Speirs and Major Associates

Speirs + Major is a UK lighting design practice founded by Jonathan Speirs (1958-2012) and Mark Major in 1993. The practice is noted for its illumination of many prominent buildings, including Barajas International Airport,30 St Mary Axe (‘The Gherkin’), the Millennium Dome and the interior of St. Pauls Cathedral. The firm has also developed lighting master plans for several British cities, including Cambridge, Coventry, Durham,Newcastle, and for major private developments including Greenwich Peninsula and King’s Cross Central, London.

Speirs + Major has been credited with helping to raise awareness of the lighting design profession in the UK. Today it employs approximately 30 people drawn from disciplines including architecture, art, lighting, interior, graphic and theatrical design. Its studios are based in London and Edinburgh, UK.

Both founding members Jonathan Speirs, who died in 2012, and Mark Major trained and practiced as architects before focusing on lighting design. In interviews they have argued that light should be embedded at the heart of the architectural design process rather than applied as a ‘cosmetic add-on’. This integral approach to light has led them to adopt the term ‘lighting architect’ to describe their role as ‘building with light as opposed to bricks and mortar’.

RIBA Stirling Prize collaborations
Speirs and Major Associates have designed lighting for a number of buildings that have either won or been nominated for the RIBA Stirling Prize for architecture.

Stirling Prize winners:

Stirling Prize shortlisted projects: