dpa lighting consultants greatly values its history but concentrates on the present and future. The Practice was established in 1958 by Architect Derek Phillips, who qualified at Liverpool University and then went on to complete a Masters course in Architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Derek met and worked with many important Architects who greatly influenced his pioneering activities as an independent Lighting Consultant. His meetings with Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier were particularly inspirational.
The Practice now has studios in Japan, the U.A.E and the UK and a substantial team who focus their thoughts on all aspects of lighting, both natural and artificial. The scale of our Practice and close working relationship between our studios means we have been able to recruit from a wide variety of backgrounds such as Architecture, Urban Design, Interior Design, Product Design, various Engineering disciplines, the Theatre and so on. This broad skill base that now focus solely on architectural lighting design provides dpa with an unparalleled human resource and knowledge to deal with the varying challenges each project demands.
dpa has always been at the forefront of education about all aspects of the lit environment and this continues today. Our desire and appetite to continually learn and share information has always been important, but perhaps with the current changes in light source technology and environmental legislation is more important than ever. We have different teams constantly monitoring and discussing all aspects of the built environment and lighting technology, be it LED light sources or digital controls and sharing this information with everyone in the Practice. This commitment to continuous research and debate, both internally and externally, combined with the talent of our design team ensures that our Clients receive the most innovative and informed advice today.
Our history and completed projects, which number over 7,000 in 80 different countries, provide us with an incredible wealth of experience, whilst our appetite for the present and future ensures that dpa are at the leading edge of lighting design, pushing creative and technical boundaries whilst always protecting our Clients interest.
As lighting designers, we are continually inspired by light in the natural world, and hence decided to illustrate the opening page of our website with an incredible image taken by photographer and mountain guide Robert Bösch in 2015. Robert was commissioned to take this photograph by Mammut®, a Swiss multinational mountaineering and trekking company founded in 1862, to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the first ascent of the Matterhorn. Robert has a masters degree in geography and has been working as a freelance photographer for almost 40 years. Alongside contract work in the areas of industry and advertising, he has worked for renowned national and international magazines. In recent years, Robert has been intensively engaged in art photography; his pictures have been exhibited in galleries and museums at home and abroad. Robert has also published many exclusive coffee table books.
The video below shows the story behind the making of this very special image.