PANEL DISCUSSION: Steal That Detail
Rachel Gibney, Available Light; Lillian Knoerzer, The Lighting Practice;
Ilva Dodaj, Domingo Gonzalez Associates; and Jess Krometis, Hartranft Lighting Design
Tuesday
March 16, 2021
1:30pm – 3:00pm EST
DESIGN
Credits
1.5 LU – Elective
Intermediate
This presentation will feature four senior lighting designers that will each discuss a project with one particularly challenging lighting detail. Each panelist will review the detail and how it attributed to the overall design concept. From there they will walk the audience through the collaboration process between many different trades but how it ultimately came together and proved to be critical to the success of a project. The purpose of this panel is to spread knowledge, experience, critical thinking and lesson learned while taking a custom/specialty lighting element from initial design through installation and on to the final end product.
Learning Objectives
1. Collaboration techniques between lighting designer, architect, engineer, & systems integrator.
2. Evaluate and weigh the various factors of custom/specialty lighting details.
3. Utilize a better understanding of field conditions that drive design ideas to adapt while maintaining the design integrity.
4. Gain a better understanding of how a design idea is carried through a project from start to finish.
SPEAKERS
Rachel Gibney
Senior Associate, Available Light
Rachel Gibney hails from the great state of Arizona where she began her lighting design career for companies such as the Arizona Classical Theatre and the Arizona Repertory Theatre. Her interest in architectural lighting design led her to join the staff at Available Light, initially as an intern, working her way up to Senior Associate, and now as one of the company’s shareholders. Since 2013, Rachel has been instrumental to the success of many of Available Light’s award-winning museum and architectural projects. As a leader, Rachel contributes to the field of lighting design in her involvement with Women in Lighting + Design, NY chapter and two IES technical standards committees. Rachel also sits on the IES Lumens Award Committee.
Outside of Available Light, Rachel harness her love of education as an adjunct lighting professor at North Carolina School of the Arts where she teaches architectural lighting and BIM software to theatrical lighting design students.
Most recently, Rachel led the Amherst College New Science Center project, earning the 2020 IES Award of Merit and the 2019 AIA Cote Top Ten recipient for Integration. In 2017, she was named as one of Lighting Magazine’s International 40 Under 40 Lighting Designers. Another of Rachel’s projects, the National Archives Rotunda, won both the 2014 Architectural Lighting Magazine Design Award and the 2015 IALD Award of Merit.
Lillian Knoerzer
Project Manager, The Lighting Practice
Lillian Knoerzer, a native of western New York, joined The Lighting Practice in 2013 and was promoted to Project Manager in 2017. She developed her eye for design while studying interior design at SUNY Buffalo State College. After graduation, Lily gained industry experience working for a lighting manufacturer, a Philadelphia-area lighting distributor, then a lighting designer for a Philadelphia firm. Lily’s project work includes corporate interiors, tenant fit-outs, retail, landscape lighting, and higher education. She is the recipient of an IES Award of Merit for Atlantic Health System Chambers Center, as well as two IES Section Awards for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Roberts Center and University of Maryland College Park Clark Hall. Since joining TLP, Lily has used her creativity and drive to educate her peers and future generations through mentorship, industry involvement, and internal firm leadership. Lily is a member of TLP’s internal Light + Health group, Diversity Equity Inclusion task force, and Team Structure task force. Through her work with DEI and Team Structure task forces, Lily is actively championing internal and external processes that support equitable and inclusive practices for the firm. Through the Light + Health group Lily is expanding her knowledge as well as educating TLP’s team and clients on the impact of light and ways electric lighting can benefit people within a space. An active member of the IALD and WILD Philadelphia, she has planned and executed local educational and networking events for both organizations and was IALD Philadelphia Chapter Coordinator from 2015-2019. A dedicated mentor, Lily worked with Girls Inc.’s 2016 CREW Camp developing a single-day AEC-focused program for middle school girls. As an ACE Mentor, Lily educates high school students, introducing them to design thinking and potential AEC career paths. Her continued involvement with ACE reinforces her passion for the industry.
Ilva Dodaj
Senior Associate, Domingo Gonzalez Associates
Ilva is a trained architect who transitioned to architectural lighting in 2007 when joining Domingo Gonzalez Associates. In her time with the firm she has risen quickly to Senior Associate and has built an extensive experience leading and managing the design of numerous challenging and diverse award-winning projects across the Unites States and Canada. Her projects span in transportation, infrastructure, historical preservation, schools, offices, public parks, retail centers, hospitality, and master plans, making her an invaluable asset to the firm.
Notable recent and many award winning projects include the Tappan Zee/Mario Cuomo Bridge, Delta’s new terminal at LaGuardia Airport, Maggie Dealey Park in Chicago, West Side Multimodal in San Antonio, the interior of Toronto’s “front door,” its Union Station (which amongst other efforts required the design from scratch of historically inspired chandeliers). Ilva has led the lighting design for DGA for all of the Phase 2 scope of the recently opened Moynihan Train Hall in NYC.
In her words, the most satisfying investment of her time is split between the mentoring of new staff; the volunteer work in several IES technical standards committees; and dearest of all, teaching for the past 9 years at her alma mater as an Adjunct Professor in Architectural Environmental Systems/ Technology and Architectural Lighting Design.
In 2018 for demonstrated excellence as an emerging lighting designer she was the recipient of the 40 Under 40 Lighting Designer of North America Award.
Jess Krometis
Senior Designer, Hartranft Lighting Design
Jessica Krometis (pronouns: she/her/hers) brings her theatrical sensibilities, honed through a decade in the Chicago theatre scene, to the architectural lighting world. She holds an MFA from Northwestern University with her concentration in Lighting Design for the Stage. Before designing light for architecture and exhibits, she designed countless productions in the Chicago area and New York City for theatre, dance, special events, and museum exhibits. Jessica is a senior designer at Hartranft Lighting Design located in Washington, DC. Her recent projects include museums, media studios, office campuses, high-end residential, restaurants, and hospitality. She has designed and programmed colorful, dynamic building facades and full environmental spaces. Awards include an IES Award of Merit for The International Spy Museum (Architecture), IES Section Awards for Witte Museum, Back Bay Beats, and District Burlington as well as an AAM Special Achievement Award for Visual Engagement for National Museum of Natural History, Deep Time. Jessica has spoken at the IES Annual Conference and the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival as well as Northwestern University and Columbia College Chicago. She was the IALD New England Chapter coordinator from 2016-2019. She is currently on the IALD Education Trust Stipend Committee as well as the Content Advisory Committee for LightFair International 2020-2022.