Annual ideas festival TEDxSydney has unveiled its 2014 speaker line up, which includes Speirs + Major’s Mark Major, a lighting architect who has worked on a range of award-winning international lighting projects such as the Millennium Dome, Beijing International Airport and the re-lighting of the interior of St Paul’s Cathedral.

Currently the lighting master planner for the Barangaroo development in Sydney, Major's TED talk will explore the idea that darkness in design is a good thing, prompting a reconsideration of the way we light built environments.

TEDxSydney is a local, self-organised festival that is held in the spirit of spreading thought-provoking ideas and inspiring personal stories. It has been running for over four years, and will take place at the Sydney Opera House this year, on Saturday, 26 April.

Major joins 15 other Australian speakers in the 2014 program, which will be curated into four themed sessions – Passages, Blood, Enhance and Rethink.

“TED audiences are notoriously engaged, so curating a whole day of talks that interests them is a particularly enjoyable challenge,” says editorial director, Edwina Throsby.

“This year we have brought together some of the best minds, thinkers and storytellers, all from different fields, but all at the very top of their game.”

For the full list of speakers, please visit tedxsydney.com.

Mark Major's TED talk will be streamed live on the TEDxSydney website on Saturday, and can be viewed here.

Geraldine Chua

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