Richard Kelly

Richard Kelly (1910–1977) was an American lighting designer, considered one of the pioneers of architectural lighting design. Kelly had already established his own New York-based lighting practice in 1935 before enrolling at the Yale School of Architecture. He graduated from there in 1944. Kelly characterized the difficulty in selling lighting consultancy, then a new discipline, when he reflected, "There weren't lighting consultants then. Nobody would pay for my ideas, but they would buy fixtures."

By the 1950s, his work in lighting design led him to coin the terms 'focal glow', 'ambient luminescence' and 'play of brilliants' to describe particular effects in lighting design, His later career also saw him lecture at Yale, Princeton, and Harvard University.

After his death, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America established the Richard Kelly Grant in his name to encourage creativity in lighting among young people.

Shortly after graduating from Yale, Kelly completed more than 30 commercial projects in six years, working with architects such as Richard Neutra, Phillip Johnson, and Mies van der Rohe. He would go on to 300 major projects throughout his career, being a major influence in the developing field of architectural lighting. Two years later in 1979, a group of members from New York's Chapter of Illuminating Engineering Society founded a scholarship under Kelly's name, the Richard Kelly Memorial Scholarship, to support young emerging lighting design professionals.

Focal glow Kelly defined focal glow as a light that "draws attention, pulls together diverse parts, sells merchandise, separates the important from the unimportant, helps people see." The goal of focal glow is to guide the viewer's attention through contrast with ambient luminescence. While ambient light aims to equally light all objects, focal glow purposely emphasizes and differentiates certain objects. This is most commonly achieved through a directional light with a higher luminance than the ambient light. Such lighting projects include: David H. Koch Theater (then the New York State Theater) Glass House Kimbell Art Museum Seagram Building Flamengo Park