client-centered design

For more than 10 years now, outdoor rooms have been growing steadily in both popularity and complexity.  That’s great, because it enables designers – architects, landscape architects, landscape designers and pool builders alike – to bring interiors outside and provide living spaces where activities previously associated strictly with indoor spaces can move comfortably into the great outdoors. It’s a fantastic way to expand living areas and create useful spaces while also adding entirely new types of experiences to the lives of homeowners. Among this trend’s many implications is that it has challenged landscape lighting designers to think in all-new ways about how we light exterior spaces.  For starters, we need to be aware that most homeowners will enjoy these spaces exclusively after dark – and also be conscious of the fact that these environments require much more complicated lighting schemes than classic suburban patios ever did.    The differences are so profound that I believe lighting designers need to talk to clients in new ways that