Through a case study, this paper presents a new way of designing intelligent classroom lighting to meet the users’ needs. A mix of ethnographic methods (field observations and interviews) were used to investigate the everyday learning activities at a middle school in Copenhagen in order to determine how lighting can support the learning environment. Based on the investigations, lighting design criteria and three predefined lighting scenes are proposed as a new design for meeting the needs of students and teachers during three types of activities. The scenes focus on smartboard visibility and on creating a visual focus on the teacher who is the centre of attention during most activities. It is hypothesised that if the scenes are used according to the different types of activities this would enable the teacher to create structure in the lessons and through this improve the behaviour of the students.