»The students get the best of both worlds«

Professor Kyriakou, what is the structure of this course of study?
This master's course includes well-proven design and planning methods for lighting design and their technical and physical background. Together with the main course on architectural lighting, courses on light art, light control and the management of light pollution are included. Aspects such as sustainability, ethical behaviour and human-centred design are taken into account. The central aim of the master's course is to qualify students of interior design, architecture and engineering sciences for the steadily growing international and interdisciplinary field of lighting design and planning.

Upon arriving from Singapore (I'm Australian), where I was working as a lighting consultant and design director, I was very impressed by the well-established lighting facilities at the light lab at the Detmold campus. The light lab was established in 1974 by my predecessor Professor Dr. Schultz and he set up the first artificial sky room in Germany.

An unknown fact is that the Detmold campus is the largest interior architecture faculty in the world with 180 students studying the bachelor degree each semester. The integration of German interior design, design science and art and craft practices, is well established in Detmold and is reflected in the teaching areas.

Another aspect that surprised me was how close Detmold is to Lüdenscheid, the epicentre of state-of-the-art German architectural lighting software, product and home automation manufacturing.

Putting this all together, it made sense to find the right industry partner to further develop lighting design at a master’s level that would strengthen our core research areas, including, perception, product design, construction and additive manufacturing processing.

DIAL provided the right profile for the master’s course and we are delighted to be able to make the connection and offer students a unique and industry-relevant post-graduate degree.

Mr Spitz, what is special about this course?
The students get the best of both worlds: the world of business at DIAL and the academic world. DIAL has been offering training for lighting design and lighting technology for over 25 years, has an accredited lighting laboratory and, with its DIALux lighting design software, has built up a network of lighting designers and lighting manufacturers all over the world.

The location of DIAL where 50% of our training also takes place, is at the centre of German lighting industry in Lüdenscheid. Companies such as BEGA, ERCO and TRILUX are very close by. During practical phases in the training it goes without saying that excursions to companies are included in the schedule. Many of the luminaire manufacturers in the area are also DIAL shareholders. Nevertheless – or precisely because so many players have a stake in DIAL – we lay great value in our training on being independent of the lighting industry and its products. All our trainers have had practical experience in lighting design and convey not only facts and knowledge but also pass on their fascination for light as a wonderful medium for design. Our seminar rooms with their diversity of photometric fittings and equipment are being continuously updated to provide clear and striking demonstrations of the effect of light.

Professor Kyriakou, how did the cooperation between the university and DIAL come about?
A fruitful meeting with Jürgen Spitz and Dieter Polle at the DIAL stand during the 2016 Light and Building Frankfurt Fair brought about the seeding of the idea. After a lot of discussion with the DIAL team, our faculty and my lighting laboratory team, we have built a 50/50 cooperation between the organisations that aims to bring about new learning opportunities in digital education and innovate lighting practises.
The result is an accredited course that is meaningful and relevant for students and the industry, it fuses lighting disciplinary theory with hands-on, in-the-field studies and digital practice. We strongly support learning through doing.

Mr Spitz, what does the course of study prepare me for?
We deal with a wide range of topics. In addition, the optional course elements enable the individual to deepen his knowledge, for example in the field of »Lighting in Public Spaces« and »Light Art« or »Product Design and Luminaire Development«.
There are multiple professional possibilities, ranging from lighting design to sales or product management in the luminaire industry.
Employers could be, for example, engineering and design consultants, wholesalers and retailers, architects and interior designers, public authorities, luminaire manufacturers or operators of lighting installations. Since light is required wherever there are people, there are countless fields of activity and opportunities for specialisation, such as shop and store lighting – from trade fair construction to a flagship store or shopping mall, for museums and exhibitions, in the restaurant and hotel industry, for private homes, health and educational facilities. But there are also opportunities in the traffic and transport sector, in office and administration buildings and in the manufacturing industry – to mention but a few.

Professor Kyriakou, who is the course of study intended for?
The course of study Master of Lighting Design is intended for graduates with a first degree (Bachelor, Diploma or comparable degree) in interior design or other creative, planning or engineering science disciplines (e.g. architecture, town planning, electrical engineering, industrial design and art or civil or mechanical engineering), with professional experience in planning of buildings and interiors or in light planning and lighting design. The master's course is conducted according to a clear international orientation and prepares the students explicitly for activities beyond Germany, in Europe and other parts of the world. All lectures and seminars are held in English.

Students who do not fulfil these requirements may nevertheless register for certain modules. Instead of a master's degree such students will be awarded a certificate »Graduate Diploma in Lighting Design«. To underline the high practical and research orientation and the interdisciplinary aspect of this course of study, the final examinations for the master's course are conducted together with an external partner or with another faculty of study.

The course of study Master Lighting Design leads to the academic degree of Master of Science (M.Sc.).
The course of study begins in the winter semester 2019. The application deadline for students is March 31, 2019.

Further information about this course of study and matriculation details can be found here.