MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Cait Toczko
Senior Lighting Designer
Newman Architects

Tell us about where you work.

Newman Architects is a collaborative design studio based in New Haven, Connecticut. Together, our staff of forty forms a knowledge-driven architectural practice working together to shape space and expand possibilities for education, commercial, and community clients.

Newman provides comprehensive architectural, interiors, lighting, and graphic design services from community engagement, programming, and conceptual design through construction administration and post-occupancy evaluation. We weave lessons learned from a broad array of project types and delivery methods into a collaborative and flexible process. Our work has been acknowledged for its excellence in design, management, sustainability, and team collaboration with over 150 awards and—most importantly—longstanding relationships with many of our clients.

Herbert Newman founded our firm in 1964 with a commitment to creating functional, nurturing environments that have a sense of belonging to the communities they serve. In working towards our contemporary mission to create places of enduring value that serve, sustain, and enrich life, we are driven by six core values that define our approach to our work and to our interactions with each other: Capability, Curiosity, Integrity, Belonging, Agility, and Care.

Our work balances timeless design principles that respond to fundamental human needs with the flexibility to respond to evolving social and technological demands. Our aim is to create lasting architecture with clear patterns of organization, straightforward yet sensitive geometries, plentiful access to natural light, shared paths and places for community, universal accessibility, and environmental, social, and economic sustainability. These simple ideas reflect the aspiration that all our work foster connection between people and place.

What is your role in sustainability?

My passion for wellness and sustainability really rooted itself in my college years while I was studying architecture and lighting. I was interesting in sustainable and equitable building practices from the start, even trying to grow housing out of mycelium for my architectural thesis project. My lighting design education was based in light and health research and i’ve been following a path of lighting for wellness and sustainability ever since.

I have dedicated my career and much of my personal time to promoting the practice of better lighting for the planet and people through my practice and education in organizations like BuildGreenCT, the local Hartford Chapter of the Illuminating Engineering Society, and other national organizations.

I joined the CT Green Building Council early on in my career here in New Haven because being a part of the local green community was important to me. Staying up to date on the latest in sustainable building techniques and I felt that being a part of the conversation happening around the state was critical. Once the unification and rebrand to BuildGreenCT occurred, I was ready to become a Board Member and help shape the direction of our new organization.

A recent project that I’m proud of is the Southern CT State University’s new School of Business, one of CT’s first state-funded NetZero buildings. The lighting design played a major part in getting to NetZero as we had to be very mindful of lighting power in the building as well as utilizing stringent controls to reduce power usage even further. BuildGreenCT actually hosted a building tour of this project last year! The lighting design looks and feels great, with visual comfort and proper illumination being top goals along with that reduced lighting power target.

I like to design and build furniture for my home! So far its mostly small pieces, shelving, a new mantel for my faux-fireplace, a wine rack, but I hope to get into bigger pieces down the line when I have more space! Here’s a photo of a console table in-progress

Fun Fact:

Fun Fact:
I recently traveled to Antarctica! I love traveling and have been to 16 countries so far. Antarctica has been a goal of mine for many years and I just completed the trip in January of 2025. It was fascinating to see this amazing continent in person and see the magnificence up close. The penguins, albatross, seals, and whales that call the Drake Passage and Antarctica home were beautiful and are unfortunately just as subject to microplastics and invasive species as our local fauna. I learned so much on my trip about this impressive continent, and was grateful to have found in my research a sustainable expedition company to travel with.

Follow Kate on Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlin-toczko-5a2324101/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/newman-architects/
https://www.instagram.com/newmanarchitects/
https://www.facebook.com/NewmanArchitects/