Creating an MSc in Lighting Design in a transdisciplinary context

In recent years, lighting has undergone a revolution. New sensor technologies, intelligent control of light and new LED technology have created potentials for meeting quantitative physiological health issues as well as energy targets and functional tasks, often met through quantitative parameters. However, this technology also has the potential to meet perceptual and cultural architectural lighting design approaches, which refer to humanistic knowledge areas. To meet these diverse potentials in the process of designing with light we have to understand light as a multidimensional design element. We must move away from a traditional view, split between rational natural science as neurology, a quantitative engineering approach or an intuitive architectural artistic approach. We must design in a complex transdisciplinary context, integrating new media technology into knowledge, methods, tools and equipment (Hansen, Mullins, 2014).

Based on this approach a transdisciplinary science and engineering master program in Lighting Design was launched in 2014 at Aalborg University in Copenhagen Denmark, which integrates lighting technology, architecture and media design. The students of many different nationalities have different educational backgrounds in these fields. One of the main concerns has been how to introduce the problem based learning (PBL) (Kolmos, Graff 2014) and transdisciplinary design aspects of the program to give the students a common understanding of, and the ability to combine technical and humanistic knowledge in an integrated creative design process. These challenges are met through the pedagogical approach of the Lighting Design program, which is based on The Model of the Lighting Design Experiment (LDE). (Illustration 1, Campus Aalborg University in Copenhagen)