Process
Design the effect, specify the tools, then make sure it gets built.
Seven steps. The early ones decide what the lighting is for; the later ones make sure that intent survives construction.
- Step 1.
Discovery
Understand the project, the architecture, and how the house will actually be lived in.
- Step 2.
Assessment
Review the drawings, the site, and the conditions the design has to work within.
- Step 3.
Lighting Concept
Decide what should be illuminated, what should stay quiet, and how the layers work.
- Step 4.
Design and Specification
Turn the concept into locations, optics, fixtures, controls, and scenes.
- Step 5.
Coordination
Work with the people who have to build it.
- Step 6.
Installation Review
Check the critical details while they can still be corrected.
- Step 7.
Aiming and Refinement
Aim the fixtures, set the dimming, build the scenes, and hand it over.
Not every project uses every step. A focused consultation may involve only the first three; a new home uses all seven. The scope is agreed in writing before work begins.
Timing
When you start changes what is possible.
During architectural design
Everything is available
Ceilings, soffits, cabinetry, and framing can be shaped around the light.
Before electrical rough-in
The layout is still a decision
Fixture locations, control zones, and switching can still be set deliberately.
After the ceilings close
Optics, trims, dimming, aiming
Locations are fixed, but a great deal is still improvable.
The last ten percent
Dimming is a design decision.
Good lighting warms as it dims. Setting that range is the final step, and the one most often skipped.
Dim to warm
Illustrative — not photometric
100% output · ≈2700K
Start with a conversation about where your project is.
Tell us the stage you are at and what is still changeable. That determines everything else.
Rio Grande Valley and South Texas · kevin@studiotuuri.com