Professional Lighting Designers' Association

Professional Lighting Designers' Association
AbbreviationPLDA
FormationOctober 1994 (1994-10)
Founded atFrankfurt, Germany
HeadquartersGütersloh, Germany
Formerly called
European Lighting Designers' Association

The Professional Lighting Designers' Association (PLDA), was an international association of architectural lighting designers headquartered in Gütersloh, Germany.[1][2]

The PLDA was previously known as the European Lighting Designers' Association (ELDA), which was founded in 1993 or 1994 in Frankfurt, Germany.[3][4] Starting sometime in 2001 or 2002, the abbreviation ELDA+ was used to indicate the organisation was "moving forward, progressing, expanding, improving and generally going beyond what the association has been until now."[5][6][7]

The ELDA+ changed its name to the Professional Lighting Designers' Association (PLDA) in early 2007.[8] It also transitioned from the ELDAplus.org[9] web domain name to PLD-A.org[10] accordingly that year.

The PLDA participated in an international credentialing task force assembled by the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) in 2010 to determine the feasibility of a global certification, ultimately leading to the creation of the Certified Lighting Designer (CLD) credential.[11][12][13]

The PLDA disbanded in 2014.[13][14] Longtime collaborator VIA-Verlag launched the similarly-named PLD Alliance in 2016.[15][16]

Membership

There were three types of voting member (Fellow, Professional, or Associate) and three kinds of non-voting member (Design, Student, or Affiliate).[17] These classifications were defined in the membership application form.[18]

Publications

The official magazine of the PLDA was Professional Lighting Design (PLD), published by VIA-Verlag since 1998.[7] PLD was shared by the PLDA and IALD from 2003[19] or 2004[20] into 2006.[21][22]

The magazine's domain name was PLDplus.com from 2002 to 2005.[9][23][24] It transitioned to PLD-M.com in 2011.[25] PLD was also available at VIA-Internet.com in 2002,[26] as well as at VIA-Verlag.com from 2003 or earlier into 2013.[27]

Events

The PLDA held workshops nearly every year from 1999 through 2011.[28] Separately, PLDA offered two conferences—Light Focus and Vox Juventa—nearly every year from 2005 through 2010.[29]

Organised by the PLD magazine in collaboration with the PLDA, the first Professional Lighting Design Convention (PLDC) was held in London from 24–27 October 2007.[30][31] The plenary session at the end of the convention released a Declaration of the Official Establishment of the Architectural Lighting Design Profession.[32] Subsequent PLDCs were organised by VIA-Verlag (in collaboration with PLDA in the early years) in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019.[33][34]

See also

References

  1. ^ What We Do at the Wayback Machine (archived 17 January 2014)
  2. ^ Contact at the Wayback Machine (archived 17 January 2014)
  3. ^ "Lighting Timeline". ArchitectMagazine.com. Zonda Media. 30 November 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
  4. ^ "Professional Lighting Designers' Association (PLDA)". UIA.org. Union of International Associations. Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  5. ^ ELDAplus.org at the Wayback Machine (archived 23 February 2002)
  6. ^ ELDAplus.org at the Wayback Machine (archived 15 August 2006)
  7. ^ a b Laganier, Vincent (1 April 2016). "'Exterior Lighting, France Is a World Leader' - Joachim Ritter". LightZoomLumiere.fr. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
  8. ^ Latest News at the Wayback Machine (archived 1 May 2007)
  9. ^ a b ELDAplus.org at the Wayback Machine (archived 9 April 2007)
  10. ^ PLD-A.org at the Wayback Machine (archived 31 May 2007)
  11. ^ "About the Certified Lighting Designer Program". iald.org. International Association of Lighting Designers. Retrieved 28 December 2025.
  12. ^ Reid, Randy (7 March 2012). "IALD Investigates Global Credentialing". EdisonReport.com. EdisonReport Media Network. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
  13. ^ a b Donoff, Elizabeth (March 2015). "Credentialing Update" (PDF). Architectural Lighting. 29 (2): 18. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
  14. ^ Klaasen, Martin (13 March 2014). "The Demise of the PLDA". kldesign.co. Klaasen Lighting Design. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
  15. ^ PLD-Alliance.org at the Wayback Machine (archived 2 December 2016)
  16. ^ Ritter, Joachim (2017). "'Shift Happens' - The Birth of a new Profession" (PDF). Lumen Insights (2). UL: 4. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
  17. ^ Become a Member at the Wayback Machine (archived 27 October 2013)
  18. ^ Application form for membership in the Professional Lighting Designers' Association at the Wayback Machine (archived 2 November 2013)
  19. ^ PLDplus.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 22 July 2003)
  20. ^ IALD.org at the Wayback Machine (archived 6 March 2004)
  21. ^ VIA-Verlag.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 27 October 2006)
  22. ^ IALD.org at the Wayback Machine (archived 8 December 2006)
  23. ^ PLDplus.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 6 October 2002)
  24. ^ PLDplus.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 27 February 2005)
  25. ^ PLD-M.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 8 February 2011)
  26. ^ VIA-Internet.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 15 August 2002)
  27. ^ VIA-Verlag.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 20 July 2013)
  28. ^ Workshops at the Wayback Machine (archived 29 January 2013)
  29. ^ Conferences at the Wayback Machine (archived 29 January 2013)
  30. ^ "First Global Lighting Design Convention Makes Its Mark". ArchitectMagazine.com. Zonda Media. 10 December 2007. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
  31. ^ PLD-C.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 5 September 2008)
  32. ^ PLD-A.org at the Wayback Machine (archived 15 November 2007)
  33. ^ PLD-C.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 9 June 2024)
  34. ^ "PLDC 2018 Comes to a Close". Arc-Magazine.com. 9 November 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2025.