Bios – 2026
Andrea Carson, born in 1989, is an architect and lighting designer who explores the relationship between lighting and technology for Heritage.
He is the Founder and CEO of Luminum S.p.A., a company dedicated to the technological enhancement of cultural heritage. Over the years, the firm has spearheaded a wide range of projects at archaeological sites, museums, historic villas, and religious landmarks, coordinating high-impact initiatives for major institutions in Italy and abroad with a focus on integrating artistic lighting, historical preservation, and heritage regeneration.
He was selected as one of the top 40 lighting designers under 40 worldwide at the 40under40 Lighting Design Awards 2020 in London, and in 2021 he was awarded the “Mario Bonomo” prize at AIDI’s Light Awards. In December 2022, he received an honorable mention at the KNX Award 2022 for the best technology integration project for a historic landmark, in recognition of his lighting design for the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Sasso complex.
In 2023, he was selected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an Italian Design Ambassador, presenting his projects in Albania and Georgia. That same year, he received the Premio Italia Giovane (Young Italy Award) at the MAXXI Museum in Rome for his dedication to promoting Italy’s historical heritage.
He has collaborated as a technical partner on projects with various Italian institutions—including the Politecnico di Milano, the Triennale Design Museum, and IED—the European Institute of Design—and has served as Chief Innovation Officer for startups and nonprofit organizations, such as the TERA Foundation (headquartered in Novara with laboratories at CERN in Geneva) and the Fondazione Riusiamo l’Italia.
In addition to his entrepreneurial activities, he is actively involved in business associations; from 2018 to 2023, he served as President of Alto Piemonte and as a member of the National Board of the Young Entrepreneurs Group of Confcommercio Imprese per l’Italia. He regularly collaborates with industry magazines, universities, and research institutes to promote and disseminate new technologies applied to historical heritage through articles, conventions, and conferences.
The Art of Light in the Restoration of Historic Religious Heritage
This presentation draws on case studies of architectural lighting projects applied to Italian religious monuments, where advanced lighting design and new technologies have been combined to highlight buildings of exceptional historical and artistic value.
It then offers a reflection on the future of lighting in the context of rapid technological evolution, examining how innovative solutions—such as HBIM, Domotic, and the Internet of Things (IoT)—when integrated with a participatory and sustainable approach, can become central pillars in rethinking the restoration and enhancement of historic buildings as key drivers of regional regeneration.
Special emphasis will be placed on the role that lighting design must play in addressing future challenges, offering insights and examples from projects in which lighting design has played a pivotal role in revitalizing iconic sites within religious cultural heritage.
