It should be accessible, intentional and controllable, says lighting design specialist Sebastien Panouille
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Sebastien Panouille, founder and principal of specialist lighting design studio ThinkL, turns his talents to a range of projects from residential homes to large scale installations, but his core philosophy remains the same: good lighting should be accessible, intentional and controllable.
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Ahead of his participation in this years Interior Design Show (IDS) at the Vancouver Convention Centre West (Sept. 24 to 27) where he is curating Illuminate, a collection vignettes presented as a “lighting village,” and co-moderating a seminar “Lessons from FIFA: How the PNE Amphitheatre Reshaped Everyday Lighting Design” on Sept. 25 with Victor Quezada, principal and architectural lighting team lead at AES Lighting, Panouille shares his thoughts on aspects of light and how illumination has evolved over the 15 years he has been working in home Canada.
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The lighting industry was not his original career choice and, but for a visit to a career fair in Lyon, France, Panouille would be practising medicine. Instead, he swapped the dream of a stethoscope for a spectrometer and after completing a degree in home automation he focused on lighting.
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Westcoast Homes
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After some years working in France, including at the Louvre and the Châtelet les Halles train station in Paris, Panouille relocated to Canada in 2013 and now is principal of ThinkL with offices in Vancouver, Langley and Toronto.
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Panouille says the big change in the lighting sector has been not so much on the quality or the efficiency of light but the control of the light source.
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“Ten years ago, it was very hard to bring an LED light source to a very, very low light level without having any disturbances like flickering or buzzing, where in today’s era, not all manufacturers, but a good 50 to 75 per cent, can deliver a very nice solution that can replace a halogen light source,” he says.
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With a portfolio that ranges from boutique retail and hospitality spaces to corporate workplaces, presentation centres and wellness environments, Panouille says regardless of the size of the project the core principles of good lighting design should apply.
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These are: intentionality: to avoid generic lighting grids — every light source should serve a specific purpose to prevent over-lighting; user control and operability — users must be able to adapt lighting levels to their specific tasks; and, a “lighting match” — trusting the process and making sure people involved in the project can advise on accurate needs and costs, balance quantity and quality and focus on thoughtful placement and quality fixtures.
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Panouille believes professional advice is valuable for projects of any size and budget, from small home renovations to large commercial offices, and that lighting decisions should be carefully considered and integrated into a project early.
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While many people who move into homes accept the existing lighting and often don’t make any changes, Panouille suggests there are several simple upgrades that can make a difference to the quality of light.
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“Ninety per cent of the people who move into a new condo will most likely have overhead lighting, eventually they will install a decorative lighting luminaire above their dining table, and they always have decorative lamps,” he says. “It’s always more interesting to enter a space where there [are different light sources]. If there are no layers of light, then the ambience can feel flat.”
