Martin Dean

I am a professional design engineer (MIET) and a graduate in Engineering Science from the University of Liverpool, with over twenty years’ experience designing high-end lighting and automation systems for premium residential properties in the UK and internationally.

My current focus is circadian lighting and the relationship between light and human biology — exploring how spectrum, timing, and behaviour of light affect sleep, mood, cognition, metabolic health, and long-term well-being, and how we can design homes that support the body’s natural rhythms.

My approach brings together engineering precision, biological science, and a deep interest in human well-being.

Engineering has shaped how I think

My career began in electronics, embedded systems, and real-time software development, working across the UK, the Netherlands, and Japan. I contributed to technologies including:

railway traction-control systems
oscilloscopes and precision instrumentation
cryptographic radio-communications
smart-card operating systems and digital-payment technologies (including Amex Blue and Mondex)

This background taught me to think systemically — to understand how complex behaviours emerge from small, foundational elements.

It’s the same approach I now apply to the science of light and human physiology.

Living the process: designing my own homes

I’ve implemented advanced digital lighting (KNX) in two of my own homes:

a refurbishment of a historic house, and
an architect-designed near-Passivhaus new build

These projects helped me understand the practical, lived-in realities of designing lighting systems — what works, what fails, what creates comfort, and what undermines it.

I am now applying everything I’ve learned to a far deeper project: a 350-year-old Grade II* cob-and-thatch farmhouse in Devon.

Here, I am designing and installing a fully digital, circadian-aligned lighting system — combining heritage architecture with cutting-edge biological lighting principles.

This project is an ongoing exploration, experiment, and personal laboratory for understanding how light interacts with life.

Why circadian lighting matters to me

We now know that light is not merely visual — it is biological.

It affects:

sleep
hormones
mitochondrial function
metabolic health
immune function
mood and cognition
long-term cellular integrity
Most modern lighting disrupts these systems.

Martin Dean

I am a professional design engineer (MIET) and a graduate in Engineering Science from the University of Liverpool, with over twenty years’ experience designing high-end lighting and automation systems for premium residential properties in the UK and internationally.

My current focus is circadian lighting and the relationship between light and human biology — exploring how spectrum, timing, and behaviour of light affect sleep, mood, cognition, metabolic health, and long-term well-being, and how we can design homes that support the body’s natural rhythms.

My approach brings together engineering precision, biological science, and a deep interest in human well-being.

Engineering has shaped how I think

My career began in electronics, embedded systems, and real-time software development, working across the UK, the Netherlands, and Japan. I contributed to technologies including:

railway traction-control systems

oscilloscopes and precision instrumentation

cryptographic radio-communications

smart-card operating systems and digital-payment technologies (including Amex Blue and Mondex)

This background taught me to think systemically — to understand how complex behaviours emerge from small, foundational elements.

It’s the same approach I now apply to the science of light and human physiology.

Living the process: designing my own homes

I’ve implemented advanced digital lighting (KNX) in two of my own homes:

a refurbishment of a historic house, and

an architect-designed near-Passivhaus new build

These projects helped me understand the practical, lived-in realities of designing lighting systems — what works, what fails, what creates comfort, and what undermines it.

I am now applying everything I’ve learned to a far deeper project: a 350-year-old Grade II* cob-and-thatch farmhouse in Devon.

Here, I am designing and installing a fully digital, circadian-aligned lighting system — combining heritage architecture with cutting-edge biological lighting principles.

This project is an ongoing exploration, experiment, and personal laboratory for understanding how light interacts with life.

Why circadian lighting matters to me

We now know that light is not merely visual — it is biological.

It affects:

sleep

hormones

mitochondrial function

metabolic health

immune function

mood and cognition

long-term cellular integrity

Most modern lighting disrupts these systems.

I believe people deserve to understand how their environment influences their body — and how they can change it.

My work is driven by a simple idea: when your lighting supports your biology, your health improves.