2017 Lumen Awards

The Illuminating Engineering Society New York City Section (IESNYC) presented the 2017 Lumen Awards at its 49th annual Lumen Gala held on June 15, 2017, in New York City. The event, once again, drew a record-breaking attendance of more than 900 guests 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 selected 10 projects to receive awards from an entry pool of more than 80 submissions. One project was the recipient of an Award of Excellence, four projects with Awards of Merit, and five projects with Citations. The complete list of project winners is as follows:

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
Project: U.S. Air Force Academy – Center for Character & Leadership Development, Colorado Springs, Colo. (image above)
Lighting Designer: Brandston Partnership, New York

AWARDS OF MERIT
Project: Hyundai Capital Services and Hyundai Card Co. Conference Center, Seoul, South Korea (image above)
Lighting Designer: KGM Architectural Lighting Design, New York office

Project: Saks Fifth Avenue at Brookfield Place, New York (image above)
Lighting Designer: Lighting Workshop, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Project: Squarespace Global Headquarters, New York (image above)
Lighting Designer: Lighting Workshop, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Project: SteelStacks Campus, Bethlehem, Pa. (image above)
Lighting Designer: L’Observatoire International, New York

CITATIONS
Citation for the Lighting of an Art Installation
Project: 1.8 by Janet Echelman at the Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C. (image above)
Lighting Designer: Arup, New York

Citation for Transformation of a Space through Lighting
Project: 599 Lexington Avenue Ground Floor Upgrades, New York (image above)
Lighting Designer: Tillotson Design Associates, New York

Citation for Historic Decorative Fixtures
Project: Park Avenue Armory Veterans Room, New York (image above)
Lighting Designer: Fisher Marantz Stone, New York

Citation for Sensitive Upgrade of an Iconic Building
Project: The Met Breuer, New York (image above)
Lighting Designer: SBLD Studio, New York

Citation for Excellence in Exhibition Lighting
Project: “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, New York (image above)
Lighting Designer: Dot Dash, New York

The following people served as the 2017 Lumen Award jury: Martin van Koolbergen, Partner, KGM Architectural Lighting Design; Fritz Ta, Associate, Schwinghammer Lighting, New York; Avinash Rajagopal, Senior Editor, Metropolis Magazine, New York; Theresa M. Genovese, Principal, CetraRuddy Architecture, New York; John Newman, Partner, Loop Lighting, New York; Eileen M.E. Pierce, Principal, Pierce Lighting Studio, New York; and Gary Wong, Studio Leader, Brian Orter Lighting Design (BOLD), New York office.

“We celebrate as a community, the best in lighting design,” said Clara Powell, regional sales manager – New York, Cooledge, and Adrienne Shulman, northeast specification sales manager, Tech Lighting/ELEMENT, who are co-chairs of the Lumen Awards Committee. “It is especially rewarding to us that tickets to the gala sold out in a matter of days, a testament to the fact that after 49 years, the Lumen Awards continue to be the most prestigious awards in the industry, and the Lumen Gala is the best party of the year.”

In addition to the project awards the Section also memorialized Bill Warfel and Stephen Lohm, and presented its service awards. The following members were recognized for their contributions:

2017 GOLDEN ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Paul Marantz, FIALD IES, Fisher Marantz Stone
Presented by the New York City Section of the IES for outstanding and continuous support of educational goals and ideals of the IESNYC Section. The Golden Achievement Award honors individuals who have contributed their influence in design achievement, career development, education and stewardship to the New York City Section of the IES. A founding partner at Fisher Marantz Stone, Paul and his firm have received many Lumen and other lighting awards.

2017 Brilliance Award
Lee Brandt, IALD, LC, LEED AP BD+C, HLB Lighting Design
Presented by the New York City Section of the IES for dedicated service and contributions to the New York City lighting community. Lee’s relentless pursuit of excellence in lighting are immeasurable. She participates on the IESNYC committees and in panel discussions on events that challenge our thinking. She has contributed to the lighting language in the NYC Energy Conservation Codes, while serving as a lighting advisor over the last two code cycles with the NYC Department of Buildings. Lee is very giving of her time, and her wisdom has engaged students and emerging members of our design community, allowing them to see what a successful design community leader looks like, thinks about, and achieves.

2017 Special Recognition Award
Erin Gussert, LEED AP BD+C, IES, Regency Lighting
Presented by the New York City Section of the IES in special recognition of distinguished service to the IESNYC Section. Erin’s hard work and dedication has contributed to the incredible growth of the IESNYC Student Lighting Competition, which promotes greater awareness about the importance of lighting. New York City students from programs in lighting, architecture, interior and product design are introduced—many of them for the first time—to the excitement of architectural lighting and benefit from the networking and competitive spirit of the competition. Erin is also lending her expertise to other IES Sections, so they too, can create similar competitions.

2017 Special Recognition Award
Derek Porter, IALD, IES, Principal Designer, Derek Porter Studio, and Associate Professor, MFA Lighting Design – Parsons School of Design
Presented by the New York City Section of the IES in special recognition of distinguished service to the IESNYC Section. Derek has guided the New York City Section in the development of the annual IESNYC Scholarship, and given tremendous support to the IESNYC Thesis Prize and Student Lighting Competition. He has enabled the New York City section to become a nationally recognizable entity. With the creation of the Student Liaison Committee, Derek has also established a bond between the students and the Section.

For more information about the Lumen Awards program go to the IESNYC website.