My Internship at Oculus
This summer I was incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Oculus Light Studio and learn what it means to be a lighting designer. Having always been interested in the experiential side of design, and after taking a couple of lighting related courses, I became highly interested in learning more about lighting design. While I was just excited to be able to learn anything about the field of lighting design, I ended up having a far more educational and engaging summer than I could have asked for!
As a lighting design intern at Oculus, I was able to learn about and contribute to nearly every aspect of a project from start to finish. I never would have imagined that in 4 and a half months I would be able to assist in creating lighting design presentations, updating plans in CAD and Revit, performing lighting calculations, and creating schedules and budgets. I even got to see the end side of a project by going on multiple site visits to complete punch walks and aim the same fixtures that I had placed on plans. I also got to work on a wide variety of project types, from large scale office buildings and hospitality spaces to single-family homes.
What makes Oculus special though is the people. Due to pandemic restrictions and precautions, I started out my time as fully remote before switching to a hybrid schedule in June. However, while I preferred my time in the office, I never felt as if I was having an inferior learning experience when I was remote because all the team members were so effective in communicating both in-person and online. Every single member of the Oculus team was incredibly welcoming and ready to answer any questions I had, and also to provide answers to the questions I would not have even thought to ask. Not only were they willing to help me, but I got to witness how collaborative the entire team was. Whether it was solving a problem or helping to ease someone else’s workload, Oculus really understood the meaning of collaboration and taught me to value good teamwork as well.
Overall, I am grateful to Oculus Light Studio for giving me this opportunity. They challenged me to think beyond what I had learned in architecture school and gave me insight into a whole field that I did not even know existed two years ago. As I return for my fifth and final year as a Bachelor of Architecture student, I am incredibly excited to see how the lessons I have learned this summer aid me in my studio designs and how this introduction to lighting will shape my future career!
