A London-based lighting design practice, founded in the early 1990s by Jonathan Speirs and Mark Major, that designs the lighting of buildings and cities.
Speirs Major, now called Speirs Major Light Architecture, is a lighting design practice. Its designers plan how buildings, bridges, streets and public spaces are lit, using light as part of the architecture rather than something added at the end. Its projects include the Gherkin at 30 St Mary Axe, the interior of St Paul's Cathedral, the Millennium Dome, the Royal Festival Hall restoration and the Sackler Crossing at Kew Gardens, all in London. It has also designed lighting master plans for UK cities including Cambridge, Coventry, Durham and Newcastle.
Architects Jonathan Speirs and Mark Major founded the practice in 1992 or 1993, because sources differ. Jonathan Speirs died on 18 June 2012. Keith Bradshaw became a principal in 2009, and Bradshaw and Major now lead its creative direction. The founders argued that lighting should be part of the architectural design process from the start, not a cosmetic add-on, and they call their role lighting architects. The 2020 rebrand reflects a fascination with light, form, space and time and an aim to improve the built environment and create a sense of place.
The practice is headquartered in London and also has an office in Tokyo. It once had an Edinburgh office, which closed as part of plans for international expansion, so Scotland is no longer a base. Much of its UK work is in London, and it has also worked abroad, for example at Madrid's Barajas airport Terminal 4 and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.
Wikipedia reports about 38 employees, who come from architecture, art, lighting, interior, graphic and theatrical design backgrounds. The practice has won awards including Design Practice of the Decade at the 2012 Lighting Design Awards and several IALD Radiance Awards. Those are third-party reports; the team size is not a current check. Staff from such mixed backgrounds suggest a practice where an architect, an artist and a theatre designer might work on the same scheme.
Lighting design suits people who like both art and science. Roles include lighting designers who plan the look of a space, technical staff who work out the equipment and calculations, and visualisation, project coordination and studio support. Useful subjects include physics, art, design and technology, and maths. People come into the field from architecture, interior design, theatre lighting and engineering. Current vacancies are on the practice's website.
Website: www.speirsmajor.com
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