About

Marco Miglioli

Shortly after graduating in Architecture from the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio (USI) under Professors Peter Zumthor and Mario Botta, I developed a strong interest in the relationship between light and built space, and in how lighting can transform perception and evoke emotion.

During my university years, I lived for two years in Spain, where I worked as a lighting designer and scenographer for the theatre company La Fura dels Baus, and as an architect with Mias Arquitectes. After completing my studies and returning to Milan, I deepened my experience in lighting — first in the theatre, following Marco Filibeck, then Head Lighting Designer at Teatro alla Scala, and later, alongside my independent practice, through twelve years of collaboration with Ferrara Palladino Lightscape, where I took part in major architectural lighting projects.
My background therefore combines both the artistic and scenographic and the technical and scientific approaches to light — two dimensions that I have sought to integrate from the very beginning of my work.

I have served on evaluation panels for lighting projects relating to historical and artistic heritage and have acted as a Merit Judge for the IES Awards.
I am also an Advisory Member of the IES Lighting Committee for Museums and Art Galleries, and a member of Division 3 of the Italian National Committee of the CIE (Commission Internationale de l’Éclairage).

Order of Architects
of the Province of Milan
(Italy).
Section A-a: Architect

Association
of Lighting
Professional (Italy).
Professional Member

International Council Of Museum
Individual Member

Italian Lighting
Association (Italy).
Professional Member

Illuminating Engineering
Society.
Full Member

DarkSky International
Member and Advocate

ArchiLight Studio

Marco Miglioli ArchiLight Studio was founded in 2023 as an evolution of the architectural and lighting design practice “Marco Miglioli”, established in 2012, and from ongoing collaborations with designers, artists and researchers.
The Studio’s work aims to strengthen the connections between art, theatre, architecture and natural sciences, blending them through both the artistic and scenographic, as well as the technical, use of light.
The lighting of the built landscape — from buildings and parks to artworks and exhibitions — arises from a deep relationship with the place itself and from a sense of responsibility towards the illuminated subject.

To illuminate an architecture (from large infrastructures to small domestic interiors) or an artwork means, for us, to work on several intertwined levels:

To interpret space and landscape, to tell a story that transcends the mere built object, to suggest emotions — and therefore to choose what to bring into light and what to leave in shadow;
To protect cultural heritage from inappropriate uses of light while enhancing the local and cultural context;
To promote individual well-being and safeguard biodiversity through light;
To raise awareness, through our projects, of a responsible and socially conscious use of light.

As part of this approach, one of the cornerstones of the Studio’s work is research in the field of lighting, exploring new frontiers (such as phosphorescence and bioluminescence) in order to develop sustainable, accessible and renewable lighting systems.
Other areas of investigation include: the human body’s response to luminous stimuli (circadian rhythms and perceptual changes related to ageing or visual impairments); strategies to prevent light from disrupting natural ecosystems (studies on the spectral composition of light in relation to local fauna and flora); and methods to mitigate light-induced damage to artworks and historical artefacts (buildings and monuments).

Awards

German Design Awards 2026 | Nominated project and Winner

Lighting design for the “Raphael’s Cross” (go to prize)

Global Challenge for Application of Innovative Technology for Toilet Lighting in Refugee Camps | winner

Competition launched by IRC and Wazoku for the design of an innovative lighting system for refugee camps (go to prize)

BUILD Architecture Awards 2025 | Winner

Best Exhibition Design for the “Raphael’s Cross” (go to prize)

BUILD Architecture Awards 2025 | Winner

Best Architectural Lighting Design Studio (go to prize)

LIT Lighting Design Awards 2024 | winner

Lighting design for the “Raphael’s Cross” (go to prize)

FX International Interior Design Awards 2024 | Shortlisted project

Lighting design for the “Raphael’s Cross Room” (go to prize)

LIT Awards 2022 | Winner

Lighting design for the exhibition “golden threads and silk paintings” (go to prize)

LIT Awards 2019 | Honorable Mention

Lighting design for the exhibition “Romanticism” (go to prize)

DARC Awards 2019 | Selected project

Lighting design for the exhibition “Romanticism” (go to prize)

Rosco Gobo Design Contest 2018 | Finalist

Finalist for the design of a new gobo (go to contest)

Conferences and classes

Lega Navale Italiana (Italian Naval League)

Milan, Italy

Modules “Lighting and signals” and “Safety” in the course for obtaining the “nautical license without limits”
2019 – present

POLIMI Graduate School of Management

Milan, Italy

Round table on technological research during the conference “A day of Innovation” organized by Wazoku and BlueThink with A2A
June 19, 2025

Showlight, 25

Dijon, France

Title of the speech:: “Things change according on how they are illuminated”
May 19 – 22, 2025

IES 24. The Lighting conference

New York, U.S.A.

Title of the paper: “Transforming museum spaces into a sensory experience. How changes in perception will lead to a new lighting design“
August 15 – 17, 2024

AIDI XXI National Congress

Bologna, Italy

Title of the paper: “Transforming museum spaces into a sensory experience”
June 24 – 25, 2024

Domus Academy

Milan, Italy

Module on lighting design in the short course “Retail Vision Design”.
Title of the speech: “colours, lighting and interior design strategies for retails”
April 26 – 29, 2023