Lighting Design Services

With our small-firm mindset, we specialize in projects with a unique problem to solve.  

Parking garage elevator lobby lighting design
The 2.1Msqft/200Ksqm newly opened SFO LTPG2, which will produce 289% of the energy consumed. Kwan Henmi/FMG Architects

BIM from the Beginning

Founded in 2014, Minuscule Lighting Design was able to realize the full benefits of BIM automation without having one foot stuck in the 2D past. As a result, we can handle very large projects efficiently. 

Many of our quality control procedures are partially or fully automated, which means we can stay focused on design goals instead of getting lost in the documentation.

Interior Lighting Design

How do you want your space to be perceived by its occupants? Warm and inviting? Cheerful and active? Secluded and personal? This has everything to do with lighting. 

Lobby with large-scale lighting feature

We have a ‘small firm’ management philosophy with personal attention by principals to every project, and this means that your design goals don’t get lost in translation.

A large canopy with integrated linear lighting

Minuscule Lighting Design has extensive experience with the particular toolbox that night-time placemaking requires.

Exterior Lighting Design

Lighting for exterior spaces is a different problem with different solutions— vision doesn’t work the same in a night-time environment. 

Night-time ambience created through lighting

Lighting Controls Design

Lighting controls design can have a huge effect on both occupant satisfaction and energy savings, but too often it’s an afterthought in the design process. 

Schematic controls design for The Speakeasy
Diagram demonstrating energy savings through lighting controls
Sankey diagram of the lighting energy usage in the garage. Lighting controls can reduce energy usage by 70% or more.

For projects which are attempting something unique or unprecedented, providing both lighting and controls as an integrated design is of critical importance.  Minuscule Lighting Design has provided controls design for a number of high-profile, award-winning projects. 

West Berkeley Public Library, the first zero-net public library in California.

Zero-Net Energy Lighting Design

Lighting is a significant contributor to building energy usage, but ZNE lighting doesn’t have to be basic.  It does require careful design to the task to avoid overlighting or underlighting, and a holistic approach to lighting and controls.

CSU Chico Behavioral & Social Science Building
Custom historical lighting fixture detail
A custom decorative lighting fixture for a commercial office

Custom Fixture Design

Sometimes, the thing you want doesn’t exist yet, or doesn’t exist any longer. We have relationships with custom manufacturers and artisans and can simplify the custom fixture creation process.

Custom Lighting Fixture Sketch
3D render of exterior landscape lighting
A visualization of a rooftop amenity deck gives us a sense of the vibe in addition to verifying required light levels.

We use photometric software from an early design phase to test out different lighting concepts.  The renderings they produce are not intended to be photorealistic, but they do show an accurate photometric distribution of the lighting, and they’re fast enough to be used concurrently with the design process.  

Previsualization

Traditionally architectural renderings are somewhat time-consuming and expensive to produce, and so are generally only utilized to show a final design for approval by stakeholders.