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BIO - CHW LIGHTING DESIGN
CHARLES H. WEYANT, Lighting Designer
Lighting people, place, and things has been part of Chuck’s life for a long time. From the requisite high school musicals like “Camelot” with home-made footlights and dimmer boxes and daring college theatre like “Equus” to a summer stock of 10 productions in 10 weeks, he has worked on over 40 shows before graduating from college. After graduating from Temple University, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the School of Communications and Theatre in theatrical lighting design in 1986, he became involved in the first authorized theatrical production of George Orwell's "1984" at the Wilma Theatre in Philadelphia. The show later went on to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.
At this same time, Chuck became a Production Technician for McManus Enterprises, where he provided lighting services for many events. Clients such as Bell Atlantic, USA Network, and Conrail benefited from his expertise. He has lit numerous events for HBO Boxing, including the Tyson vs. Holmes fight, which was seen by over 1 billion people world-wide. Other events include the Site Coordinator for 4th of July on the Parkway in Philadelphia, a concert for 250,000 people, and providing lighting for the We The People 200 events in the summer of 1987.
At Crystal-Taylor Systems, a concert audio and lighting company, Chuck became the Master Electrician for a 150,000watt lighting system used on many special events, as well as the 1988 O'Jays/Temptations tour and the Todd Rundgren 1991 tour.
Transtek International Limited, a global concern with offices in Philadelphia, New York City, and Mexico City, was the next stop on Chuck’s lighting adventure. From there he designed and project-managed the lighting and control system for Hilton Hotel in Barcelona, Spain, the lighting and AV control system for Fischer & Porter Marketing Center in Bensalem, PA, the lighting, home theatre and whole house controls system for a private residence in Mexico City, and the lighting for Railroad Exhibit at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, PA.
The expansion from entertainment lighting to architectural lighting was continued with the move to Lighting Designer at The Kling-Lindquist Partnership, a 500-person architectural-engineering firm. There he designed the lighting and control system for New Materials Research Building for Kennametal in Latrobe, PA. He also honed his technical lighting skills by working on spaces for Merck, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Sterling Pharmaceutical, National Institute of Health, Glaxo, and the U S Army Corps of Engineers.
After a decade of design, Chuck became involved with Columbia Lighting. This industry leading company is a $400 million a year manufacturer of lighting fixtures. As an Application Engineer, he was part of a small team that developed Lite*Pro, one of the first Windows-based computer lighting calculation programs.
After completing that project, Mr. Weyant joined Penn Lighting, one of Columbia Lighting’s biggest sales agencies. There he worked with architects, lighting consultants, interior designers, electrical engineers, and end users on the proper application of lighting fixtures in buildings including Mellon Bank, Right Associates, WEFA, and Hunt Manufacturing.
Lighting is not just part of Chuck’s day job. He has been involved with the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, the governing body of the lighting industry in the United States, since 1990. Being active in the lighting community meant becoming an officer of the chapter in Southeast Pennsylvania. He has been also active in the IESNA in Georgia, by helping reactivate the Georgia Section, being Secretary and Treasurer, and the Board of Managers.
After working on countless projects in the city of Philadelphia, Chuck turned his sights on another boomtown - Atlanta, Georgia. There he designed a multitude of projects, including the interior lighting for Hennessey Cadillac in Duluth, GA, the landscape lighting control system for a 12,000 square-foot private residence in Buckhead, Georgia, and provided construction administration for interior lighting system for a 25,000 s-f private residence in Buckhead, Georgia.
While continuing to leave a permanent mark on Atlanta with projects such as MB1 Motors, The Pavilion, The Cheetah, and Play 2 Grow, many special events have taken their place along side the architecture. Music Midtown, NASCAR, Microsoft, Cingular, Saks, FIRST Robotics, and TaylorMade are a few of the corporations that have seen their events lit by Chuck’s expert hand.
Education is another key part of Chuck’s lighting philosophy. He has taught architectural lighting and video production lighting at American Intercontinental University, and architectural lighting at the Atlanta College of Art. He has also taught part of the IESNA ED-100 and ED-150 general lighting education classes. Mr. Weyant has given over 100 seminars on lighting to schools and professional groups.
As part of the design community, Mr. Weyant has donated his time to provide the lighting for the annual DIFFA Dining By Design benefit. In addition, he has assisted in the annual production of “The Nutcracker” for the Gwinnett Ballet Theatre.
Now, after a quarter of a century of lighting experience, Mr. Weyant continues to focus on illuminating spaces for entertainment, commercial, and residential usage.
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