At the Speed Lighting event presented by Lumigroup, we had the opportunity to share our vision of lighting in architecture and design, drawing on selected STGM projects as examples. In preparing for this presentation, we identified a common thread running through our work. Since the firm’s founding in 2001, our approach to lighting has evolved, but the objective has remained the same: to consider natural and artificial lighting as two complementary aspects of a single whole—two sides of the same coin.

We generally give a prominent role to natural light in our projects, from the Québec National Police School campus in 2001 to Université Laval’s Vachon Pavilion and the Cain Lamarre headquarters. In all of these projects, artificial lighting—often discreet and indirect—is used to compensate for variations in natural light.

Photography: Stéphane Groleau

Photography: Stéphane Groleau

This philosophy reached its peak with the construction of our head office in 2014. Each light fixture in the offices is oriented 80% upward and 20% downward, and individually controlled to adapt to the available natural light. As a result, on bright, sunny days, people work in an environment illuminated almost exclusively by natural light. Conversely, when the weather is overcast, artificial lighting takes over, bathing the space in a soft, uniform indirect light.

Photography: Stéphane Groleau

Light and its impact on occupants’ health are often underestimated. Yet it influences many aspects of our lives, including body temperature, metabolism, cognitive performance, the cardiovascular system, sleep, and mood.

Since mastering fire, humanity has sought to tame light, this celestial substance that, almost magically, dispels darkness and transforms shadowy places into welcoming environments. Over the centuries, techniques have evolved, light has been mastered, and it has permeated our surroundings. Today, technology allows us to harness this material and shape it almost endlessly, to the benefit of users.

Architects and designers do not create physical spaces alone; they also shape luminous environments that directly affect the health and well-being of occupants. From maximizing natural light to achieving a subtle balance in artificial lighting, their expertise helps create places that foster productivity, creativity, and serenity. By illuminating not only spaces but lives, we help shape a future in which light becomes a driving force of well-being.