Summer school

Summer is the best time for traveling, meeting new people and embarking on new discoveries, of your own self included. This summer, ITMO University’s Creative Lighting Department (CLD) invites you to spend some quality time in St. Petersburg, the cultural capital of Russia, and participate in a hands-on summer course in lighting design. Organized by the academic staff of the international Master’s program in Lighting Design and the RULD community of independent experts in the field of lighting design, the course will be held on August 12–17, 2019. The program of the course is based on a comprehensive approach to lighting design and urban studies. The combination of analytics and creative thinking will allow you to develop efficient lighting solutions with a focus on people and modern challenges.

Target audience

The summer school is aimed at third-year Bachelor’s and fourth-year Specialist’s students, majoring in environmental and architectural design. Also invited to participate are those willing to acquire new knowledge in the field of lighting design, learn to generate creative ideas and solve problems in the field of urban planning, as well as gain some new experiences. Up to 20 candidates will be chosen to participate in the course.

Learning outcomes

Upon completing the course, students will gain knowledge, skills and practical experience of working with urban lighting environment with the focus on people, their values, needs, as well as social and cultural aspects. You’ll familiarize yourself with the methods of problem-based design research and master creative thinking skills. In addition to the theoretical and practical parts, the program of the course also features a guided tour of St. Petersburg’s roofs, and a visit to the international festival of lighting art “Night of Light in Gatchina”. By the end of the course, you’ll get a full understanding of how lighting solutions are developed, from an idea to its implementation.

Educational modules

The program of the course is divided into four educational modules: urban lighting environment (characteristics, functions, problems), metaphysics of cities (city ambience), creative technologies in lighting design, and perception. At the end of the course, the participants present their projects to each other and discuss each other’s project solutions.

Results

The main task of the course is to help students develop a working lighting solution for a particular area of the city, which would improve the environment and make it more appealing to people. Upon successful completion of the course, students will receive official certificates of participation in the CLD & RULD Summer School in Lighting Design.

Tools and equipment

To participate in the educational program, each student should have a laptop with a program for doing presentations, a camera or a smartphone with a camera; oil pastel (black, white and grey colors); paper for pastel drawing; a sketch-board, and a folding-chair.

Fee-based events

There is no tuition fee for participants of the course, but there are some fee-based services provided by third parties: the tour of St. Petersburg’s roofs (~800 rubles), tour to the colonnade of the St. Isaac’s Cathedral (~200 rubles), transfer to Gatchina to the festival (~350-450 rubles), ticket to the festival “Night of Light in Gatchina” (~1,000 rubles).

Venue

The lectures will be held in room 427 (4th floor) at Grivtsova Lane 14-16. CLD’s location is right at the heart of St. Petersburg’s historic center, near the Sadovaya, Sennaya and Spasskaya metro stations and just a short stroll away from Nevsky Prospekt, the Manege Central Exhibition Hall, St. Isaac’s Cathedral, House of Architects and many other landmarks.