“Rules are a substitute for thinking, and I’m not going to quit thinking.”–Howard Brandston, 2018
updated, 27 FEB, 3:20 ET, with comments from Val Landers, Mark Roush, Rita Harrold, and Mark Rea.
- Val Landers: “… He was a really unique person with so much talent. He leaves a great legacy.”
- Mark Rea
- Rita Harrold
- Mark Roush
Howard Brandston, the founder of Brandston Partnership Inc. (BPI) in 1966, passed away last week. In my humble opinion, he was the most prominent figure in lighting design ever, receiving numerous awards and honors, including Lifetime Achievement awards and “Fellow” status with both the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) and the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD).
Brandston’s early career included working in theater with the legendary Stanley McCandless. According to Mark Roush, he left the theater because, “To solve every lighting problem with seven instruments is just too confining.” Later, he began working with New York City developers to create trend-setting designs for hotels, office lobbies, and exterior environments. He had an international business model from the start.
Brandston was one of the founding members of the IALD and is credited with writing the mathematical equation used to set the upper power limit for lighting for their first energy code. This gave him standing with the Department of Energy.
In an article in Architect Magazine, Phil Tamulonis wrote, “In all, Brandston has more than 30 years’ experience in lighting design, engineering, and electronics—designing illumination for more than 2,500 commercial, institutional, residential, and government projects.” And that article was published in 2001.
In 2009, Howard penned an article titled “Save the Lightbulb” in the Wall Street Journal. The following year, as the chair of the IES Annual Conference, I asked Howard to co-host the opening session “The Great Debate: The Banning of the Incandescent Bulb” alongside Kaj den Das. However, Howard was unable to participate due to an illness.
In 2015, Howard sat down with Paul Pompeo for Paul’s “What I’ve Learned” column and said, “The key thing I learned growing up was to do exactly what you say you’re going to do. It just keeps everything simple. The simpler you keep everything, the happier you’re going to be. Try to do things as simply as possible; that doesn’t mean the solution is the most simple.”
In 2018, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the EdisonReport. One of the highlights of his talk was a discussion with Stanley McCandless about rules. “In the theater, there are no rules, there are no codes, there are no standards. It’s just do a good job. Do your best to move the audience. One day I’m sitting there with Stanley McCandless and I said, ‘I can’t understand this. You know I’m not used to all these rules…in the theater, we have no rules. So I have to make up a rule for myself.’ Stanley asked, ‘What’s that?’ I said, ‘Rules are a substitute for thinking, and I’m not going to quit thinking.’”
One of the best ways to understand Brandston’s legacy is to watch a six-part video from 2020 that Lytei conducted.
At the IALD Business of Light meeting in November 2022, Chip Israel of The Lighting Design Alliance gave remarks and cited Howard as one of his role models.
There will be a celebration of life event in spring 2023 in New York City. His obituary asks that trees be planted in his honor. How appropriate!
We have received a few tributes to Howard, and we will pass those on to his wife, Melanie.