Designing for Darkness: An Interview with Vellachi Ganesan

Activists expended considerable effort in the past few decades to increase public awareness of light pollution and dark night skies. That effort has produced results in the form of more web searches on those terms and more news stories about them. While we understand the problem of light pollution and have identified effective technical solutions, the world has been slow to take them up. The lighting engineering and design community is crucial to the practical implementation of these concepts. Without good outdoor lighting design, the problem and solution would remain disconnected. At the same time, knowledge of how to "design for darkness" has been slow to diffuse into this community.

To better understand the challenges lighting designers face, this month we chat with one of them. Vellachi Ganesan is a designer, artist and educator who has worked internationally with light for over a decade. In her design practice, Ganesan explores the poetic, technical, and healing qualities of light while also advocating for the preservation of dark skies. Her work includes global light installations, responsible lighting design, and teaching Dark Sky Studies at the University of Utah, where she inspires communities to engage thoughtfully with light and darkness in shaping healthier environments.

The interview follows Ganesan's career path from architectural lighting design to dark sky advocacy, emphasizing her belief that vibrant urban environments can coexist with dark skies through the use of smart technology and thoughtful, contextual design. She also details the launch of her new practice, Studio Jyothi (Studio of Light), and an exciting interdisciplinary research collaboration exploring the profound connection between dark skies and mental health.

The interview below is lightly edited for clarity and brevity only.


DSC: Can you tell me a little about your background? What’s your background? How did you come into lighting?

VG: My background is in architecture and architectural lighting design. Even as I started in architecture school, I was obsessed with light and shadow. As I designed my first projects, I would think “how can I design this space so that the (natural) light would create a certain atmosphere?” Louis Kahn was a big influence, alongside Peter Zumthor and Tadao Ando, all of whose works touched me deeply because of their use of light. In my third year of architecture school, I stumbled upon the incredible and phenomenal work of renowned light artist James Turrell. First, intrigued by the images of his work in magazines and books with vivid colors and dream-like qualities, I started making numerous experimental architectural models for school with similar (artificial) light aesthetics. Then, I got the chance to experience his work, which held the element of surprise and the realization that it is our perception that creates our reality. It became the goal for me, to make work – both art and architecture – that would touch the human being deeply, and lighting, both natural and artificial, was the way to do it.


DSC: When and how did you first learn about dark skies?
VG: The introduction to dark skies came in a most serendipitous way when I moved to Utah in 2014. I met Stephen Goldsmith, who then was a professor of Urban Ecologies at the University of Utah and the chair of the Consortium for Dark Sky Studies, and he invited me to a meeting for CDSS. This was my first time interacting with the concept of dark skies with folks outside the lighting design world where conversations expanded into disciplines of astronomy and physics, biology and ecology, astrotourism and more, all of which opened up a whole new world for me.


DSC: Can the preservation of dark skies live comfortably alongside a robust outdoor lighting industry?

VG: Yes, definitely! It's naturally easier in suburban and rural areas, but also possible in large urban metropolitan areas to a certain degree, if we collectively envision it and work in a concerted way towards it. The main title of my presentations for various audiences is “Vibrant Cities, Dark Skies,” reflecting my belief that the first step is that we believe it is possible.

We live in a time where we have so much technology available to us today, from precision in lighting optics to smart sensor based dimming systems. Technology coupled with thoughtful and contextual and thoughtful lighting design is the way to go – where the lighting is designed with the understanding of the activities, ecological sensitivities, preferences of the population and balancing the needs of various stakeholders in the area (including some that are conflicting). A fantastic book that talks about this is Urban Lighting, Light Pollution and Society [edited by] Josiane Meier, Ute Hasenöhrl, Katharina Krause, and Merle Pottharst.

So, to answer your question, a robust outdoor lighting industry, along with a clear collective vision, contextual understanding, thoughtful design and high technical precision, is critical in the preservation of dark skies, especially in large metropolitan areas.


DSC: What kinds of challenges do you encounter in designing projects to minimize their impact on the nighttime environment?

VG: In the beginning, when I’d moved from Singapore to Salt Lake City, it was my own design tools. I had to reconsider what to light [and] how to light, and to develop my own design strategies to create the atmosphere I envision while minimizing light towards the sky and light trespass outside the project boundaries. Another challenge is balancing dark sky design principles and goals with the minimum lighting level requirements set by other guidelines, for example, the health code for swimming pool lighting at night. And some clients want what they want and don't have regard towards dark skies, especially if there are no regulations. In these cases, sometimes advocacy for dark skies works, and sometimes it’s disregarded.

DSC: What sort of level of awareness do your clients have about these issues? Do any come to you specifically because they want design work with dark skies in mind?

VG: It’s really a spectrum, a bit of everything. Some clients have projects in places where there are strict dark-sky ordinances and come to me to design lighting that would comply. Some clients truly care about dark skies, even when there are no requirements or restrictions. And some clients unfortunately don’t care, even when I try to advocate for more dark sky friendly lighting. These are the moments when I’ve felt defeated. It’s all part of life, I suppose.


DSC: What do you see as the technological cutting edge of outdoor lighting right now, or on the horizon?

VG: In a general sense, the use of sensors and smart lighting technologies. For example, street lighting can be set a dim level and later brightened [as needed]. This is technology that has been here for some time, but its widespread adoption can positively affect nighttime lighting. 

A specific innovation that I’m fascinated with and hope to use soon are "gobos" for facade lighting, typically for heritage buildings. Often, heritage building are designed with much uplight, to graze and express intricate architectural details as well as for ease of maintenance. But with high precision gobo projectors, facade lighting can be designed and executed at a much lower lumen out, with significantly less uplight and with simplified maintenance. 

DSC: What do you wish your clients (and the broader public) knew about outdoor lighting design?

VG: Light pollution is real pollution, and the impacts of light pollution are affecting our health and ecology. We need to take addressing the issue seriously. Our human population is consuming both indoor and outdoor light as a commodity now more than ever, be it as lighting or through screens, advertising and more.  Reducing light consumption and pollution has tremendous benefits for our human health, including our mental health. Darkness and connection to the cosmos is essential for our well being.  Also, dark sky lighting doesn’t mean “dead” atmospheres. Vibrant environments balanced for dark skies is possible with good lighting design.


DSC: What's next for you in your career?
VG: I’ve set up my own Lighting + Darkness design & research practice, Studio Jyothi. We are based in Salt Lake City but have collaborations across the US. The vision is for a better balance of lighting and darkness, which is key in both human health and planetary health and wellness. We offer full lighting services, including dark sky friendly lighting design. We are also starting a new collaboration for research surrounding dark skies with mental health, with professors in architecture, phenomenology, ophthalmology, neuroscience and anthropology. This has been particularly energizing and I’m very excited for it.