Luke Lowings MA (RCA) ARB was born in Cambridge, England in 1961. After a Foundation Course in Art and Design in Cambridge he studied Architecture at Kingston Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art graduating with an MA. In London he worked for Richard Rogers + Partners among others, and moved to New York in 1989, where for twelve years he worked as a collaborator in the studio of sculptor James Carpenter, helping to develop the studio into a major influence in architectural-scale glass design. During that period he became a registered architect in the UK and New York State. In 2001 he returned to London, setting up a partnership with James to continue their explorations. Luke became the sole owner of Carpenter | Lowings from early 2018.
For over thirty years, Luke has worked with glass and light, on a diverse range of projects all over the world, from domestic-scale installations to large tension-net façades, bridge designs, and artworks integrated into infrastructure projects. This has produced a unique body of work spanning the disciplines of art, architecture and engineering, always linked by a fascination with the integration of light into the experience of public space. With his studio and in close collaboration with engineers, all aspects of project responsibilities are developed, from design and construction documentation, to fabrication and installation.
Luke‘s work has been widely published in books, journals and magazines across the USA and Europe and has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Some awards: a Young Architect’s Forum prize from the Architectural League of New York; an FX Design Award for the Light Helix at the Royal Albert Hall; a GSA Award for the ‘Light Ceiling’ in Phoenix, Arizona. The Salvation Army Chapel was shortlisted for the Bombay Sapphire Award and the RIBA award for religious architecture 2005. The stair in Hong Kong received a Special Mention in Architizer A+ award and was featured as one of their favoured staircases of 2016 by Dezeen. Carpenter|Lowings was awarded the Lighting Design Award Architect of the Year award in 2017, and Folded Light was awarded the Daylight Project of the Year award at the same ceremony.
Luke has taught at the University of Philadelphia, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Columbia University in New York. He has been a contributor to studio discussions at the Architectural Association and the Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, where he has taught diploma thesis for over a decade. He has contributed regularly to the Lighting Design course at KTH in Stockholm and has lectured in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UAE and the USA.
Luke is married with two children and lives in London.
