Lighting Designer Xingying Peng New York City, Art and humanity of light insights, NYC lamp stylist

The Art and Humanity of Light: Insights from Lighting Designer Xingying Peng

24 October 2024

Author: Adrian Welch

In the past decade, the fields of architectural design and technology have developed closely, bringing lighting design into the spotlight. Whether we notice it or not, lighting constantly influences our lives. Recently, we spoke with Xingying, a lighting designer based in NYC, to explore the deeper significance of lighting design and her views on innovation.

Lighting Designer Xingying Peng insights

“Without light, we cannot see,” Peng states. “It might sound silly, but lighting is a basic necessity, and its various qualities have a direct impact on our physical and mental states.” She recalls studying a Turner painting at school, ‘Regulus,” about the Roman leader Regulus, who was captured by the Carthaginians and forced to stare at the sun until he went blind. “As a designer, this reminds me that light has a direct effect. Poor design can genuinely harm your eyes.” Traditional indoor lighting often prioritizes brightness, neglecting aesthetics and user experience, while some emerging designs focus solely on artistic expression. “With each project, I aim for a balance—practicality, aesthetics, energy efficiency, and a human-centered approach.”

Peng holds an MFA in lighting design from Parsons School of Design, one of the world’s leading design institutions. The cultural differences between East and West influence her design style. She feels that her traditional education emphasized technical skills, while her studies abroad focused on collaboration and conceptual storytelling—asking questions like, “Where does your design stand? What story lies behind your concept?” During her time as a stage lighting designer, she participated in various Asian theater festivals, including the Beijing Youth Drama Festival and the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival. She has also served as a guest lighting designer at the Mammoth Theater in Washington, D.C. For her, integrating the people and stories behind a project into her design comes naturally. She believes that truly innovative design must start with the human experience.

In 2019, Peng joined a leading architectural lighting consultancy in New York, quickly becoming a key figure in the company. Her first project involved designing the office for TD Bank at One Vanderbilt Avenue, a landmark in New York City. This client aspired to blend TD Bank’s brand identity with the essence of the city. Collaborating with lighting manufacturers and architectural teams, she created a distinctive large art chandelier in the bank’s signature deep green color, incorporating elements that conveyed unique “New York moments” throughout the office.

In recent years, she has become active in lighting design in the corporate office sector and has also delved into healthcare and educational lighting. Her designs for the Citizens Bank flagship in Philadelphia and the CRISPR headquarters in Boston earned recognition, winning the 2022 Illuminating Engineering Society Award and the 2023 LIT International Lighting Design Award, respectively. At her firm, she manages multiple large-scale hospital and office projects while frequently participating in industry conferences to discuss cutting-edge design concepts.

“A small design decision can lead to significant innovation.” Currently, she is working on the new NewYork-Presbyterian Cancer Center, collaborating with the renowned Studio Gang. She proposed lowering color temperatures to enhance the center’s homely feel and lessen the oppressive atmosphere often associated with hospitals. This seemingly simple change represents a shift rarely attempted in healthcare lighting and sets a precedent for future facilities. She believes that future designs in healthcare and offices will increasingly resemble those in the hospitality sector, with warmer color temperatures and blurred boundaries between spaces. “Lighting design must closely follow architectural intentions, integrating seamlessly into the space and the user’s experience.”

While a decade ago, the market offered limited options for energy-efficient and aesthetically pleasing fixtures, today’s lighting market is vibrant and diverse, with users becoming more aware of their needs. Peng believes that designers now have ample resources to innovate and a responsibility to create subtle lighting experiences for users. Good lighting design should integrate fully into life, with a future full of possibilities. She encourages young designers to observe the light around them—natural light, artificial light, and moments of darkness—and to find ways to describe it, allowing it to enrich everyday experiences.

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