In this episode we talk with Martina Frattura - a visionary lighting designer, researcher, and PhD student at the University of Bologna in Architecture and Design Cultures.

Enjoy! 

In this episode, we talk with Associate Professor Tarek Rakha to explore the nuances of net-zero versus net-positive buildings and address the role that electric and natural lighting have when aiming to achieve energy efficiency. Further, we discuss how specific research and tangible data serve as critical allies for vulnerable communities to face the impacts of climate change and inequality.  Additionally, Professor Rakha introduces us to his pioneering startup, Lamarr.AI, which utilizes advanced drone technology and artificial intelligence to analyze building structures. An initiative that aims to enhance energy efficiency in existing buildings and promote decarbonization efforts, thereby contributing to a more sustainable future.

In this episode, Maha and Isabel give a summary about the outcomes and main findings of the “Sustainable Lighting Design” project and review the reasons that led them to start the project.

In this episode, we talk with Lisa Heschong, architect and founding principal of the Heschong Mahone Group (HMG), a building science consulting firm, where she led groundbreaking research showing the relationship between daylight and student test scores, retail sales, and office worker performance. Lisa is also the author of the renowned book Thermal Delight in Architecture, and the most recently published book Visual Delight in Architecture, along with many groundbreaking technical publications about daylighting and energy efficiency in buildings.

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Till Roenneberg, President of the World Federation of Societies for Chronobiology, and former President of the European Society for Rhythms Research. He has initiated and directed several large national and international research networks and received several international research prizes and has been named “Ambassador of Sleep” by the German Sleep Foundation. Till has published more than 200 papers that have been cited more than 21,000 times and has written two books, “Internal Time” and “The Right to Sleep”.

We discuss with Till our biological needs for light and darkness, the causes and consequences of Social Jetlag, Daylight Saving Time, and what key features a building should have to support our circadian rhythm.

This podcast is part of a research-in-practice project on sustainable lighting design by Maha Shalaby & Isabel Villar. 

In this episode, we talk with Sebastian Knoche, leader of Trilux lighting research team and an active member of the European Repro-Light research project. 

Repro-light is a European research project that aims to support the European lighting industry in moving towards a more sustainable and competitive future.

We discuss with Sebastian the outcomes of Repro-light, the lessons learned, as well as the myths and truths that every person working with lighting should take into consideration when having sustainability in focus.

This podcast is part of a research-in-practice project on sustainable lighting design by Maha Shalaby & Isabel Villar.

Pete Strasser is the Technical Director of the International Dark Sky Association, IDA. IDA is a non-profit organization,  whose mission is to “preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies through environmentally responsible outdoor lighting.  

In this episode we talk with Pete about how artificial lighting at night is impacting our environment, what we can do as lighting designers and users to revert this, and what available technical solutions and tools are at hand to help us protecting the dark sky.

This podcast is part of a research-in-practice project on sustainable lighting design by Maha Shalaby & Isabel Villar.