Our Story
We have a shared experience of over a 150 years stemming from a variety of lighting backgrounds including pure lighting design, electrical engineering, manufacturing, sales and distribution, visual arts, architecture, civil engineering, lighting education and standards committees. This diversity gives our team a unique insight into all aspects of a project and the challenges they present. Our team continues to grow and diversify. We’re proud to present a highly qualified, experienced, passionate team focused on offering the very best service in Lighting and Electrical Engineering Design. As a team we understand our services are complimentary to our clients, where excellence is delivered by exceeding expectations and meeting agreed deliverables at a reasonable cost in a friendly and collaborative spirit.
Our People
Richard Mason
Electrical Engineer/Director
Richard has over 20 years’ experience in the design of electrical services with a wide range of project experience including new commercial towers, tenancy fit-out, data centres, building refurbishment, maintenance upgrades, exterior lighting and condition reporting.
Richard brings practical experience obtained during many years of design, review of contractor proposals and at commissioning/client handover testing to the office’s projects, ensuring the systems designed are buildable, have a long service life and function to the client’s expectations.
Dianna Abdalla
Senior Lighting Designer - MIES
Dianna has a long history of providing specialist lighting design and documentation for a wide range of projects and has been with Lighting, Art & Science since 2015. She has lighting design experience in the following areas, Commercial Office, Fitout & Base Building Design, Retail, Education, TfNSW, Sports’ Facility Lighting, Street & Area Lighting and Façade Lighting. Dianna holds a Master of Architectural Science (Illumination) 2015 from the University of Sydney, and was awarded the Dean’s Excellence Award 2014, 2015 as well as the Philips Lighting Award 2014.
Maria Albuquerque
Senior Lighting Designer
Maria has been with Lighting, Art & Science since 2014. She holds a Master of Design Science (Illumination Design) from the University of Sydney and was awarded the Dean’s Excellence Award 2013 as well as the Philips Lighting Award 2013 and the Australian Institute of Building NSW Chapter President’s Award 2014. Maria also holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil). Maria’s experience in construction companies as a civil engineer gives her an unique insight into the building industry. Her principal role is technical exterior lighting designer on projects from concept through to full documentation.
Peter McLean
Senior Lighting Designer - Retired December 2023
Founder of Lighting Art + Science Peters nearly 50 years of experience is an invaluable resource. He has lectured in Lighting at University of Sydney and Queensland University of Technology. Throughout his career Peter has been involved in a wide spectrum of projects from public domain lighting, museums and heritage buildings to high end commercial and luxury hospitality.
Fiona Gawan-Taylor
Lighting Designer
BSc Hons Engineering Product Design
Fiona has 20 years lighting experience as a designer, project manager and business development in Australian, Asian and European projects. She has practical and cultural knowledge across varied lighting developments from hospitality, entertainment,, commercial, education, retail and landscape. She has been involved with custom lighting development including concept, detailing and costing, and previously designed and constructed a decorative family of lights.
Amanda Arnold
Accounts & Office Administrator
Amanda brings a diverse administrative background to the LAAS Team. Born in the UK she has made Sydney her home since the early 1990s and during that time has worked in arts and corporate administration roles within the private, government and not-for-profit sectors. As a new arrival to Australia this included a 12-month contract at the Sydney Opera House during its 20th anniversary year. At Lighting Art & Science, Amanda looks after our book keeping, invoicing, office management and anything else non-lighting design related.