Our colleague, the young architect Agne Milkeviciute, was invited to be a speaker in 10th LEDforum after winning a paper competition in Lighting Symposium 2018 in Stockholm and we asked her to tell us more about the event that was held in Brazil at the end of August 2019.

 ”LEDforum is known nationally and internationally for offering lecture content and high level technical and knowledge activities conducted by leading names in the world of Brazilian and international lighting, as well as presenting itself as an opportunity for lighting equipment launches, generation of new business and intense networking.

The event brings together an audience of lighting designers, architects, product designers, city planners, landscape designers, academics, developers and lighting solution providers from various regions of Brazil and Latin America.

My presentation in 10th LEDforum concentrated on the problematic field of architectural education and practice related to window role in architecture. Phenomena of window losing its primary functional purpose of daylight and view provision and becoming an only a decorative element of the façade in office typology architecture. Natural light is considered to be one of the figures to affect employees’ performance and well-being. Nevertheless, it seems that there is a big opposition between the architect’s performance and space user’s perception of window role. The aim of this research was not only to prove the problematic conclusion of window purpose topic but from the personal perspective as a professional architect and lighting designer suggest easy ways and encourage architects to evaluate natural light and view possibilities by easily navigable manners while keeping the identity of qualitative architecture. Those manners are based on visual examples and written rules to be followed in everyday practice. 5 core guidelines are expressed in a way to be easily used by architects without lighting education and special lighting software skills.
My presentation of research and steps followed through the process showed that even the most expensive and innovative daylight systems are useless when fundamental mistakes are made in the stage of architectural planning. Ignorance to window as equivalent part of architecture and forgetting capacity of light as ‘building material’ often results in elementary architectural mistakes that affect the user of the space in unfavourable ways.

Combination of well-organized conference and piece of Brazilian culture was a truly great adventure. In the conference it was a pleasure to meet so many talented and well-known designers and architects. Projects and ideas they presented were fascinating and great inspiration for future projects. Topics regarded architecture, design, lighting, inspiration, sustainability and many more. The conference was accompanied by great gatherings of lighting designers and architects’ community in extraordinary galleries.

After the conference, I had some time to explore Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Both cities were quite different, though both had a strong sense of uniqueness. Sao Paulo was a great place to explore brutalism architecture, skyscrapers, tons of concrete and maze of wires. Meanwhile, Rio greeted with wide beaches, hills and Atlantic waves. Rio gave a better impression of Brazilian culture regarding traditional food, samba and importance of religion. Both cities were stunning in their own specific way and overall Brazilian experience left unforgettable memories.” – Agne Milkeviciute, Architect