaller and more efficient, and electrical codes are getting more stringent. The most obvious trend is the ability to tune the color temperature of light within the luminaire. This shift has influenced how people think about lighting and what it can do. It’s the big thing that’s drawing attention to lighting from people outside the field. The most exciting for me, is that there is a broader community interest in how light affects health. Designers and researchers know the non-visual effects of lighting, and now manufacturers are taking note too.