September 19, 2025

Global Lighting History Rewritten: New Research Project Spotlights Overlooked Pioneers in Architectural Lighting Design

New York, NY — A groundbreaking research initiative is reshaping the global understanding of architectural lighting design history. Spearheaded by Glenn Shrum, Associate Professor of Lighting Design and Interdisciplinary Practice at Parsons School of Design, the Pioneers of Architectural Lighting Design research project aims to expand the understanding of architectural lighting design history to include a more expansive understanding of the discipline and the group of individuals that were instrumental in its growth. This research archive seeks to expand the list of Pioneers of Architectural Lighting Design to include individuals that contributed to the growth of the field in local communities worldwide, enabling more members of the architectural lighting design community to understand the discipline's origins in their local contexts.

PALD Research Project - History

The research initiative began when Professor Shrum prepared his presentation, Founding Practice: Originators of Lighting Design on the VIrtual Lighting Design Community online platform (https://vld.community/). After cataloging the first documented architectural lighting designers worldwide, Shrum recognized that the available history of architectural lighting design largely neglected pioneering individuals outside of North America and Western Europe.

Recognizing this oversight, Shrum imagined a project that would provide a more inclusive understanding of architectural lighting design history that documents and celebrates the diversity of the architectural lighting design around the world.

The project started with a Pilot study to better understand parameters and processes of the archive by researching architectural lighting design in limited nations. A presentation of the pilot research project was shared with an enthusiastic audience at IALD ENlighten Europe 2024 in London. Support for the project in the community was strong and the project scope expanded to include more national research teams, committed to uncovering the history of the profession in their local contexts.

In spring 2025, the PALD research team officially launched the project at a public event at Parsons School of Design in New York. Presenters included IES New York City History Committee who shared details of the conditions that led Richard Kelly to establish his architectural lighting design practice, the first in the USA and globally. Additional national PALD research updates were shared by teams from China, Colombia, France, Greece, India, Indonesia, Korea, Lebanon, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Taiwan, and Turkey. A full video recording of the event is accessible for free at this link.