2018 Lumen Awards

This story was originally published in Architectural Lighting.

On June 14, the Illuminating Engineering Society New York City Section (IESNYC) presented the 2018 Lumen Awards at its annual Lumen Gala held at Pier 60, Chelsea Piers in New York City. This year the awards program celebrated its 50th anniversary and the ever popular event drew more than 900 attendees from across the design and manufacturing sectors of the lighting industry. Awards were presented in three categories: The Lumen Award of Excellence, the highest level of recognition for permanent architectural application; the Lumen Award of Merit, in recognition for a meritorious permanent architectural application; and a Lumen Citation, in recognition for an art installation, technical detail, portion of a single project, temporary installation, or other work.

Overall, the jury of design professionals selected 11 projects to receive awards from a pool of more than 100 entries; two projects were the recipients of an Award of Excellence, four projects received Awards of Merit, and five projects were acknowledges with Citations. The complete list of project winners is as follows

AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE
Project: London Mithraeum, London
Lighting Designer: Tillotson Design Associates
Lighting Design Team: Suzan Tillotson, Mitul Parekh, and Shan Jiang
Haze Lighting Design: Schreiber Studio
Exhibition Architect: Studio Joseph
Lead Designer: Local Projects
Architect of Record: Foster + Partners
Jury Comments: A mystical solution that reinforces the nature of the exhibit and the “other-worldliness” of the ruins. The lighting brings the museum to life with creative strategies and stunning visual effects that push the technicality of light to achieve remarkable things.

Project: Bloomberg European Headquarters, London
Lighting Designer: Tillotson Design Associates, New York
Lighting Design Team: Suzan Tillotson, Mitul Parekh, Erin Dreyfous, Sara McElroy, and Krista Kennedy
Architect: Foster + Partners
Jury Comments: An unexpectedly striking lighting system reinforces a beautiful workplace interior. The integration of lighting into the fabulous ceiling system creates a textural and visually exciting lighting solution that is comfortable and performs well for an office environment.

AWARDS OF MERIT
Project: McKim, Mead & White Dining Room Restoration (private club)
Lighting Designer: Kugler Ning Lighting
Lighting Design Team: Jerry Kugler, Burr Rutledge, Junrui Wang, and Jackson Ning
Jury Comments: An elegant restoration project that accentuates the beauty and detail of the room while offering an effective lighting solution. It’s lovely to see the architectural features of the room highlighted with concealed fixtures that now allow us to appreciate this historic space.

Project: Longwood Gardens Renovation, Kennett Square
Lighting Designer: L’Observatoire International
Lighting Design Team: Hervé Descottes, Jason Neches, and Natalia Priwin
Architect: Beyer Blinder Belle
Landscape Architect: West 8
Water Feature Design and Engineering: Fluidity Design Consultants
Jury Comments: A brilliant and joyful “tour de force.” The elegant lighting strategies belie the immensely technical efforts required of this project. Technical wizardry was at play.

Project: 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge
Lighting Designer: Lighting Workshop
Lighting Design Team: Doug Russell and Jeeyoung Park
Architect: Marvel Architects
Interior Designer: INC Architecture & Design
Jury Comments: Subtle lighting treatments help create a series of cohesive environments that feel fresh and serene. The strength of the design comes from celebrating visible lighting fixtures that support the raw industrial aesthetic with integrated layers of light that bring out the texture of the building materials.

Project: The Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center
Lighting Designer: Tillotson Design Associates
Lighting Design Team: Suzan Tillotson, Erin Dreyfous, Scott Baillie-Hinojosa, and Christopher Cheap
Architect: Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Executive Architect: Gensler
Jury Comments: Innovative lighting solutions fulfill a myriad of lighting needs and it’s beautiful to see how the lighting responds to the varying volumes. The lighting design is strong in that it appears to be a functional interior, but it also has a strong exterior night image.

CITATIONS
Citation for Public Art
Project: Whiteout, New York
Artist/Lighting Designer: Paramedia, Erwin Redl
Electrical Engineer: Fernekes Design
Producer: UAP
Jury Comments: It is always exciting to see lighting as the medium for public art. This installation is mesmerizing and wonderful to see with the snow as a reflector.

Citation for an Art Installation
Project: Wave/Cave, Milan, Italy
Lighting Designer: PHT Lighting Design
Lighting Design Team: Peiheng Tsai and Mariana Basilio Verdeja
Architect: SHoP Architects
Structural Engineer: Arup
Installation: Metalsigma Tunesi
Jury Comments: I love seeing lighting used as the medium for public art. While the design appears to be a simple solution it is clear there was significant thought and testing that went into creating the final glowing effect. It’s mesmerizing to see the snow as a reflector.

Citation for Design Preservation
Project: The Grill at the Seagram Building
Lighting Designer: L’Observatoire International
Lighting Design Team: Herve Descottes, Wei Jien, and Jenny Ivansson
Interior Designer: Georgis & Mirgorodsky
Architect-of-Record: Richard H. Lewis Architect
Jury Comments: Renovating this celebrated restaurant in a landmark interior, was undoubtedly a daunting challenge and the lighting design rose to the occasion. The subtle, almost invisible upgrade to Richard Kelly’s design with new energy efficient technology was beautifully accomplished.

Citation for a Ceiling Feature
Project: George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Theater, Salt Lake City, Utah
Lighting Designer: Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design
Lighting Design Team: Francesca Bettridge, Michael Hennes, Nira Wattanachote, and Glenn Fujimura
Architect: Pelli Clark Pelli
Architect-of-Record: HKS Architects
Jury Comments: Reminiscent of the ceiling at the iconic Fox Theatre in Atlanta. The constellation ceiling is memorable and charming. It’s wonderful to see a dynamic and custom creative solution built upon a standard module.

Citation for a Humanitarian Action
Project: Solar Lighting in Martissant, Port-Au-Prince, Haiti
Lighting Designer: Nathalie Rozot, PhoScope
Implementation: Concepteurs Luminere Sans Fontiereres
Jury Comments: How wonderful to see members of our industry share their knowledge of lighting with underserved communities. The kit-of-parts approach addresses sustainable lighting needs at the personal and community level and attempts to solve a critical humanitarian issue.

The 2018 Lumen Award judges were: Francesca Bastianini, Principal, Sighte Studio; Noele De Leon, Senior Lighting Designer, WeWork; Guy Geier, Managing Partner, FXCollaborative Architects; Andressa Lopes, Senior Associate, Cooley Monato Studio; Christopher Marta, Director, L’Observatoire International; Olivia Martin, Managing Editor, The Architect’s Newspaper (at the time of judging; currently style and interiors writer, Town & Country Magazine); and Robert Nadel, Vice President, Energy and Lighting Systems.

Clara Powell, regional sales manager – New York, Cooledge, and Adrienne Shulman, regional sales manager, Erco Lighting who are co-chairs of the Lumen Awards Committee, said in a prepared statement, “Just as theater has the Tonys, film has the Oscars, and television has the Emmys, the lighting industry has the Lumens Awards. The IESNYC has been celebrating the lighting community for over 50 years and we are proud to co-chair this year’s Golden Anniversary of the Lumen Awards and Gala. We honor lighting designers who have made our City and our world a better place.”

“Just over 50 years ago, a determined group of lighting designers from our Section decided that the existing IES Awards program was too geared toward engineering and so they decided that IESNYC based on great design as well as proper performance criteria,” said Caleb McKenzie, president of the IESNYC, and a principal of US Lighting Consultants. “Over the course of 50 years, the Lumens have grown from its New York City base into a national event, and a very prestigious international award. The IESNYC is so proud of this achievement.”

Going forward, “the IESNYC will continue to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Lumen Awards throughout 2018 with programs and an exhibit that will look at what new technologies will shape the design of future Lumen Award-winning projects.” For more information about the Lumen Awards program go to the IESNYC website.

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