Michael Sorkin, who sadly passed away from COVID in March of 2020, was an inspiring architect, writer, educator, and urbanist. Among his many reflections on the field of architecture, the piece “Two Hundred and Fifty Things an Architect Should Know” has inspired a poster, a posthumous book, and adaptations for other fields, like Landscape Architecture…and now Lighting Design, too.
Treating the prompt as an homage to Sorkin, we rewrite the list from/for the perspective of a Lighting Designer. Channeling some of the same joy and playfulness that comes through in the original, we find that reflecting on this prompt re-inspires us to work with light. The list includes the practical, the irreverent, and the power of a material you cannot touch.
A final note and an invitation: As students and practitioners of a relatively young design discipline, we are in awe of the breadth of subjects that are relevant to the practice of lighting. Many processes and standards have been modeled on Architecture, and we often get lumped into this field’s knowledge base, which covers everything from permitting to structures. But lighting isn’t merely a secondary complement to a building—it’s an everyday core and ritual experience that is inextricably tied to how humans perceive the world around us.
So how does Lighting Design diverge from Architecture? And what would you add to this working draft? On the occasion of Michael Sorkin’s birthday today, August 2, we invite you to consider and share.
TWO HUNDRED FIFTY THINGS
A LIGHTING DESIGNER SHOULD KNOW
Written by: Iris Ahn, Francesca Bastianini, Robyn Bohn
In tribute to Michael Sorkin and the practice of observation.
A rewriting of his Two Hundred Fifty Things An Architect Should Know for a lighting designer…
1. The feel of sun on bare skin.
2. How to work as part of a collaborative team.
3. The depth that sun penetrates an interior space in winter.
4. The concept of Komorebi: the playful dance of dappled light through a tree canopy.
5. How to create without taking credit.
6. The quality of the edge of one’s shadow on a full moon.
7. The texture of rough concrete when it is grazed.
8. The luminous quality of hewn polished concrete when it is washed with light.
9. The warmth of a flame when your hand cups a candle to stop it from blowing out.
10. The angle of the sun at the spring and fall equinox and winter solstice.
11. Wall washing vs. grazing.
12. And how a surface is revealed.
13. The play of caustics when light travels through water.
14. The oil lamps that lit the stage at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza.
15. How to read a wiring diagram.
16. The electromagnetic spectrum.
17. The visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum.
18. The non-visible range.
19. The reduction of UV waves through a single pane of glass.
20. The CIE color space.
21. Stanley McCandless’ front angles.
22. John Flynn.
23. Richard Kelly’s layers of light.
24. How the play of brilliants (shows up) in a Murano Glass Chandelier.
25. How to create a sense of warmth.
26. Who has access to light.
27. What sources create that light.
28. Who doesn’t have access to light.
29. The embodied energy of a recessed downlight.
30. The natural resources required to create an LED wafer.
31. Cradle to cradle.
32. How light fixtures are made.
33. Where do they go at the end of their lifecycle.
34. How phosphors can take the UV light of a linear fluorescent and make it white light.
35. The difference between igniting a solid or igniting a gas to create light.
36. The simplicity and joy of a Dan Flavin installation.
37. Dust particles in the beam of sun as it enters the Pantheon.
38. Varieties of Zenithal light.
39. The orientation of Louis Kahn’s buildings.
40. How to light a glass house.
41. Why you can see the landscape outside Philip Johnson’s Glass House at night.
42. How a scrim works.
43. That light is a signal.
44. Of hope.
45. Of distress.
46. Of support and solidarity.
47. Of power.
48. That it can convey so much unspoken information.
49. How it can be used as a weapon.
50. How a Fresnel lens works.
51. That light travels in a straight line.
52. That light is both a particle and a wave.
53. The anatomy of our eyes.
54. How the eye ages.
55. Empathy for young eyes.
56. Empathy for aging eyes.
57. (Empathy, in general.)
58. Calibrating light for different eyes.
59. The difference between scotopic and photopic vision.
60. How Mesopic vision allows us to perceive low light conditions
61. The pain of stubbing your toe in the dark.
62. How quickly your eyes adjust when you flip on the lights at night.
63. Awareness that some people are tetrachromats.
64. Awareness that some people are dichromats.
65. With that awareness, the realization that our perception of color is not the same.
66. That Peacock Mantis Shrimp have 16 photoreceptors to perceive colors.
67. That Peacock Mantis Shrimp can’t tell the difference between colors.
68. Bioluminescence!
69. How to tell a story.
70. If you are comfortable on a ladder.
71. How our work contributes to light pollution.
72. Elemental states of light: direct, indirect, and diffused.
73. The sight of your body reflected in various fun house mirrors.
74. To understand and appreciate the crepuscular rays of a sunset.
75. Who benefits from a lighting rebate.
76. The pop of an incandescent lamp when it is switched on for the last time.
77. Why we continue to use more light even when our sources are more efficient.
78. Planned obsolescence.
79. The difference between wiring in parallel or in series.
80. The shape of shadows during a solar eclipse.
81. The facts and hype about UVC light.
82. What it means to be in the dark in the city.
83. What it means to be in the dark in the suburbs.
84. What it means to be in the dark in the middle of a park or a plain.
85. How to tell where there is density from sky glow.
86. The difference between umbra and penumbra.
87. How light collects in a dew drop.
88. The purpose of a ballast.
89. The vilification of fluorescent light.
90. Why fluorescents deserve that reputation.
91. Why they don’t.
92. How PCBs are disposed of.
93. If the disposal site is still polluted.
94. Learn the rules.
95. Break them.
96. Care about people.
97. Care about animals.
98. Care about the planet.
99. Buildings don’t have feelings.
100. Black, brown, and indigenous lives matter.
101. Trans lives matter.
102. A raspy throat after an all-day protest.
103. Just because you can light it, doesn’t mean you should.
104. That fireflies communicate through flashes of light.
105. Manhattanhenge
106. The importance of Shuji Nakamura and the first practical blue LED
107. How to light a mirror.
108. Don’t.
109. Why some restrooms in the UK have used blue lights in public restrooms.
110. Jane Jacobs and eyes on the street. (Modified from Michael Sorkin’s list)
111. Vernacular shade structures around the world.
112. Snow glitter.
113. How to analyze a script.
114. How to read a drawing.
115. How to use a scale ruler.
116. How to diagram.
117. The quality of light passing through ice. (from Michael Sorkin’s list)
118. Who controls data.
119. The joy of seeing a seedling sprout out of the dirt.
120. What the client wants. (from Michael Sorkin’s list)
121. What the client thinks it wants. (from Michael Sorkin’s list)
122. What the client can afford. (from Michael Sorkin’s list)
123. What the planet can afford. (from Michael Sorkin’s list)
124. Why you call electric light, artificial light.
125. Tipton Blue.
126. Who Tipton Blue is named after: Jennifer Tipton.
127. Motoko Ishii.
128. All of the women who have contributed to lighting but not been recognized.
129. Wire gauges and voltage drop.
130. That a guideline is not a requirement.
131. The energy code.
132. Some physics, even if you didn’t do well at it in school.
133. Some trigonometry.
134. A smattering of common sense.
135. Noticing when you feel joy.
136. Observing to understand the cause or source of that joy.
137. Noticing when you feel uncomfortable.
138. Naming what you feel.
139. Where the sun rises.
140. Where it sets.
141. The depth of your breath.
142. How apricity feels. To be warmed by the sun or feel the warmth of the sun on a cold day.
143. Albedo: the fraction of sunlight that is diffusely reflected by a body, typically the moon.
144. Light of place.
145. The color of the ocean on a cloudy day.
146. On a sunny day.
147. The phenomenon of aurora borealis.
148. The sound that it makes.
149. How to create a rainbow.
150. Silver lining and what it represents.
151. The cone of light visible on a foggy night
152. Chiaroscuro.
153. Why RGBW is not always an answer.
154. The pattern of artificial light at night, seen from turtles (Modified from Michael Sorkin’s list).
155. Circadian cycle.
156. Less is more.
157. The colors of a candle flame.
158. Art vs. Science.
159. Monet, light, and shadow.
160. The psychological impact of light
161. And color.
162. LEDs.
163. And what’s next?
164. The feeling of being blinded by light.
165. The importance of landscape lighting at night
166.The view out to the horizon, not looking into your own reflection.
167. It’s all in the details.
168. Why no one wants to see reflected LED diodes on surfaces.
169. The importance of ambient lighting
170. The wages of electricians (Modified from Michael Sorkin’s list)
171. Communication, communication, communication
172. The importance of reviewing submittals and shop drawings.
173. Light and safety.
174. What safety means to people.
175. What it feels like.
176. What it looks like.
177. Light and justice.
178. The concept of perception.
179. Why you think lighting does any good. (Modified from Michael Sorkin’s list)
180. Quantity vs. Quality.
181. How lighting impacts other disciplines.
182. What it means to be stewards of light.
183. How to embrace the role as an educator.
184. James Turrell and his edge detail.
185. Mock-up is king.
186. What 1fc looks and feels like.
187. The idea of too bright (Modified from Michael Sorkin’s list).
188. The idea of too dark (Modified from Michael Sorkin’s list).
189. How to train your eyes to see details.
190. Why people are still nostalgic about incandescent and halogen lamps.
191. How to budget for a project.
192. Texture and light.
193. Context.
194. Scale.
195. The black body curve.
196. The order of importance between light fixtures, duct work, and sprinklers.
197. Vacancy vs. occupancy sensor.
198. That the Lighting industry is one big community.
199. Beam angles.
200. Center Beam Candle Power (CBCP).
201. To shield.
202. To snoot.
203. To dim!
204. How lighting can be used to subjugate.
205. How lighting can be used to elevate.
206. How to read the cool color of north light and distinguish it from the warmth of southern light.
207. Inverse square law.
208. Rule of thumb- the height of wall = 1/4 setback.
209. Edge of perceptible contrast -2:1.
210. Henry Plummer’s writing about daylighting and architecture.
211. That sustainability is social justice work.
212. Fiber optics and all its glory.
213. Lighting as wayfinding.
214. Design thinking.
215. Concept development.
216. How orientation affects the intersection of sun & sky.
217. How to find the direct solar angle of the sun
218. How to read a sun path diagram.
219. An appreciation for shadow.
220. An appreciation for darkness.
221. Jun'ichirō Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows.
222. The cultural and historical context when the essay was written in 1933.
223. Practicing critical thinking and analysis when taking in information.
224. How reflected color enhances enlivens a space.
225. How to filter light.
226. It takes a village to complete a project.
227. Luminance vs Illuminance.
228. The joy and agony of lighting calculation in AGI.
229. Environmental factors and lighting.
230. Lighting metrics.
231. How lighting impacts species and habitats.
232. How romantic dining light doesn’t need to entail using your flashlights to read the menu.
233. How to visualize lighting.
234. Practicing the face or reaction you will have when someone asks, "What do you do?"
235. Reveling in the common response: "Lighting is so important."
236. Being mesmerized by the hum of an incandescent filament.
237. Knowing that while LEDs are not a magical solution, our commitment to the earth's survival is necessary.
238. Heliodon.
239. The difference between near field and far field photometry.
240. Architectural lighting, theatrical lighting, and all that is in between.
241. Yell “Going Dark” to see who is a theatre geek.
242. Designing for the past, present, and future.
243. How to make shadow puppets.
244. That cats love to play with lasers.
245. And humans are fascinated by them too.
246. That light is music to our eyes.
247. How to endure the annoyance of flickering lights.
248. How to specify lighting that doesn’t flicker.
249. The future of lighting education is the responsibility of everyone in the industry.
250. That lighting should be accessible for all.