This was not going to be a typical guest speaker. Cindy Limauro and her friends knew that something special was in store as they entered their creative writing class at the University of Michigan. They took their seats, eager to absorb the advice of a theatrical icon. They wouldn鈥檛 be disappointed.
There, in the front of their classroom, stood Arthur Miller. A tall, lanky man with a frank, level gaze鈥攈e deconstructed playwriting, telling the students to always start with the truth.
Miller鈥檚 talk 30 years ago inspired Limauro, an English major, to take some theater courses. She liked it so well that she decided to also major in drama. Her new studies led to an unexpected discovery鈥� the storytelling potential of light. 鈥淟ighting affects completely the way in which we see the world,鈥� says Limauro, 鈥渢he quality of it, the color of it, the intensity. It changes everything.鈥�
Her discovery took over her life. She designs lighting for architecture and theater and teaches lighting design in Carnegie Mellon鈥檚 schools of drama and architecture. Her academic pursuits have also taken her to Antwerp, Belgium, where she is part of another professorship鈥攖eaching lighting design at the Higher Institute of Architectural Sciences Henry van de Velde.
While she was there last year, she listened to the city鈥檚 mayor speak of the need for stronger civic ties to education. Limauro approached him afterwards鈥攈oping he would agree to let her students light one of the city鈥檚 buildings. She would have settled for a dilapidated structure. Instead, the mayor asked her to have the students submit plans to light one of the city鈥檚 most famous landmarks, its Royal Museum of Fine Arts.The lighting plan they created bested the work of a professional design firm that was also asked to submit ideas. Not long after the students鈥� plan was installed, the area鈥攚here teens would sometimes hang out after dark鈥攂ecame a family destination. The institute was so impressed by Limauro鈥檚 dedication and the achievement of her students that it recently honored her with the 2007 Henry van de Velde Award for Architectural Education
The lighting plan they created bested the work of a professional design firm that was also asked to submit ideas. Not long after the students鈥� plan was installed, the area鈥攚here teens would sometimes hang out after dark鈥攂ecame a family destination. The institute was so impressed by Limauro鈥檚 dedication and the achievement of her students that it recently honored her with the 2007 Henry van de Velde Award for Architectural Education.
