Lighting Design dot NYC

2015 Award of Excellence

Lighting Designer: Kugler Ning Lighting Design: Jerry Kugler, Amber Moriarty, Erin Gussert

Architects: Iu + Bibliowicz Architects: Carolyn Iu, Natan Bibliowicz

Owners: The City of New York and operated by the nonprofit Carnegie Hall Corporation

In preparation for its 125th Anniversary Season, Carnegie Hall partnered with the City of New York to illuminate the landmark façade, and engaged Kugler Ning to design the architectural lighting. Extensive study of the building’s decorative detail was necessary to ensure all penetrations were placed in reparable locations, minimizing any adverse impact on the historic fabric, as required by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Onsite mock-ups were conducted to determine LED distribution, mounting details, lighting throw, color quality, and lighting control zones. Energy efficient 2700K white LEDs were ultimately selected, and preset dimming controls were used to balance the lighting levels.

Photography: Esto: Jeff Goldberg; Kugler Ning Lighting Design

2015 Award of Excellence

Lighting Designer: Kugler Ning Lighting Design: Jerry Kugler, Jackson Ning, Sunhee Lim, Jung Eun RA

Architect: Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects: Rafael Pelli, FAIA & Craig Copeland, AIA & Spector Group: Scott Spector, AIA & Scott Hayden, RA

Owner: Brookfield Properties

The pavilion is a grand new entrance through which 35,000 commuters and visitors travel daily into Brookfield Place (formerly known as the World Financial Center). The sweeping form of a pair of 53-foot-tall structural columns is illuminated with a series of metal halide in-ground fixtures. Shadows of the columns are cast onto the ceiling, creating the illusion of even greater volume and movement. Downlights, recessed at the perimeter of the ceiling, provide additional illumination when daylight is insufficient. Fixtures were selected with lens assemblies that minimize lamp heat transfer. Internal custom louvers were developed that optimize light output while controlling glare. Consisting of only energy-efficient CMH lamps, total lighting load is 58% below ASHRAE. At night, the pavilion becomes a glowing beacon.

Photography: Esto: Jeff Goldberg; PelliClarke Pelli Architects: Craig Hoeksema

2015 Award of Merit

Lighting Designers: Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design & ESI Design: Francesca Bettridge, Michael Hennes, Renata Gallo, Michael Schneider, Ed Purver, Angela Greene, Ania Wagner

Architect: HOK

Owner: Beacon Capital Partners

The entry to this 1910 warehouse building is re-imagined as a modern lobby with an LED media art installation that wraps around its perimeter. The inverted white LED coves reinforce the architectural aesthetic by creating glowing lines that softly illuminate the limestone surfaces. The effect is a modulated background that enhances, without dominating, the media walls. CBBLD designed the lobby’s lighting to complement and actively respond to the exhibit panels. The media art’s control system senses the image color and in turn informs the color and intensity of the architectural lighting. Together, the architectural lighting and media art create a rich, novel experience.

Photography: ESI Design

2015 Award of Merit

Lighting Designer: Kugler Ning Lighting Design: Jerry Kugler, Jackson Ning, Sunhee Lim, Jung Eun Ra

Architect: Peter Gisolfi Associates: Joseph Keating & Michael Tribe

Owner: Private NYC Social Club

The lighting goals for restoring the McKim,

Mead & White-designed library, circa 1899, were to highlight H. Siddons Mowbray’s murals and ceiling decorations, preserve a low level of illumination faithful to the era and provide pools of light for the reading areas. The murals are illuminated by 95CRI, 7.5W, 10-degree MR16 LED retrofit lamps concealed within custom wall sconces and book display lights, using details from the period and existing fixtures. Linear LEDs with internal louvers replaced 1970s-era fluorescent tubes within existing stack lights. Layers of light are controlled with lighting presets to enhance visual hierarchy and balance with daylight. Magnetic transformers allow for compatibility with advancing dimmable LED lamps.

Photography: Everett Short, William Philbin, Terry Nelson, Kugler Ning Lighting Design

2015 Award of Merit

Lighting Designer: Kugler Ning Lighting Design: Jerry Kugler, Jackson Ning, John Newman, Burr Rutledge, Ryoko Nakamura

Architect: Peter Gisolfi Associates: Joseph Keating & Michael Tribe

Owner: Yale University

The challenge was to restore the dark and

dreary Collegiate-Gothic nave to its original 1930s splendor, while making the old and new indistinguishable. New 2700K retrofit LED PAR38 and MR16 lamps, concealed within balconies, restored wrought iron chandeliers, and new picture lights illuminate the details of the elaborate ceilings. Retrofit LED A-lamps and diffusion film were added to restored sconces to soften their brightness and reveal the natural variation of the mica shades. Hand-fabricated chandeliers, using original materials and methods, were added to the north aisle. Pendants and card-catalog fixtures at the south aisle were refurbished and relamped with LEDs to balance daylight from restored skylights. The connected lighting load is 64% below ASHRAE.

Photography: Brian Rose, Jackson Ning, Kugler Ning Lighting Design

2015 Award of Merit

Lighting Designer: Focus Lighting: Paul Gregory, Christine Hope, Brett Andersen, Hilary Manners, Valentina Doro, Dan Nichols, Andrew Balmer

Architect: Richard Lewis Architects: Richard Lewis, Susan Armsby

Owner: Jim Caiola and David Salama

Inspired by the restaurant’s famed Crystal

Room, the lighting design treats the courtyard as an extension of the interior, using multiple layers of light to give dimension to the outdoor space. Classic architecture meets modern influences in the custom-designed cylindrical lanterns with frosted glass, gradient shades that radiate a soft, warm light. Steel-blue LED accents wash the slate roof, while 4200K pattern projectors mimic dappled moonlight. 500 “chandeliers” in varying sizes float above the courtyard in delicate swags. 3.5W, 2400K LED medium screw-base lamps provide an 86% reduction in energy use and 10% additional lumen output compared to regular 25W lamps, while adding the same feeling of incandescent sparkle within the canopy above.

Photography: Ryan Fischer, Focus Lighting

2015 Award of Merit

Lighting Designer: Fisher Marantz Stone: Paul Marantz, Barry Citrin, Zack Zanolli, Carla Ross Allen, Tim Huth

Architect: Davis Brody Bond: Steven Davis, Carl Krebs, David Williams, Mark Wagner, Oliver Sippl

Owner: The National September 11 Memorial Museum

Museums devoted to human tragedies, wars, disasters, and this project commemorating the 9/11 terrorist attacks, necessitate a delicate balance between rationality and emotion. There is, naturally, a great temptation to design in a minor key in order to reflect the darkness, gravity, solemnity, and passion of the events described. By restraining this impulse, avoiding an excess of melodrama, the visitors are free to develop their own responses and emotional connection to the event memorialized. As the architecture dictated, our lighting design goal here was to reserve a careful balance between rational and emotional, light and dark, hot and cold.

Photography: ESTO: Jeff Goldberg, Davis Brody Bond, James Ewing Photography, Charles G. Stone, Fisher Marantz Stone

2015 Citation for Strong Execution of Concept

Lighting Designer: Buro Happold: Gabe Guilliams, Pei-Chun Yang

Architect: LTL Architects: Marc Tsurumaki, Paul Lewis, David J. Lewis, John Morrison, Keith Greenwald

Owner: Columbia University School of Journalism

The journalism school’s media lab is an academic experiment devoted to the co-evolution of technology and storytelling. A series of intertwining luminous elements builds a network of ambient light to support the institute’s varied programmatic needs. Backlight integrated in the perimeter scrim adds depth, and allows the structure to become an extension of the ceiling network, cradling the volume. In media-intensive scenarios, eliminating overhead lighting and dimming perimeter light maximizes perceptibility of the projections while reducing peripheral contrast and resulting eyestrain. Ceiling lighting dims in response to daylight, and during the day the perimeter lighting reduces visual contrast between windows and solid wall surfaces.

Photography: Michael Moran Photography, Inc; Chris Coulter, Buro Happold; Gabe Guilliams, Buro Happold

2015 Award of Citation for Design Execution for a Public Transit System

Lighting Designer: Domingo Gonzalez Associates: Domingo Gonzalez, AC Hickox, Frederik Amnas, Patrick Merosier, Ana C. Pena

Architect: Dulles Transit Partners

Owner: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

After a ten-year design-build process, the five completed stations included in Phase One of the Silver Line soar above vehicular traffic. A limited quantity of lamps such as integral jacketed and bare lamp 35KT8 LFs, and MH types employed in high volumes, result in a maintenance-friendly installation. Exterior lighting is controlled via photocell for dusk-to-dawn operation. Bare lamp strips extend the length of the mezzanines for maximum energy efficiency. Custom continuous extruded aluminum luminaires deliver downlighting to walking surfaces as well as uplighting reminiscent of the system’s heritage. The lighting extends themes of visual lift, angular accent and linearity, and succeeds by expressing architectural intent, meeting illuminance, uniformity, and energy targets.

Photography: Joseph Romeo Photography

2015 Award of Citation for Light Installation

Lighting Designer: zeroLUX lighting design: Lana L. Lenar, Robert Van Antwerp, Charles Pavarini III

Architect: Pavarini Design

Owner: Lucas Place Lofts

The focal point of the renovated Lucas Place Lofts, once a garment factory, is a nine-story skylight atrium. Despite the openness of the space, it was dark and lifeless. The project’s interior designer envisioned a custom lighting installation that would evoke debris swirling around the atrium as if tossed about by a tornado. Falling Sticks is composed of 30 nearly invisible individual strands of aircraft cable, supporting six-inch in diameter custom LED luminaires that vary in length from two to six feet, and are randomly placed along each strand. Each tube is illuminated by coiled LED tape for both energy efficiency and longevity, and is connected to a remote driver for easy maintenance.

Photography: Robert Van Antwerp, zeroLUX lighting design

2015 Award of Citation for an Architectural Feature as a Light Source

Lighting Designer: Arup Lighting: Matt Franks, Star Davis, Brian Stacy, Casey Curbow

Architect: James Carpenter Design Associates

Owners: MTA Capital Construction Company & MTA Arts and Design

Light and daylight played a critical role in the design of this transit hub, which serves 11 subway lines and 300,000 commuters daily. A study of the solar geometry of the site informed the location of a 50-foot diameter skylight oculus. Tilted gently toward the south, it allows for more direct sunlight to enter, and during summer months light penetrates as far as two levels below ground. A cable-net structure with reflective panels surrounds the interior of the space below the oculus, reflecting both the direct sun and diffuse skylight, and folding subtle images of the surrounding environment into the space. The hidden electric lighting illuminates the reflector panels, which in turn provide a gentle ambient light in the interior of the station.

Photography: James Ewing Photography & Arup Lighitng: Matt Franks, Zak Kostura

2015 Award of Citation for Facade Detail

Lighting Designer: Tillotson Design Associates: Suzan Tillotson, Thomas Bergeron

Photography: HGEsch Photography, Hans-Georg Esch

Award of Citation for Controls Innovation

Lighting Designer: Claude R. Engle Lighting Consultant: Claude R. Engle III and Claude R Engle IV, John Berg, Tom Trytek and Aaron Mackenzie, Brian Richardson, with John Luhrs and Paul Rabinovitz, John Gebbie and Brian Dunn

Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill: Nicole Dosso

Owners: Port Authority of NY and NJ & The Durst Organization

The entire span of the 408-foot steel spire that tops 1 WTC is illuminated. Designed to be reminiscent of a light house, the summit of the spire features a custom-made rotating beacon with an array of 50W LED modules designed to fit inside a glass capsule. The final uplight design includes 124 LED color-changing fixtures with on-board status monitoring and diagnostic capabilities. The fully integrated control system includes a web-based graphical user interface capable of monitoring the self-diagnostic lighting fixtures, motor assembly, relay panels and weather station. The centralized computer provides various color selections which range from single color to dynamic color sequencing, as well as a “strobe on command” capability.

Photography: Michael Lee Photography , JR Clancy, Bridget Cox, Scott Hali, Barbizon; Benjamin Tevelow, Barbizon

2015 Award of Citation for Lighting Installation

Lighting Designers: Studio 1 Thousand: Kenzan Tsutakawa Chinn & Studio Joseph: Wendy Evans Joseph, Chris Cooper, Wonwoo Park

Architect: Studio Joseph

Owner: Museum of the City of New York

This dynamic, site-specific installation provides the entry of the museum with the feeling of public engagement. Walking the stairs between the entry level and 2nd floor, the effects inherent in the geometry of a uniform, spatial six-inch grid create an array of radiating patterns. To maintain the simplicity of the concept, hand-assembled computer-generated components were used. Starlight is composed of 5,243 double-sided pixels hung on 210 tripartite strands, forming a 15-foot diameter (30 strands) circle in elevation, 42 inches (7 strands) deep in plan. Pixels are constructed from double-sided circuit boards on which white LED chips are mounted. The non-lensed chips provide 4.7 times the luminousity compared to the original chandelier.

Photography: Eduard Hueber/ArchPhoto & Studio Joseph: Wendy Evans Joseph, Wanwoo Park

2016 Award of Excellence

Lighting Designer: Fisher Marantz Stone: Charles G. Stone II, Paula Martinez-Nobles, Katheryn Czub

Architect: Lehman Smith McLeish

Owner: Covington & Burling LLP

An evening approach to this 450,000 sq ft office building reveals aunified, single-tenant presence throughout. The softly glowing exterior belies an uncluttered and dramatic luminous interior environment, as conceived by the architects. An iconic lighting program meets the diverse needs of this prominent organization.Ninety-nine percent of the lighting on the completed project uses LED technology. Crisp and modern, lines of light articulate perimeters and frame transitions. In the high-energy employee café, triangular ceiling panels give the appearance of glowing seams and woven intersections. While conference and teleconference rooms have luminous ceilings that provide dynamic flexibility and ideal soft light for cameras.Thoughtful collaboration ensured that light fixtures are rigorously aligned with the interior architecture. Small, shallow fixtures integrate seamlessly with architectural details, while providing uniform illumination. The result is efficient, effective and beautiful.

Photography: Jon Miller Hedrich Blessing; Richard Bryant Arcaid Images; Prakash Patel Photography

2016 Award of Excellence

Lighting Designer: Tillotson Design Associates Suzan Tillotson, Ellen Sears, David Burya

Architect: CetraRuddy Architecture D.P.C.: John Cetra, Nancy Ruddy, Theresa Genovese, Branko Potocnik

Owner: Lincoln Square Synagogue

Undulating ribbons of glass form the east facade of this Upper West Side synagogue, representing the sacred Torah scroll and uniting the Sanctuary, the Beit Midrash and the classroom space. The stone ends of the facade suggest the protective covering for the Torah and the Tabernacle within. The glass ribbons are formed of facets of double-laminated, insulating glass panels encapsulating bronze-colored, pleated, sheer-woven Trevira in between. A white ceramic, silkscreen dot pattern on the interior lite allows a slightly obscured view to the interior, while increasing privacy for worshipers inside.The Tillotson Design team incorporated lines of LEDs behind the facade’s extrusions, with complex wiring details running through to remote drivers. The ceramic frit catches the light, creating a glowing wall that in the evening forms a backdrop for the Sanctuary’s Ark. Tiny recessed LED downlights sparkle like stars in the gently convex ceiling, but they are zoned to provide purposeful accent and aisle lighting. LED coves, with resin diffusers, spill soft light onto the angled acoustical wall panels to accentuate the form, and to complete the imagery of the first tabernacle: a nomadic tent under the desert sky.

Photography: David Sundberg/Esto; Emile Dubuisson, StudioDubuisson

2016 Award of Merit

Lighting Designer: One Lux Studio: Stephen Margulies, Adriana Amendolara

Architect: Mancini DuffyT. Lee Trimble, Krista Merrill

Owner: 85 Broad Street LLC – A Subsidiary of MetLife, Inc.

When Hurricane Sandy hit Manhattan in October 2012, the cellar level of 85 Broad Street was completely flooded. The water destroyed a cafeteria space that had been refreshed only a month before. After the clean-up, the building owner saw an opportunity to reposition the eatery to compete with nearby restaurants. Likewise, the designers at One Lux Studio transformed challenges into opportunities: creating a more expansive and brighter space through thoughtful programming and integrated design.Located below grade with no access to natural light, the space is at a major disadvantage. Tricks were played with compressed thresholds and ceiling and floor materials to create the illusion of movement and volume, all reinforced by careful lighting. The reflective surfaces often double the lighting effects, creating wide vistas within this restrictive volume.The various layers of lighting create unique visual moments, inviting tenants for an enhanced dining experience.

Photography: Eric Laignel

2016 Award of Merit

Lighting Designer: Tillotson Design Associates Suzan Tillotson, Erin Dreyfous, Megan Pfeffer Trimarchi

ARCHITECT: Diller Scofidio + RenfroElizabeth Diller, Kevin Rice, Andrea Schelly

Owner: The Broad

The striking Broad Museum has become an integral part of the Downtown LA experience, and is crucial to the redevelopment of the area. The lighting design takes its cues from the primary architectural components, dubbed “the veil and the vault.” The veil’s public exhibition space envelops the heavy vault, archive storage space that supports the Broad’s lending activities. The veil transforms after dark into a softly illuminated, cellular exoskeleton that wraps the dark, opaque vault as it hovers off the ground.Horizontal prows at the primary entries are lit with precisely shuttered uplights, creating a luminous threshold for patrons to pass through the transparent lobby facade. The airy, delicate nature of the veil facade is emphasized by a soft wash of light. In-grade LED fixtures with custom lenses and shielding accentuate the highlights and shadows of each unique cell. Luminaires are confined within the designated setback zone, and appropriate luminances were calculated and confirmed through on-site mock-ups. Despite its bold nighttime presence, the lighting design prevents light trespass on nearby residential towers, the titanium-clad concert hall and adjacent art museum – thus integrating this cultural landmark into the context of a Downtown renaissance.

Photography:Iwan Baan Photography John Muggenborg Photography

2016 Award of Merit

Lighting Designer: BuroHappold Engineering: Gabe Guilliams, Pei-Chun Yang, Nick Mykulak, Chris Coulte

Architect: Handel Architects Peter Miller, Rick Kearns

Owner: Grace Farms Foundation

Gently flowing down its hillside, forming pond-like spaces on its journey, The River Building at Grace Farms imbues a sense of calm. This is the new home for Grace Farms. Its mission: to create an environment where visitors draw inspiration from nature, encounter the arts, pursue justice, foster community and explore faith. The lighting seamlessly supports this mission, creating a sublime evening experience as day transitions to night. BurroHappold succeeded in maintaining the architecture’s remarkable connection to the site, inviting people to engage with the expansive surroundings.The walkways, courtyards and glass-enclosed volumes beneath a 1400 ft long, sinuous roof structure are transparent, dissolving the boundaries between inside and out. Wooden ceilings, both inside and out, are bathed in light, and this warm glow becomes the primary wayfinding cue. The delicate balance of brightnesses enhances the transparency of the glazed volumes and unifies the dining room, library and sanctuary.By connecting the structure to the landscape and its topography, by day and into the night, The River Building ultimately connects people to place and to each other.

Photography: Gabe GuilliamsIwan Baan Photography

2016 Award of Merit:

Lighitng Designer: BuroHappold Engineering Gabe Guilliams, Nick Mykulak

Architect: Moore Ruble YudellNeal Matsuno, Adam Padua, Simone Barth, Mackey Mitchell Architects: Jim Konrad, Dan Schneider

Owner: Washington University Brown School of Social Work

As an expansion to the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University, much of Hillman Hall matches the campus’s collegiate, Gothic vernacular: punched windows in red granite and limestone facades. On approach from the campus green to the north, however, the building’s facade is intentionally transparent – cultivating a sense of inclusion and invitation to the university community.Central to this north facade is the Forum – the heart of the school. The warm glow of the wood-clad Forum invites both happenstance acquaintance and formalized meetings. The space includes 25 lighting layers; most are linear fixtures routed in the top of the wood structure, indirectly lighting the ceiling above and softly filtering back through the woodwork. The team constructed a full-scale mock-up to study the visual impact of numerous obstructions above the structure, and to understand the photometry of the custom pendant hanging below the oculus.The exterior lighting for Hillman Hall pushes well beyond the campus standard, engaging the three buildings in an intimate visual dialogue – beginning with tree uplights between Goldfarb and Hillman and finishing by illuminating the facade of the historic Brown Hall tower for all to see from within Hillman Hall’s Forum.

Photography: Gabe Guilliams

2016 Award of Merit

Lighting Designer: KGM Architectural Lighting Martin van Koolbergen, Dayuan Fu

Architects: Gensler: Philippe Paré, Joshua Geisinger, Neil McLean, Sabu Song, Joanne Chan, Danielle Gharst, Jenny Ogasawara, Shun Nagasaka, Miwako Feuer, Sarah Gibbons

Owner: Hyundai Capital

This project comprises two unique spaces that are available as employee perks for a major international corporation. OnAir, a radio broadcast studio, has a presence on the street, while the Open Studio video broadcast studio acts as a sculptural element within the lobby of the corporation. Using only three types of extremely efficient light sources, integrated into the architectural design, KGM created two distinct spaces with a very limited lighting budget.Vibrant and energetic, the design for the radio broadcast studio uses strong linear lines of blue LED light to define the major walls of the space and attract interest from the street. Within the studio, the desk is illuminated with adjustable 3000K LED monopoints.Whimsical and sculptural, the softer, cool white curved linear LED light swirls across the lobby ceiling to the video broadcast pod in its 11 ft tall transparent enclosure. Inside the booth, the “halo” enhances privacy by illuminating sheer curtains when they’re drawn, and creating artistic reflections when the curtains are open. By day, the light swirl defines the boundaries of the studio. By night, the curve is reflected in the floor, creating a beautiful sculpture.

Photography: Nacasa & Partners, Inc.

2016 Award of Merit

Lighting Designer: Domingo Gonzalez Associates: Domingo Gonzalez, Nancy Lok, Phat Quach

Architect: Civic Engineering & IT, Inc.

Owners: Nashville Metro Public Works

A mere 11 months – from concept to completion – saw the “Gateway” Bridge transformed, using lighting alone, into an icon of the city of Nashville. Choosing a wirelessly controlled, remotely accessible LED system was inevitable, given the energy savings, luminaire durability and versatility available. But determining the best option to replace the existing (and rather underwhelming) cable lighting, and to celebrate the structure as a whole, was far less obvious.Despite the breakneck design and construction schedule, DGA evaluated multiple approaches for their visual impact; effect on structure; glare control; mitigation of light pollution; maintainability and, as a municipal project, adherence to budget. Lighting calculations performed during the design phase, and mock-ups undertaken during construction, bore out the validity of the final selection and smoothed construction.Today, deeply shielded arch washers are individually addressable, providing colorful celebrations of light for special occasions. Structure-mounted linear LEDs in 3000K set the scarlet deck girders aglow, while cable washers and land-based pole-mounted floodlights balance the bridge’s dynamic presence as Nashville’s “front door.”

Photography: Bob Schatz: Domingo Gonzalez Associates

2016 Citation for Daylighting

Lighting Designer: Arup: Matt Franks, Star Davis

Architect: Thomas Phifer and Partners: Thomas Phifer, Gabriel Smith, Katie Bennett, Adam Ruffin

Owner: Corning Museum of Glass

The unique interaction of light and glass was a key design driver for this new contemporary glass art gallery. Because glass artwork is generally not light-sensitive, Arup designers exploited higher light levels and daylighting in ways that are not typical for museums.Daylight changes in brightness, distribution and color throughout the day and throughout the year in this Northeastern climate, showcasing artwork under ideal conditions while maintaining a dialogue with the exterior. A thoughtfully designed roof and ceiling system allows tempered daylight into the space, while an integrated electric lighting system with hidden uplighting and elegant custom-designed spotlights subtly highlights the artwork as daylight fades.The primary ceiling elements are concrete beams running the length of the gallery. They diffuse daylight and veil the skylight and track lighting systems above. The roof system comprises a series of hipped (pyramid) skylights. Advanced daylighting calculations determined the appropriate pattern of clear, diffuse and opaque panels to achieve desired daylight levels. While most of the glazing contains a diffusing interlayer, a small number of clear glass panels allow direct sunlight to enter. Sunbeams animate the space and create special moments when the glass artworks are brilliantly highlighted.

Photography: Iwan Baan Photography

2016 Citation for Skillful Illumination of a historical Facade

Lighting Designer: Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design Francesca Bettridge, Michael Hennes, Jeff Hoenig

Owner: Vornado Realty Trust

How does one transform a bank building, never intended to be illuminated at night, into a theater that comes alive after dark? This Off-Broadway theater on Manhattan’s Union Square presented significant lighting challenges that, compounded by the building’s landmark status, severely restricted what could be altered.Using the dramatic shadows and details visible in bright sunlight as inspiration, the designers turned the building itself into its own marquee. Since stock fixtures fell short of the lighting and landmark goals, their solution was to develop a totally new fixture; one with a minimal 2-5/8 inch profile that could illuminate the 60 ft facades.Employing versatility and precision, this single fixture provides the project’s sole source of illumination. The full expanse of the facade is evenly illuminated, with almost no light spill on the sidewalk below. Subtle details and carved features, heretofore lost, are suddenly revealed in shadows and light.Elegant lighting animates the building and gives the once invisible theater a jewel-box presence.

Photography: David Sundberg/Esto

2016 Citation for Historical Interpretation

Lighting Designer: Cooley Monato StudioRenée Cooley, Adam Kroll, Natalia Lesniak

Architect: Gabellini Sheppard Associates: Kimberly Sheppard, Michael Gabellini, Daniel Garbowit Gulay Dukkanci Silvia Maffei Kentaro Ishihara Courtney Adams Randall Goya

Owner: Paul Warchol

Located in the heart of Midtown New York, the lobby at 30 Rockefeller Plaza serves as the entryway for NBC television studios and live audiences. The project encompassed renovations of active lobby spaces, the re-creation of a grand staircase that had been lost to time, and construction of a new audience lounge to meet modern needs. This restoration captures the essence of the original 1930s Art Deco design while renewing the space with contemporary elements and technology.Visitors arriving at the lower lobby are greeted by a custom chandelier of bronze, concentric rings, which integrates LED uplights, surrounded by a cove. A larger chandelier of similar design draws visitors up the grand staircase to the mezzanine where it is the centerpiece. Adding to the majestic feel of the mezzanine rotunda, a perimeter cove highlights bronze mirror walls without reflecting onto video screens, and keeps viewing within comfortable contrast ratios. Cooley Monato’s lighting restores the original Art Deco design while incorporating state-of-the-art technology – helping establish 30 Rock as a modern center for creative media.

Photography: Paul Warchol

2016 Citation for Elegant and Restrained Restoration

Lighting Designer: ICRAVE Lighting Renée Joosten, Patricia Vallejo

Owner: OTG: Rick Blatstein, Founder and CEO

Interior Design:I CRAVE: Lionel Ohayon, Founder and CEO; Greg Merkel, Creative Director

Despite its historic radial ceiling and skylight, Terminal A at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) was dimly lit, uninviting and visually uninteresting. To establish the new Page eatery as focal point, the ICRAVE team designed a flowering structure, with ten petals in a circular configuration, that aligns to and celebrates the existing ceiling structure.Each petal holds six custom, four-channel LED uplights that crossfade a range of white and amber light in multiple beam optics. Various lighting scenes respond to an astronomic time clock to balance the abundant and transitional daylight. The programming provides a dynamic setting that complements incoming daylight and creates a warm environment at night. The soft glow emanating from the structure’s core illuminates the pendant speaker dome, anchoring the sculpture with carefully controlled beampatterns.This one-of-a-kind sculpture, paired with a transitional lighting show, transforms the terminal, bringing a bold update to the historic architecture.

Photography: Giulio Calisse, ICRAVE

2016 Citation for Temporary Art Installation

Lighting Design: Christine Sciulli, Artist

Gallery: Smack Mellon: Kathleen Gilrain, Executive Director and Chief Curator; Suzanne Kim, Deputy Director and Director of Exhibitions; Tyler Henry, Media Systems Manager

ROIL was a site-specific art installation of tulle and white light at Smack Mellon Gallery, in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. Frenzied, expanding and collapsing circles of white light were projected through a site-wide soft sculpture in the gallery’s cavernous raw space, a 55 by 28 by 35 ft high installation. The impression harkened back to the roiling steam that once issued from this hall. Here boilers superheated, churned and compressed water into hissing steam that pulsed through pipes and coursed into the surrounding factories of paper product industrialist Robert Gair.ROIL was created from moving light in the form of kinetic circles projected into 2000 yards of hand-pinned fabric. Eight video projectors were mounted at different vertical angles so that the viewer was always in a skewed relationship to most of the cylinders of light. Projections were “caught” in the network of white translucent fabric as they extended out in constant motion.With circles expanding and contracting at various rates, the dynamic dialogue among front, rear and side projections presented seemingly arbitrary geometries, dancing ephemera.

Photography: Etienne Frossard, Paul Warchol

2016 Citation for Historical Restoration

Lighting Designer: Nathan Orsman

The illumination of the lobby of the iconic Sherry-Netherland hotel and residences took place after the restoration of the original Beaux-Art mural painted in 1927 by Joseph Aruta. Orsman Design was commissioned to illuminate the spectacular mural and spent much time studying the history of the building, including reviewing old photographs and interviewing residents and management.More than a dozen coats of paint and plaster had covered the 860 sq ft mural, and it took five conservationists 6 months to restore. Once completed, Orsman Design managed the lighting installation. As there was no preexisting wiring, extreme care was taken to conceal all the wiring and remotely locate linear LED drivers. The intent was to illuminate the ceiling but not draw attention to the light sources. This process involved extensive mock-ups, testing and experimentation with multiple LED products. The product selected is the one that best fits the hotel’s history; more on the warmer side at 2300K. As they dim, the LEDs emulate the color shift found in incandescents, growing even warmer as they dim down to 1 percent.The lighting design subtly reveals the brilliant mural at night, providing warmth and grandeur for guests of this elegant boutique hotel.

Photography: Michael Stavaridis

2017 Award of Excellence

Lighting Designer: Brandston Partnership Inc: Scott Matthews, Daniel Haas, and Naomi Freedman

Architect: SOM (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP): Roger Duffy, Frank Mahan, Thierry Landis

Owner: United States Air Force Academy

Theater Consultant: Fisher Dachs Associates

The US Air Force Academy Honor Code is succinct: “We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does.” The academy’s Center for Character & Leadership Development is both a symbol of the institution’s commitment to that code and an academic center devoted to its integration within all aspects of academy life. The distinctive structure marks the direction to Polaris, a familiar navigational beacon and symbol of the institution’s unwavering moral code. The center’s gathering space, the Forum, lies beneath the 105 ft sloped skylight structure, where a truss system of horizontal plates acts as both sunshade and light reflector. At night, LED floodlights ringing its base uplight the structure and reflect light off an array of suspended mirrors to provide the Forum’s house illumination.The Wing Honor Board Room, directly south of the Forum, is the venue for fact-finding concerning infractions of the Honor Code. Proceedings center on a hearing table beneath an LED-backlit laylight, whose beveled planes culminate in an elliptical aperture. This aperture provides the witness a perfectly aligned view of the oculus at the top of the skylight structure and, in concept, Polaris sighted 434 light years beyond.

Photography: Magda Biernat, OTTO

2017 Award of Merit

Lighting Design: L’Observatoire International: Hervé Descottes, Wei Jien, Jeff Taylor, Jessica Jie Soo Tchah, Kristy Philp, and Oliver Huang

Architect: WRT, LLC (Wallace Roberts & Todd)

Owner: Bethlehem Redevelopment Authority

The SteelStacks Campus in Bethlehem, PA, is the former Bethlehem Steel plant turned dynamic arts and cultural campus. The redevelopment focuses on the 10 acre central core that includes multiple performance venues, plazas, and parks.The lighting installation brought new life to an old factory that hasn’t been active in 20 years. L’Observatoire’s design gives a visceral sense of the action that once took place within the furnaces, creating a dynamic lighting scheme using saturated colors that highlight the various functional elements of the steel factory.Elements closest to the visitors are lit first, then a layer further back, and so on until all of the elements of the factory are visible. The first sequence at sundown uses red lighting, the second a deeper red, and following sequences gradually turn to blue, echoing the fires of the furnaces being ignited and then cooling down. At the end of each sequence, which lasts an hour, the lights flicker in a dynamic “sparkle” effect, and the entire factory comes to life.

Photography: Halkin Mason Photography, Studio Dubuisson

Lighting Designer: Lighting Workshop
Steven Espinoza, Doug Russell, and Juhee Woo

Lighting Designer: Lighting Workshop
Doug Russell and Courtney Yip

2017 Award of Merit

Lighting Desiger: KGM Architectural Lighting Moritz Hammer, Charlotte Cantillon, and Martin van Koolbergen

Architect: Gensler: Philipe Paré

Owner: Hyundai Capital Services/Hyundai Card Co. Ltd.

The Hyundai Capital Convention Hall located in Seoul makes a huge statement for the tech giant. Glowing arches in the pristine white ceiling and walls evoke the white backdrop used in photo shoots or a James Turrell installation.The space is used for presentations, training, video projection, and events, so lighting and controls had to be flexible enough to support different uses. In collaboration with Gensler, a “shell” concept was developed to provide a modern, dynamic-looking space without visible direct light sources. Adjustable downlights, stage lights, ambient cove lighting, and linear accents on walls are carefully layered and individually controlled to provide balanced environments for different uses. The recessed screen surface is softly framed by a knife-edge cove, hiding the light source from view even at the shallowest viewing angles. Mock-ups were studied in-house to determine the best placement of fixtures, hiding within light. The arches themselves augment the perspective view as they get shorter toward the back of the hall. An adjacent screening hall is designed as a black box with minimal downlights and accents at bench risers, enhancing the stark design.

Photography: Nacasa & Partners Inc.KGM

2017 Citation for Excellence in Exhibition Lighting

Lighting Designer: Dot Dash: Christopher Cheap, Isabel Sanchez Sevillano, Brian Cheap, and Jelisa Blumberg

Architect: OMA New York: Shohei Shigematsu, Scott Abrahams, Christine Noblejas

Owner: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

For The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Spring 2016 Costume Institute exhibition, OMA designed translucent white volumes to transform a postmodern interior into a “Ghost Cathedral.” Fixtures in catwalks above create ghosted views of the stone and brick interior of the Robert Lehman Wing and reveal silhouettes of the temporary structure supporting the scrims.The central, domed “cocoon” and four surrounding “chapels” display dresses exemplifying handmade and machine-made details, using projections to magnify the construction details of each garment. Fixtures controlled by DMX dim in response to the projection sequences, maintaining the 5 fc maximum. Signage, case lighting, and projections are all tuned to preserve the white balance throughout the exhibition.After testing a range of available halogen and LED fixtures, Dot Dash determined that a custom LED fixture and mounting system was the best solution. A zoom lens and integral dimmer adjust both beamspread and output based on the throw distance. In display cases around the perimeter of the central dome, custom, polished stainless steel fixtures integrate within the millwork to light each book. Inside niches, theatrical fixtures are cross-aimed to achieve a mysterious, shadow-free gradient of light across the back wall.

Photography: Albert Vecerka, ESTO; Dot Dash, Brett Beyer

Lighting Design: SBLD Studio: Attila Uysal, Amy Ruffles, and Jorge Ruiz

Architect: Beyer Blinder Belle: John H. Beyer, Margaret Kittinger, Brett Gaillard, Miriam Kelly

Owner: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fifty years after opening as the Whitney Museum, Marcel Breuer’s mid-century masterpiece welcomed a new tenant, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The restoration commissioned by The Met focused on the building’s signature attributes, including iconic lighting created by Breuer and his close friend Edison Price.The famous array of glowing discs in the lobby had fallen into disrepair with an unsightly mix of silver-bowl lamps with different light sources. The discs were relamped with a custom LED, its properties modeled on the original 60W incandescent. Iterations of the lamp were mocked up, and the final result is a beautifully uniform array delivering 87 percent energy savings.Original sconces, downlights, and steplights were also lovingly restored and relamped with LED. Photographs of the original façade lighting were studied and the vision carefully re-created with 3000K LED floodlights to enhance the resplendent granite and compliment the warm interior tone. This holistic approach extended to new, historically sensitive lighting interventions at the lower lobby level.SBLD approached the project with a great sense of responsibility to preserve the original lighting design while updating it for the 21st century. Breuer’s masterpiece can now shine bright for another 50 years.

Photography: Peter Aaron, SBLD Studio, Corrado Serra

Fisher Marantz Stone, Inc.Paul Marantz, Hank Forrest, and Carla Ross Allen

Completed in 1881, the Veterans Room at the Park Avenue Armory was designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, Stanford White, Candace Wheeler, and Samuel Colman. In the Gilded Age of open gas flames and cigars, the coal-driven New York Central Railroad ran directly in front of the building. Originally both a military armory and men’s social club, the building’s primary function today serves cultural, arts, and special events.The overall goals of the lighting restoration were to reveal the room’s beauty, maintain the historic drama, and create the flexibility needed for the wide array of programming. Much of the work focused on sensitive reuse of the original gaslight-era fixtures. Glass elements with concealed LEDs were incorporated into the room’s existing gas chandeliers and sconces to evoke the original flame sources. Sources were fine-tuned to allow stray light to be emitted in a controlled manner, gently highlighting the light fixtures’ intricate metalwork and the room’s exuberant wall and ceiling finishes.

Citation for Transformation of a Space Through Lighting

Tillotson Design Associates Suzan Tillotson, Mitul Parekh, and Shan Jiang

Boston Properties wanted to upgrade the existing public spaces at 599 Lex to appeal to new, young tenants, while establishing a strong street presence. Tillotson’s suspended vertical fins glow with appropriate luminosity, filling the lobby volume with light and blending with the architecture by connecting visually to the existing fins on the glass façade.Previously, the 50 ft high glass façade showed reflections during the daytime and evening; and the north face with its extended canopy limited daylight penetration, exacerbating the daytime contrast problem. Complicating matters further, the rear wall features a large, commissioned bas-relief that needed to stand out.Edge-lit with linear, dimmable LED fixtures at top, the clear glass fins have translucent frit that lends a diaphanous appearance. There is visibility through the fins, creating a fresh take on the concept of a luminous ceiling. To punch the polished stone floor with light and add elements of sparkle, a grid of LED pendants, in a de-materializing polished chrome finish, are interspersed between the fins. This pendant vocabulary extends into the lower-height elevator lobbies.Carefully placed framing projectors with custom gobos created in-situ make the art wall pop, even during the daytime.

2017 Citation for the Lighting of an Art Installation

Arup: Jake Wayne, Brian Stacy, Anthony J. Cortez, and Liberty MacDougall

Architect: Studio Echelman: Janet Echelman

Arup’s lighting design for this immersive art installation blurs the line between the art and the illumination. Echelman’s layers of twines, knotted together in vibrant hues, interplay with colored light and “shadow drawings” on the walls of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery.With such a unique art form, the lighting installation details were carefully considered to achieve proper aiming angles, without creating undesirable glare or distractions to visitors. The design process was necessarily collaborative and iterative, with lighting visualizations representative of the intent reviewed and critiqued first by the artist, but also by the curatorial staff.The dedicated gallery space afforded the opportunity to explore the nature of shadow, creating a second “palette” for the artist and allowing her to consider the large blank walls as additional canvas.Seven-color LED theatrical fixtures scripted via DMX create a dynamic, vibrant 9 minute choreographed sequence of light that takes visitors on an experiential journey through the artistic narrative. The lighting expresses every elemental piece of the art, responding in kind to each flowing gesture.Intricately woven into moments of air, sound, and motion, the lighting sequence is simultaneously symbolic and abstract, allowing viewers to draw their own reflective interpretations.

Photography: Arup, Ron Blunt

2018 Award of Excellence

Lighting Design: Tillotson Design Associates:
Suzan Tillotson, Mitul Parekh, and Shan Jiang

Schreiber Studio: Matthew Schreiber

Owner: Bloomberg L.P.: Michael Bloomberg

Meticulously controlled lighting reveals the ancient Roman city of Londinium and the mysterious Temple of Mithras, the bull-slayer, “reinstated” in its original location within a new corporate headquarters. At street level, the climate-controlled display case could not incorporate lighting. Artifacts are displayed on pyramidal forms, revealing details with minimal shadows from track lighting. At the mezzanine, ghostly figures emerge among the exhibits. Concealed framing projectors illuminate resin replicas without interfering with visitors’ ability to read the interactive displays.At the lower level, “walls” of light rise over the foundation remnants of the temple. “Haze” – theatrical fog never before used in a permanent installation – gives the light beams their structural physicality. The light is aimed horizontally onto a series of concealed mirrors, and the resultant plane is interrupted by baffles to simulate portals. Technical challenges involved coordination with air systems and ceiling construction. The altar figure comprises layers of cut steel, cantilevered so that each silhouette is illuminated. Bespoke pendants, designed to be near-invisible, reveal the ruin from below eye level. The overall lighting design furnishes just enough light for visitors to examine the artifacts and ruins without distracting from the mystery and magic of the immersive experience.

Photography: James Newton

2018 Award of Excellence

Lighting Designer: Tillotson Design Associates Suzan Tillotson, Mitul Parekh, Erin Dreyfous, Sara McElroy, and Krista Kennedy

Bloomberg’s new European HQ provides 1.1 million sqft of office space, the most sustainably designed project in the world. The exterior facades give a consistent impression of an interior glow. Indeed, a continuous uplight recessed within the interior base of the windows renders the rich bronze and stone soffits. Vertical ribbed fins, edgelit with LEDs, define the base of the buildings, while louvered accent lights provide sidewalk illumination. Stone soffits are uplit from linear LEDs regressed within the top of a continuous stone plinth.The focal point of the lobby is the “Vortex.” Continuous uplighting at the base brings the art piece to life. The spiral stair ascends six floors, with louvered slotlighting at each riser. The custom ceiling system integrates cooling, lighting, and acoustic functions within a 4 inch–deep plane. Developed with and detailed by the architect, 2 million formed-metal “petals” house individual LEDs at the panel intersections. This low-brightness system is dimmed to minimize wattage consumption while still achieving the desired 300 lx on the workplane throughout. Custom pendants add sparkle for dining, and wallwashers illuminate a commissioned felt artwork. The exterior terrace stone soffit is washed by shielded uplighting mounted flush at the perimeter.

2018 Award of Merit

Lighting Workshop: Doug Russell and Jeeyoung Park

Situated in Brooklyn Bridge Park, this new hotel embodies sustainable luxury and redefines a Brooklyn aesthetic that forsakes bare Edison bulbs for the rich textures of nature and the project’s site context. Custom lighting fixtures, and their lighting effects, exude a casual elegance throughout the project. In the lobby, a “tangle” of directional cylinders on fabric cables lights the double-height feature wall of biophilic ferns and broadleaf plants.A self-imposed rule of “No downlights!” led to simple, surface-mounted fixtures that satisfy focal and wall lighting applications. In a nod to the Brooklyn Bridge, the lobby stair appears suspended from steel cables. Here, small projectors highlight the steel cables, concrete columns, and the central art feature. Guest elevators are suffused in a warm light filtering through the cracks of rough-hewn boards, leading to guest rooms that feature four layers of illumination for a rich visual composition.Lighting in the event space lobby comprises linear grazing light integrated into the rough stone slab walls; custom, column-mounted up-down “slabs”; and surface-mounted multiheads for adjustable accent lighting. At the center of the rooftop bar, warm uplighting in the glass block vestibule creates a glowing hearth, with sweeping views of the city skyline.

2018 Award of Merit

L’Observatoire International: Hervé Descottes, Jason Neches, and Natalia Priwin

Longwood Gardens is one of the premier horticultural display gardens in the United States, comprising 1077 acres of gardens, woodlands, and meadows. The Main Fountain Garden combines classical landscape design with music, art, innovation, technology, and spectacular fountains. The architects designed a major rehabilitation for the 80 year–old complex, including restoration; mechanical, electrical, and plumbing upgrades; and entirely new features and enhancements. L’Observatoire’s lighting concepts for the restoration and redesign subtly enhance and shape the visitor experience by concealing light fixtures and using small LED sources wherever possible.The lighting enhances the garden architecture and dynamic fountains at night, leading the eye toward the spectacle of the grand fountains. Strategic spotlighting renders garden features without drawing attention to itself. Visitors marvel at the fantastical garden elements without explicitly noticing the light source.The Main Fountain Garden is experienced from multiple vantage points. The varied lighting scheme gives an overview of the fountain garden as grand tableau, while simultaneously creating intimate spaces within the garden to reveal pathways, lawns, and fountain areas up close. The control system ties the garden to natural cycles, lunar and seasonal, so the lighting evolves in parallel with the seasons, offering a rich experience for visitors.

Kugler Ning Lighting: Jerry Kugler, Burr Rutledge, Junrui Wang, and Jackson Ning

The dining room for this private club was designed by McKim, Mead & White in 1899. Characteristically dark for more than 100 years, the wood-walled space relied solely on chandeliers, sconces, and table lamps. A 1990s intervention added theatrical lighting and an architectural layer – cylindrical halogen uplights behind the original sconces – but the overall gloominess remained.The 2017 renovation introduced a multilayered design. New, concealed lighting highlights important features and reveals the restored ceiling. Mockups helped determine aiming angles, optical distributions, and color-matching for many layers of 2700K LEDs. Historical fixtures were all cleaned and restored, and uplight cans were removed from the sconces, returning them to their original elegant proportions. No longer necessary for ambient illumination, the chandeliers, sconces, and table lamps are shrouded. Opaque shades control brightnesses and allow improved visibility of the room’s details.From the musicians’ gallery, well-shielded, narrow-beam trackheads highlight displays and podium positions. Custom rigging concealed within the gallery pivots into the space for theatrical needs. The lighting control system provides presets for day and night, and flexibility for special events. Exempted from energy codes due to landmark status, the warm and welcoming design nevertheless achieves 48% below ASHRAE 90.1-2013.

2018 Citation for Ceiling Fixture

Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design

Pelli Clarke Pelli’s Eccles Theater — Salt Lake City’s premier performing arts venue — celebrates the city’s architecture and the landscapes and starry skies of Utah. The lighting becomes a unifying element, imparting a welcoming street presence and articulating the building’s design themes. The 2,500-seat performance hall’s lighting recalls the dramatic landscape surrounding the city, with its evenly washed perimeter walls evoking the striated mountains. The theater’s showpiece is the re-creation of the starry sky that blankets the city at night.The design of the ceiling had to dramatically evoke the feeling of the night sky, while accommodating the functional demands of the theater itself. LED strings are stretched across frames and arranged in layers two-deep. Within each ceiling section, the strings are separated into nine different dimmable zones, allowing for random control and cross-fading. Using differently sized LEDs with varying on-center spacings, and then offsetting the panels at unequal distances from each other, creates a three-dimensional sense of depth. Tilting the frames at an angle enhances this effect and helps to avoid nearby theatrical equipment.The architecture sets the stage, and the lighting completes the picture: a grand amphitheater under a clear, starry night sky, nestled among the mountains.

2018 Citation for Humanitarian Action

PhoScope: Nathalie Rozot

In the Martissant district of Port-au-Prince, informal settlements are home to about 50,000 residents. Falls in darkness cause many health casualties, and FOKAL – the nonprofit in charge of the area’s development for the government – undertook an electrification project that required lighting expertise. The lighting proposition included off-grid lighting solutions on three distinct scales: streetlights for major streets and public areas; solar kits for pathways (normally intended to illuminate building interiors); and portable lights for inside and outside homes. The proposal was approved by FOKAL and residents, and sample products were purchased following diligent market research and analysis, product testing, and vendor vetting.The community identified all locations and provided contractors. In the pilot phase, a dozen streetlights were installed in three playgrounds and one road, along with 30 pathway systems. A loan-based “Solar Library” was also launched with 30 portable solar fixtures for youth and children to borrow from the local library.The initial budget furnished about 500 installed products altogether, through 2017. Vandalism is minimal and satisfaction ratings are high. The 2018 project expansion includes additional products and lighting workshops to support the knowledge and artistic needs of Martissant’s residents of all ages.

OWNER: La Fondation Connaissance et Liberté (FOKAL): Michèle Pierre-Louis, President

SUPPORT AND IMPLEMENTATION

Concepteurs Lumière Sans Frontières (cLSF): Isabelle Corten, Nicolas Frapolli, Rafaël Girouard; FOKAL: Lorraine Mangones, Lucie Couet, Thierry Chérizard, David Dérosier, Rolando Etienne, Wad Frénélus; Centre Culturel Katherine Dunham (CCKD) Library: Islande Baptiste; Residents COGEBAT (utility)

2018 Citation for Design Preservation

L’Observatoire InternationalHervé Descottes, Wei Jien, and Jenny Ivansson

The iconic Seagram Building is a mid-century landmark designed by renowned architects Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson. It was often called “The Tower of Light,” acknowledging the groundbreaking work of Richard Kelly, the pioneering architectural lighting designer. L’Observatoire was engaged by owner Aby Rosen of RFR Realty in collaboration with leaseholder Major Food Group and designer William T. Georgis to develop a respectful lighting scheme for The Grill and The Pool, formerly The Four Seasons.Kelly’s original concept and mood are preserved and simultaneously refreshed with improved lighting technology, including the use of LEDs and a new, modern controls system. Added layers of light accent the space’s historic architectural features. More control and precision are provided for settings between day and evening. Dynamic lighting for events and special occasions modernize Kelly’s lighting design intent.The lighting design enhances the intimacy of the dining experience by creating resonance between darker and brighter areas, highlighting tabletops, and playing with layers of light and shadow, all while keeping the original lighting theme. The lighting celebrates the dining experience of today while preserving the beauty of the space’s legendary past.

Citation for Art Installation

PHT Lighting Design: Peiheng Tsai and Mariana Basilio Verdeja

Architect: SHoP Architects: Christopher Sharples, William Sharples, Sameer Kumar, Andrea Vittadini

OWNER: Interni/Gruppo MondadoriMichelangelo Giombini, Special Projects Architect

SHoP Architects developed this 60 ton outdoor sculpture, fabricated from custom terracotta blocks, for the 2017 Milan Design Week. Designing the terracotta modules, negotiating an ideal location within the exhibition ground, and developing a viable assembly process while maintaining structural integrity challenged the design, fabrication, and installation teams. The sculpture’s final configuration was concluded just 3 months before installation began, leaving a compressed 8 week timeline for lighting design. Lack of information on the surrounding ambient light level – due to concurrent artwork installations – presented additional demands on an already-constrained timeline.Lighting was strategically focused on the sculpture’s central structure, allowing the perimeter “walls” to act as both filter, blocking the surrounding incidental light, and reflector, dispersing the core lighting. A single, low-wattage spotlight fixture type was used on the entire project, streamlining the tight production and installation process.As night fell, light emanated from the core and reflected outward, revealing the intricate patterns of the terracotta blocks. Narrow-beam, 2700K LED uplighting enhanced the richness of the clay-based material, then softly dispersed within the groupings. The glowing center invited passersby to pause, reflect, and slow the hectic pace of our contemporary life – just for a moment.

Construction Management and Installation: Metalsigma Tunesi s.p.a. Adriano Capuozzo, Technical Director

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING: ArupDaniela Azzaro, Associate

Photography: Peiheng Tsai

2018 Citation for Public Art

Paramedia LLC: Erwin Redl

Madison Square Park Conservancy commissioned this project comprising hundreds of transparent white spheres, each with a discretely programmed, white LED. The lights were suspended from a square grid of steel poles and cabling, forming a luminous white carpet across the park’s central Oval Lawn. The orbs were opportunistic, gently swaying with the wind currents from their positions above the grass, leaf litter, and snow. The lights were animated in large-scale patterns, superimposing a virtual movement on top of the kinetic movement of the spheres. The sequence of light was a luminous treatment of urban public space across the dark seasons of the winter.Each sphere housed a white LED with electronics cast in polyurethane. The bottom hemisphere with the embedded LED was clear; the top is opaque white. Each sphere was suspended 10 inches above the lawn by a 9 ft–long cable. All 900 spheres were networked into a DMX lighting controller.The natural movement of hundreds of spheres in the wind was juxtaposed with the programmed movement of the light patterns. In motion, the small, uniform spheres combined into a larger gestalt. An ephemeral tension in this spatial expanse provoked a strong corporeal sensation that engaged the viewer.

PRODUCERS: UAPMadison Square Park Conservancy: Brooke Kamin Rapaport, Curator

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

Fernekes Designs Inc.

EXHIBITION SUPPORT

Bloomberg Philanthropies, American Chai Trust, Austrian Cultural Forum New York, Federal Chancellery of Austria, Francis Greenburger, UAP

OWNER: Paramedia LLC Erwin Redl

PHOTOGRAPHY: Moorehart Photography, Ira Lippke

2019 Award of Excellence

Lighting Design: Buro Happold Engineering: Chris Coulter, Gabe Guilliams, and David Smith & Transsolar Klima Engineering: Raphael Lafargue, Matthias Rammig, and Matthias Schuler

Architect: The Ateliers Jean Nouvel

Owner:Department of Culture and Tourism–Abu Dhabi

Throughout historic Middle Eastern communities, covered open-air marketplaces created vital social epicenters. This museum space by French architect Jean Nouvel is sheltered by a market umbrella that creates its own “rain of light.” Inspired by Arabic architecture, eight layers of abstracted geometric patterning clad the dome, allowing limited sunlight to pass through. Depending on time of day and year, daylight pierces the interiors, dappling light on the people and surfaces within; changing as patrons traverse from daylit gallery to daylit gallery. When it becomes humid or particularly dusty outside, the rays of light become visible – an ethereal experience. Building a full-scale mock-up early in design, the team tuned the average dome porosity to create high contrast between sunlight and the ambient surround. The team then balanced shade settings and electric lighting to achieve thermal comfort, maximum daylighting of gallery spaces, and conservation requirements. Large skylight apertures within the galleries visually connect visitors to the overarching dome. Interstitial spaces create moments of pause on the gallery journey. Views to the sea allow visitors to mentally rejuvenate and absorb more in their visit – here at the crossroads of Eastern and Western civilizations.

Photography: Thomas Drouault, Roland Halbe, Creative Family Shutterstock.com, Chris Coulter, Danica O. Kus, Mohamed Somji

2019 Award of Excellence

Lighting Designer: Tillotson Design Associates: Suzan Tillotson, Ellen Sears, and Katherine Lindsay

Architects: Cooper Robertson: Scott Newman, Andrew Barwick, Erin Flynn, James Carpenter Design Associates Inc: James Carpenter, Joseph Welker, Kate Wyberg, McClellan Trivers Associates: Joel Fuoss, David Lott, Shawn Dodson

Owner: US National Park Service and CityArchRiver Foundation

The design team anticipated a difficult transition from the vast, unobscured daylit park of the Gateway Arch to the subterranean levels of this new museum extension. Extremely well lit interior surfaces mitigate the contrast with daylight and entice visitors to travel below grade. At night, the new entry sequence acts as a centralized beacon, with tracings of light at the curved façade drawing patrons toward the glowing museum interior. The curved tri-wire wall rings the exterior plaza and continues into the interior canopy entrance. It is softly uplit by LED grazers within a recessed trough, subtly guiding visitors as they enter and depart the museum at night. Once inside, a ceiling plane comprising a series of aluminum tubes provides indirect lighting. Carefully placed and aimed LED striplights concealed within certain tubes prevent dark zones in the ceiling structure. The painted-white vertical faces and undersides of the beams reflect light down through the tubes, creating a consistent glow for the entire ceiling plane. The result is a vibrant, uplifting experience throughout the lobby and double-height exhibition spaces, with no visible light sources. Tunablewhite LEDs and carefully managed dimming allow for beautiful day-tonight transitions.

Photography: Nic Lehoux, Sam Fentress

2019 Award of Excellence

Lighting Designer: Loop Lighting: Alina Ainza, Ruben Gonzalez, and Ryoko Nakamura

Architect: Tacklebox Architecture, PLLC: Jeremy Barbour

Owner: Claus Porto, Aquiles Brito

As the first international boutique for a 131 year-old Portuguese soap and fragrance house, this store design celebrates the company’s rich past and vibrant future. An intricate, 42 ft-long, freestanding archway milled from Portuguese cork pays homage to Portuguese architecture and fine craftsmanship. Illuminating the archway required a bold yet balanced lighting solution to highlight both the brand’s iconic packaging and the 1500 faceted cork tiles. A glowing spine of light runs down the center of the archway: a modular pendant with a triangular profile that references the diamond pattern in the cork. Suspension points are perfectly concealed. Display niches are lit from above by custom-fit, edge-lit acrylic panels held by magnets with no visible hardware. Concealed linear sources in vertical recesses at the back walls create the “light at the end of the tunnel” effect, drawing your eye through the space. The integrated lighting elements animate the architecture’s complex but honest expression of form, texture, and function – bridging the concepts of store and sculpture. Custom light fixtures precisely fitted within the pre-fab cork, and carefully timed coordination with the entire team, were the keys to success.

Photography: Eric Petschek

2019 Award of Merit

Lighting Designer: One Lux Studio: Stephen Margulies, Elena Areshina, and Huanhai Cheng

Architect: Ted Moudis Associates: Avery Miyasato Handy, Ray Sell, Jamie Stuono

Owner: Park Tower Group: Marian Klein Feldt

Owners are pulling out all the stops to provide amenities within their office buildings to distinguish themselves against competitors. Conference centers, café spaces, and fitness centers are being constructed in found, underutilized spaces within these buildings. This imaginative fitness center is located in the second basement level of a Madison Avenue office building. The goal was to create a space that ranks with other private fitness clubs in New York. The iconic reception area includes rich materials and beautiful furnishings. The lighting of the stone feature wall was accomplished with a horizontal and vertical flat light panel that turns the corner seamlessly. In the locker rooms, soft indirect lighting filters through the wood ceiling. To preserve this valuable plenum for lighting required careful coordination with the team. The fitness area required a big idea; one that would make this daylight-starved room to come to life. We proposed several methods of direct and indirect lighting. Soffits, coves, and pendants finally led to what was later called “Light Trees”: seamless, flat light panels with wide luminous surfaces that morph throughout the space. The lighting control system produces highly differentiated morning, afternoon, and evening looks, ensuring that the space is lively and luminous.

Photography: Brent Gollnick

2019 Award of Merit

Lighting Designer: Tillotson Design Associates: Suzan Tillotson, Erin Dreyfous, and Megan Trimarchi

Architect: James Corner Field Operations: James Corner, Lisa Tiziona Switkin, Megan Born, Eric Becker, Snow Kreilich Architects: Julie Snow, Mary Springer

Owner: City of Minneapolis: Steve Kotke, Director of Public Works

Nicollet Mall has been Minneapolis’ civic “Main Street” for more than 100 years, so the reconstruction of the locally adored, but dated downtown thoroughfare required careful consideration. Aiming to reduce visual clutter, eliminate glare, and increase efficiency, the streetscape lighting became a unifying element for the entire downtown district. Slender, high-mast poles with low-glare LED accent lights provide the majority of the ambient light for the street and adjacent public spaces. Each pole was individually detailed and coordinated to include many additional streetscape components, such as signage, traffic signals, and decorative banners. Glowing beacons atop of the poles are programmed to respond to special events or holidays, further enhancing placemaking and a fresh identity. Pockets of seating and landscaping with uplit trees are dispersed throughout the project, in both raised and in-grade planting beds, reinforcing the greenery as a continuous and important project component. Special moments along the 12-block site provide immersive lighting experiences, including a color-changing armature structure and custom lanterns. The “reading room” includes custom, pedestrianscale outdoor floor lamps of a more intimate scale; an inviting setting for pedestrians to pause.

Photography: John Muggenborg

2019 Award of Merit

Lighting Designer: Focus Lighting: Brett Andersen, Juan Pablo Lira, Asier Mateo, and Justin Keenan Miller

Architect: Studio Libeskind

Owner: National Capital Commission

The National Holocaust Monument comprises six triangular, castconcrete volumes configured into a Star of David. The lighting concept enhances the architecture’s proportions and raw materials to create an emotional visual journey encouraging contemplation and reflection. To meet budget requirements, the lighting prioritizes the monument’s feature walls, which are embedded with monochromatic images of Holocaust sites, leaving the remaining walls darker in contrast. Working with large concrete voids with no ceilings led the Focus Lighting team to create custom armatures designed to marry with the architecture’s angular vocabulary. Tightly spaced blade louvers block nearly all views of the internal 3000K fixtures during the day and eliminate glare at night, allowing the armatures to disappear into the dark sky beyond. The monument’s tallest wall is illuminated using two rows of linear LEDs mounted inside a trough at the wall’s base. The trough is covered by a metal grill, precisely aligned with each LED to eliminate shadows, protect fixtures from harsh winter weather, and act as a louver to reduce glare. Each visit culminates by ascending the monument’s Stair of Hope, flanked by linear LEDs hidden within the railings, gently ushering visitors to a final viewing platform with views of the Peace Tower.

Photography: JP Lira

2019 Award of Merit

Lighting Designer: Melanie Freundlich Lighting Design, LLC: Melanie Freundlich and Pei-Yun Chang

Architect: Workshop for Architecture: John Lee

This Pool House is a reconstruction, renovation, and expansion of an existing pool structure located within a private residential estate. The lighting design strikes a balance between reflection (glass) and luminosity (acrylic and stone); with underwater lighting adding quiet drama. Both above and below ground in the spa, the lighting enhances the materiality of each surface and provides an overall relaxed ambiance. Dropped pendants within the fin structure, along with several other integrated lighting solutions, meet code-required light levels on the deck and at the water’s surface without obstructing views to the expansive landscape and sky. During the day the glass-walled “wet” area is lit primarily via the clear skylight, and reflected light filters through the acrylic fins. Viewed from the exterior at twilight, the glass walls reflect the surrounding countryside, but light levels allow a view into the space. In the evening, integrated electric lighting and underwater lighting are balanced via a dimming control system to provide adequate illumination for swimming or lounging. Continuous slot wallwashing and recessed downlights in the underground spa extend the project’s vocabulary of softly glowing paces.

Photography: Scott Frances

2019 Award of Merit

Lighting Designer: Tillotson Design Associates: Suzan Tillotson, Erin Dreyfous, and Megan Trimarchi

Architec of Record: Montroy Anderson DeMarco, Steven Andersen, Daniel Terebelo, Christopher White

Owner:The Four Seasons Restaurant: Kerri Rogers, Director of Private Events

The primary objective of the lighting for the iconic Four Seasons Restaurant relocation is to create a high-end dining experience for patrons where everyone “looks and feels beautiful.” The bar and tunnel are dramatic, with darker finishes and small-scale accent lights emphasizing the moody ambiance. The intimate bar space features a central sunken bar highlighted with table lamps and anchored by a graze of light from under the bar top. The windows are lined with curtains of gold-flecked glass beads; grazing creates an animated sparkle within the dark interior. Proceeding from the bar, a dimly-lit tunnel of oxidized brass with miniature point-lights acts as a reflective runway for the guests. The corridor opens up to the expansively lighted main dining room. A custom system of intersecting bronze tubes provides soft, diffuse lighting during the day and a dramatic sculptural element to dine under in the evening. Collaboration with the custom fixture designer ensured that color temperature and dimming aesthetics are appropriate. Gold-threaded mesh window treatments act as a scrim. LEDs integrated into their bottom support frames graze the mesh from the outside, providing privacy for diners at night, as well as highlighting the luxe material from the exterior.

Photography: John Muggenborg, Fernando Guerra

2019 Award of Merit

Lighting Designer: Lighting Workshop: Steven Espinoza

Architect: James Corner Field Operations: Lisa Tziona Switkin, Karen Tamir, Sanjukta Sen

Owner: Two Trees Management

Domino Park has redefined how Brooklynites (and visitors) connect with their waterfront. It is a unique, 6 acre public park, part of a multi-use development on the edge of the former Domino Sugar Refinery. Remnants from the refinery have been salvaged and repurposed to preserve and honor the site’s history. The lighting design celebrates the age and decay of the industrial artifacts with shades of white light. To emphasize scale, color temperatures shift based on elevation. Human-scale lighting near the ground is warm, while grander elements are illuminated with gradually cooler color temperatures. The result is a unique composition and gradient when viewed from across the East River. Two cranes, along with steel columns from the old refinery, stand along the 5 block–long Artifact Walk. Continuous rail lighting is 3000K, while upper portions of the columns are emphasized with 3500K LED accent lights. The highest, most prominent objects in the park, two turquoise cranes, glow with 4000K sources, discreetly located within the structures to emphasize their skeletal qualities. The dancing water feature provides a dramatic lighting energy, as it’s purposely the only location where color-changing light is found. It attracts children and pets on hot summer days.

Photography: Daniel Levin

2019 Award of Merit

Lighting Designer: Arup: Brian Stacy, Joe Chapman, Christoph Gisel, and Star Davis

Architects: KieranTimberlake, Urban Engineers, OLIN

Owner: Center City District

The plaza at Philadelphia’s beloved City Hall, a civic icon, interfaces to a major transportation hub below. But walking through the heart of Center City at dusk used to bring an edge of uneasiness to pedestrians. Today, the plaza-become-park includes a reimagining of urban lighting. In September of 2018, after the completion of upgrades, phase one of Pulse, by artist Janet Echelman, was revealed. This artistic installation into the park’s infrastructure features a dynamic, interactive line of fog and light that live-traces the subway path below. As the first transit activated public art piece, Pulse attracts a diverse group of visitors and offers an uplifting, playful, and personal interaction with Philadelphia’s transportation infrastructure. The line of fog creates a stunning wall that blasts into the surrounding landscape, racing across Dilworth Park. The line traces the path of the underground trolleys – traditionally depicted in green on transit maps – using custom, linear LEDs below grade. Fog and lighting are simultaneously triggered, giving a seamless effect. Using existing poles from the initial landscape phase of the design, additional RGBW fixtures with gobos add layered color and dimensionality to the ethereal fog. The experience stops pedestrians in their tracks and encourages playful interactions.

Photography: Sean O’Neill

2019 Citation for Integrated Ceiling Feature

Lighting Designer: Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design

Architect: Stephen Yablon Architecture

Owner: Angelo Gordon

Twin Brook Capital’s Chicago office shows off spectacular views and an extensive art collection, while also providing a unified, comfortable workspace. The lighting solution fulfills this vision, and at the same time establishes an architectural vocabulary used throughout the project. Deep beams resulted in low ceilings throughout the space. The lighting design adds height by creating a series of pop-ups between these beams. Each angled, perforated metal ceiling section is lit indirectly from a knife-edge cove on one side. The soft glow draws attention to the ceiling, while the repetitive sequence draws the eye to the window wall and city views beyond. The ceiling lighting design is architecturally appealing and highly effective in providing a comfortable quality and amount of light. Consequently, the same cove solution is applied at corridors and then continued in work areas, creating a cohesive design motif across the range of open areas in the office. The company’s credo stresses transparency and openness. This integrated ceiling lighting solution establishes continuity among a variety of different spaces, making this transparency literal. Despite its adherence to strict organizing principles, the office’s lighting conveys an easy elegance, a modern openness, and a comfort that staff and visitors readily enjoy.

Photography: Steve Hall

2019 Citation for Interactive Facade

Lighting Designer: upLIGHT: Michael Stiller, Caroline Trewet, and Amanda Clegg Lyon

Sensing Change is a peaceful, reflective experience in the middle of Chicago’s concrete jungle, drawing inspiration from the natural world. The installation is powered by live data feeds, creating unique and ever-changing visuals that can be enjoyed both day and night. The luminous trellis projects animations influenced by local weather. Wind speed acts as a disruptive layer superimposed over base states that include: Cloudy, Sunny, and Precipitation. ESI Design conceived the dynamic light sculpture, which was further developed and executed by upLIGHT and the project fabricators. The trellis comprises brushed metal fins housing linear 4000K fixtures facing the viewer and RGB fixtures facing the wall; a textured structure that plays with animation and light. By combining line-of-sight and reflected lighting effects, the sculpture alternately reads as a single- or multilayer surface, generating a complex and organic experience. The abstract patterns of light are inspired by images of water traveling through leaf veins, rays of sunlight, and the flow of oxygen in and out of the atmosphere. Over time, the LED trellis will support lush ivy growth. Together, the trellis and vines embody a juxtaposition of technology and nature that is as organic and contemplative as dappled light through trees.

Photography: Caleb Tkach, AIAP

2019 Citation for Kinetic Facade Treatment

Lighting Designer: Focus Lighting: Paul Gregory, Brett Andersen, Christine Hope, Hilary Manners, and Kenneth Schutz

Architectural Design: The Portico Group (now MIG | Portico)

Owner: Wildlife Conservation Society

Much like a real ocean dive, a visitor’s journey through the New York Aquarium’s new 57,000 sqft Ocean Wonders: Sharks! exhibit begins outside, where artist Ned Kahn’s shimmering wall uses wind and light to create a mesmerizing visual, reminiscent of ocean waves. Each night, a curated 5 hour lighting display triggers automatically as sunset approaches over the beach, with bright cyans and undulating whites painted dramatically against a pink- and orange-streaked sky. As night falls, deep blues and purples slowly replace the pastels, ebbing and flowing in a rhythm of bioluminescent tides. When wind ripples through the sculpture, flashes of white backlight dance through like a school of iridescent fish. A 20 by 20 ft mock-up built on the Coney Island Boardwalk confirmed the team’s decision to use two rows of linear LEDs at the wall’s base. White uplights behind the wall bounce off its 33,000 swinging panels and directly into viewers’ eyes as a quick sparkle, while LEDs in front paint the surface with colored light. Visible for miles up and down the boardwalk, the shimmer wall serves as a public display of light and art that captures the curiosity of everyone who sees it.

Photography: Ryan Fischer