PLDC 2017 in Paris is complete for another year
(France) – PLDC 2017 in Paris – ‘Shift Happens’. A full week of lighting design activities.
The sixth edition of the Professional Lighting Design Convention, PLDC 2017, comprised an eventful week of learning opportunities, the opportunity to share and exchange ideas, plus a wide range of activities. The biennial convention for the international lighting design community extended its programme with the PLD Week and can confirm significant growth in the number of partners, supporters and attendees.
The interdisciplinary structure of PLDC promotes future-oriented discussion on the importance of light and the lighting design profession. Lighting designers, architects, clients, manufacturers, researchers, educators and the lighting industry were present and open to discuss the quality of light in architecture, and to discover and develop trends.
PLDC 2017 took place in partnership with the City of Paris and the local partner ACE, Association des Concepteurs Lumière et Eclairagistes.
PLDC featured three Experience rooms, six moderated discussions, and over 80 presentations. Besides the presentations in four parallel tracks, the comprehensive supporting programme also stimulated discussion and debate. Three Experience Rooms, a lighting design competition on the future of urban lighting and three excursions to landmarks in Paris, and a series of pre-convention meetings all contributed to expanding PLDC’s reputation as a global Thought Leadership event for lighting design. The event was ably supported by 64 leading companies, who together with twelve additional exhibitors demonstrated the current potential of the lighting industry. Joachim Ritter, Chair of the PLDC Steering Committee, was extremely pleased with the overall response to the convention: “The topic defined for this year’s convention was perfect. The shift in the market thanks to new technologies also means shifts within the lighting design community, giving rise to chances as well as challenges in the coming months and years. The discussions that took place at PLDC in Paris enabled professionals to gain energy and strength to embark on the way forward”.
This year, PLDC again served as an international platform for discussing and debating professional issues concerning recognition of the profession. The track Philosophy & Debate was specifically created for this purpose.
The next wave of development is just around the corner. Digital connectivity is pipped to change the lighting design world dramatically, public life being the area most affected. The impact of this and the opportunities it offers are hard to define right now, which is why they are the subject of debate.
The Gala Dinner, including the PLD Recognition Awards, was the climax to the convention. More than 800 guests had the chance to be present at the announcement of the winners of The Challenge, of the design ideas competition on The Future of Urban Lighting, and of the PLD Recognition Awards. Lighting designers and other key partners in the community were recognised in seven different categories for their outstanding contributions to the advancement of Architectural Lighting Design in the last two years.
The Awards ceremony began with the announcement of the winner of the young designers’ speaker competition The Challenge. Prize money to the amount of 1000 euros for the best presentation in the final round of The Challenge was awarded to Zhuofei Ren from Suoshi Lighting Design Studio, who gave a paper on “Living in the colours of the colourblind”. Zhuofei was coached by Paul Traynor/UK.
The first design ideas competition The Future of Urban Lighting showcased the ten best entries in an exhibition as part of the Professional Lighting Design Week. Of these ten, three were awarded prizes to the value of 5000, 3000 and 1500 euros.
First prize went to the Urban Senses team; the second prize to Kerem Asfuroglu; and the third prize to LiDS lighting design studio.
The PLD Recognition Award in the category Best Newcomer went to Carlijn Timmermans /NL for her creative visions and concepts, her active design and research work, and the dedication and responsibility she assumes as a member of the lighting design community.
The Award for Best Partner in the Industry went to iGuzzini/IT for funding and supporting Dr. Elettra Bordonaro’s Visiting Research Fellowship in the LSE Sociology Department for her work in the field of social research through a series of lighting workshops across the globe.
Aalborg University, Copenhagen/DK received the Award for Education for their transdisciplinary Master’s programme in Lighting Design, which draws on knowledge and skills in architecture, lighting engineering and media technology.
The Award for Research went to Prof. Carlo Ratti/IT for his future-oriented research on real-time cities. Through design and science, the Senseable City Lab at MIT in Boston develops and deploys tools to learn about cities.
Architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill/US, represented by their
close collaborator HLB Lighting/US accepted the Award for the
Best Daylighting Project for the U.S. State Courthouse in Los Angeles/US.
The Facade Lighting of the Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland by iart AG/CH was recognized as Best New Project for its innovative integration of a media façade into the architecture of the building.
The Award at Large was presented to LightAware for their effort to raise awareness of the impact of artificial lighting on human health and well-being, and encourage discussion and investigation into the same with the goal of making the lives of those who suffer from light sensitivity more normal.
The most anticipated award, the Lifetime Achievement Award, does not have a shortlist. In previous years the award had been presented to Prof. Dr. Heinrich Kramer, William Lam, Dr. Jonathan Speirs, Christopher Cuttle and Motoko Ishii. In Paris, Japanese lighting designer Kaoru Mende was recognised for his life’s work. His scope of design work ranges widely from architectural to urban and environmental lighting design and high profile interior lighting design. Kaoru Mende also heads the “Lighting Detectives”, a group that specializes in the study of the culture of lighting.
PLDC 2017 received an overwhelming response and recorded 2165 registered attendees. In 2019, PLDC will again serve as a driver of state-of-the-art lighting design, a platform to enable trends to be discussed and developed – taking the next step to strengthen the interdisciplinary character of the educational event. Contrary to the tradition of announcing the location for the next PLDC at the Gala Dinner, the organisers withheld their final decision. Due to the development of a long-term strategy pursuant to market developments, the location for the next PLDC will be decided by the end of 2017.
Registered attendees: 2165 from 72 different countries Partner Associations: 21
Partner Universities and Institutes: 45
Partner Cities: 2
Media Partners: 23
Partner events: 10 Sponsors and exhibitors: 76
