Independent of country of residence, the 637 building/design industry practitioners responding to the IALD Certification Survey indicate the seven domains of professional practice researched by the Credentialing Task Force accurately reflect the practice of architectural lighting design (average rating 4.1 out of 5) and are important to the profession (average rating 4.66).

The primary purpose of the certification survey was to determine how well the proposed domains of professional practice reflect what competent architectural designers do. The task force identified seven domains over the course of its two years of research [Table 1 : Domains of Practice]. Respondents were asked to rate how well the domains describe what practitioners do and to rate the importance of the specific domain to the profession on a scale of 0-5, with 0 corresponding to “not at all” and 5 meaning “very” [Table 2 : Overall Mean Rankings]. The task force is now conducting a pilot study to test the assessment process for an evidence-based certification for architectural lighting designers based on the domains of practice.

Geographic spread of respondents was diverse, with more than 36 countries represented by design/build practitioners answering the survey. A majority of respondents had 12 or more years of experience. When asked about their primary role, 67% chose architectural lighting designer from a list of 27 roles. The next most frequently cited roles were engineer (8.6%), manufacturer (5.8%), live events (4.4%), educator (4.1%) and architect (3%). Among the architectural lighting designers responding to the survey, 63.4% were male and 34.8% were female.

Of particular interest was the diversity of practice amongst responding architectural lighting designers. On average, respondents selected five areas of practice from a list of 18 choices. The most frequently selected practice areas were commercial (82%), hospitality (62%), cultural (60%), residential (55%), institutions (54%), healthcare (43%), entertainment (35%), finance (30%), research (29%) and sporting events (26%).

For more information about the IALD Credentialing Task Force’s ongoing work to develop a certification in architectural lighting design, click here. The site contains frequently asked questions about certification, an organizational update detailing current actions of the task force, and a series of resources on credentialing.

Craig DiLouie

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