ArchLIGHT Summit Wraps 6th Edition With Popular Sessions & Good Crowd
The recent ArchLIGHT Summit was the show’s final September edition before its move to Lighting Week at Dallas Market Center in June 2027.
ArchLIGHT Summit, the fast-growing event for top commercial and architectural lighting brands, industry educators, and professionals, wrapped its sixth annual edition September 15-16 at Dallas Market Center with a deep slate of accredited education, the debut of a new immersive installation, and a show floor of more than 90 exhibiting brands.
“A huge thank you to our exhibitors, sponsors, and partners — and to every professional who showed up for this sixth edition of ArchLIGHT Summit,” said Lea Tranakos, ArchLIGHT Summit show director. “This show keeps proving that great lighting design happens at the intersection of disciplines. We can’t wait to bring that same energy to Lighting Week at Dallas Market Center in June 2027.”
Bill Plageman of Amerlux offered a reminder of why his company participates in the annual ArchLIGHT Summit event: “I think this is what makes events like ArchLIGHT so important. You don’t need an expo to showcase inexpensive products — you need one to experience quality and performance firsthand.”
A Focus on Education
The two-day program featured seven HSW-accredited sessions spanning recommended lighting levels, color rendering, historic preservation, outdoor controls, selectable lighting, and human health and wellbeing.
Urban lighting authority Leni Schwendinger opened the program with a keynote on nighttime lighting as a tool for urban safety and vibrancy, drawing on her work at New York’s Port Authority Bus Terminal and Times Square. Andrea Hartranft, FIALD, principal of Hartranft Lighting Studios, past president of the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD), and recipient of the 2026 Edison Report Lifetime Achievement Award, closed the program by asking what will differentiate lighting products once cost and efficiency are no longer the deciding factors.
Other featured speakers included Craig Bernecker, Ph.D., FIES, LC, on a two-parameter approach to recommended lighting levels; Jason Livingston, IES, IALD, LC, of Studio T+L, LLC, on the phase-by-phase implementation of ANSI/IES LP-30; Mariana Figueiro, professor and director of the Light and Health Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, on the visual, perceptual, and circadian effects of light; Ardra Zinkon, CLD, IALD, of Zinkon Creative Studio, on the practical limits of AI in lighting design; and a panel of museum lighting designers drawn from institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Available Light, Inc.
“ArchLIGHT Summit is a great event that attracts industry professionals from across the country who come to discover new products and gain insight into current and emerging lighting trends,” said Julia Gordon, IALD, CLD, IES, senior lighting designer at Schuler Shook and presenter of the session “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t,” which explored how lighting decisions influence behavior, comfort, and effectiveness.
Behind the Light Installation
The 2026 show introduced Behind the Light, an immersive installation exploring the art and science of light across two simulated environments: a healthcare setting and a corporate office. Running nearly every hour of the show, the experience gave specifiers in different disciplines a direct, hands-on point of reference for their own project types as well as CEU credit.
Behind the Light will remain at Dallas Market Center as a permanent installation in TM 4814, with a CEU-accredited guided tour offered during the January 2027 edition of Lightovation.
A Full Campus
ArchLIGHT Summit ran alongside Dallas Design Week (September 15-17), the DALI Alliance’s North America Summit (September 16-17), and, for the first time, the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID)’s national GATHER: Catalyst conference (September 16-18), bringing more than 1,000 interior designers to the Dallas Market Center campus that week.
Many GATHER: Catalyst attendees arrived early specifically to attend ArchLIGHT Summit sessions, widening the pool of interior designers engaging with commercial and architectural lighting resources.
On the Show Floor & After Hours
More than 90 exhibiting brands filled the show floor, supported by returning rep agency partners Architectural Lighting Alliance, Hossley Lighting & Power Solutions, Preferred Lighting Group, Texas Lighting Solutions, and SESCO Lighting, who connected attendees with manufacturers through dedicated pavilions and lounge spaces.
Networking ran from the first night through the last session. WAC Lighting hosted an opening reception Monday evening, followed by Women in Lighting + Design (WILD)’s Welcome Party. The DALI Alliance sponsored DALI Control the Night on Tuesday evening, kicking off its North America Summit, and IALD Texas closed the show Wednesday with the second annual Last Call Y’all reception in partnership with Eurofase. The recurring Sip n’ Connect series paired cocktails on Tuesday afternoon with coffee Wednesday morning.
Looking Ahead to June
Beginning in 2027, ArchLIGHT Summit moves to June as part of Lighting Week at Dallas Market Center, uniting the commercial, architectural, decorative, and residential lighting communities in a single week of education, product discovery, sourcing, and connection. Hotel booking is open now at https://connectionstravel.app/Jun27LTG.
ArchLIGHT Summit runs Tuesday, June 22 and Wednesday, June 23, 2027, overlapping with Lightovation, June 23-26, and its Design + Build Day on June 22. The show will debut in newly redeveloped space on the 9th floor of the World Trade Center, offering dedicated, customizable space for exhibits, activations, and education. The DALI Alliance will again co-locate with ArchLIGHT Summit in 2027, hosting its North America summit on the same floor.
Before ArchLIGHT Summit’s June debut, the winter edition of the semi-annual Lightovation show returns January 6-9, preceded by Design + Build Day on January 5, featuring design-focused programming, networking, and tours in partnership with INTERIOR DESIGN magazine.
Visit www.ArchLIGHTSummit.com to sign up for show announcements and follow ArchLIGHT Summit on Instagram and LinkedIn for the latest developments.
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