The Illuminating Engineering Society, a 100+ year old organization dedicated to good lighting practice, announced the recipients of their annual Lumen Awards last week in New York.

Elena Mikoleski of Acuity Brands Lighting and Adrienne Shulman of GE Lighting presented 11 Lumen Awards in two categories. Lumen Merit award winners were cited for meritorious recognition in permanent architectural application. Lumen Citation winners received special recognition awards for an art installation, technical detail, portion of a single project, temporary installation or other work. In addition, individuals recognized for their dedicated service and contributions to the lighting community were presented with Brilliance awards, Section Service awards and the Meritorious award.

This year's judging panel consisted of: Domingo Gonzalez, principal in charge, Domingo Gonzalez Associates Inc.; Daniel Haas, Brandston Partnership; Giselle Mercado, an associate at Cooley Monato Studio; Matthew Tirschwell, principal of Tirschwell & Co. Inc. Architectural Lighting Design; Marilyn Sloane, Energy Efficient Lighting Design; and Mary Ann Hay, principal and director of lighting design at Syska Hennessy Group.

Lumen Citation for Impact of Interior Lighting on Exterior Presence: United States Federal Courthouse, Springfield, MA

Lighting Design Firm: SBLD Studio - Susan Brady, Zengwei Fu, and Attila Uysal

Architect: Moshe Safdie and Associates

Owner: General Service Administration

Photography: Tim Hursley, Attila Uysal, and Aydin Can Ozel

The US Federal Courthouse in Springfield Massachusetts serves as a glowing backdrop for two stately Copper Beech and Linden trees. This lighting effect was achieved by grazing the multi story interior columns with ceramic metal halide fixtures and washing the walls beyond. A conscious decision was made to not illuminate the trees but to allow the internal illumination of the building’s public areas to highlight the architecture; dramatically silhouetting and featuring the trees’ sculptural nature. The stark white façade and interior colonnade provide a visual hug for the ancient trees creating a beautiful contrast between them and their sheltering façade.

Lumen Citation for Transformation of an Urban Environment: Triple Bridge Gateway, New York, NY

Lighting Designer: Leni Schwendinger, Light Projects LTD - Leni Schwendinger, Eric Chenault, Charles Cameron, and Jodi Geroux

Lighting Designer: David Lander

Architect: PKSB Architects, Henry Stolzman, and Kentaro Tsubaki

Photography: Archphoto

Transforming a dark and dismal barrier between two neighborhoods into a welcoming portal—at the largest bus terminal in the country—was the owner and community mandate for this urban project. A close collaboration between lighting designer and architect produced a luminous room—a colorful architectural design solution for pedestrians and commuters transiting below a complex system of bus ramps spanning Ninth Avenue in Manhattan. The design is composed of standard lighting fixtures, which were the most energy-efficient possible when designed in 2001. The project duration 
was eight years entailing unique project and client management methods.

Lumen Citation for Achievement in Technical Artistry: Yas Marina Hotel, Abu Dhabi’, United Arab Emirates

Lighting Designer: ArupLighting - Brian Stacy, Rich Fisher, Gabe Guilliams, Giulio Antonutto-foi,  Anthony Cortez, Matthew Franks, Theresa Mahoney, and Key Anderson

Lighting Designer: 1212-Studio, Inc. - Tommy Voeten

Owner: Aldar Properties PJSC

Photography: Paolo Castellani; Bjorn Moerman; Arup

Arup provided electric and natural lighting and controls design for the active gridshell component for a 499 room luxury hotel and resort situated within and across a new F1 racetrack site. The gridshell blankets the two towers with approximately 5,000 fritted glazing panels, each lit with a custom designed color changing luminaire. Automated programming using low-res media files ensures an ever-changing guest experience. Natural lighting design included sunlight reflection studies for the gridshell used in collaboration with the racetrack design. Arup also provided site and landscape illumination for the project including two pedestrian bridges as well as an event lawn.

Beside the obvious technical issues of heat management with the LEDs for the Gridshell, which was solved via implementing Remote Device Management DMX using e:cue’s Lighting Application Suite, Arup solved the larger and more fundamental issue of having limited onsite time to develop the visual and atmospheric Gridshell lighting scenes using on offline process, more akin to pre-programming a Production. This allowed a re-iterative process with Asymptote to develop a dynamic and creative story of atmospheric scenes through the custom media, saving weeks of on-site programming time.

Merit Award: Citygarden, St. Louis, MO

Lighting Designer: Fisher Marantz Stone, Inc. - Charles G. Stone II and Zack Zanolli

Lighting Designer: Randy Burkett Lighting Design - Randy Burkett and Susan Jennings

Architect: Studio|Durham Architects

Landscape Architecture: Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects

Owner: Gateway Foundation

Photography: Debbie Frankie Photography 2009; Hedrich Blessing; Stefan Hester

Framed by the famous Gateway Arch in downtown St. Louis, the Citygarden is a patron of the local community, its visitors and the artists housed within. In response to the objectives set forth by the client, the landscape architect designed a sculpture garden that honors the Region’s heritage, historical roots and natural topography. Two firms collaborated to meet the demands of the project; one firm tending to lighting the landscape, hardscape and waterscape to embrace the botanical theme and the other to create a visually striking, yet contextually sensitive, presentation of the art; while ensuring a secure urban nighttime experience.

Merit Award: Chanel Encore, Las Vegas, NV

Lighting Designer: Fisher Marantz Stone, Inc. - Paul Marantz, Michael Hemmenway, and Frank Hollenkamp

Architect: Peter Marino Architect

Client: Chanel

Photography: Chanel / Fisher Marantz Stone

This Chanel boutique pairs two distinct concepts side-by-side to house both fashion and fine jewelry. Fashion is crisp, graphic and bold while fine jewelry is warm and subtle, with a calming residential feel. Fine jewelry includes a series of display vitrines with custom LED lighting fixtures designed specifically for this application. The lighting design supports these two distinct environments, each with its own character but playing upon the same stage. Design challenges included the necessity for energy efficiency, easy and infrequent maintenance, complex and awkward spaces and the technical and aesthetic requirements of fine jewelry display lighting.

Merit Award: Alice Tully Hall and Julliard School at Lincoln Center, New York, NY

Lighting Designer: L’Observatoire International - Herve Descottes, Jason Neches, 
Nathalie Rozot, and Beatrice Witzgall

Architect: Diller Scofidio + Renfro with FX Fowle Architect

Owner: Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Photgraphy: Iwan Baan, Emile Dubuisson, and Jason Neches

This project included full renovation of Tully Hall, plus 65,000 sq. ft  of new construction for Juilliard School. Tully Hall occupies the lower 2 floors; Juilliard School occupies the top 3 floors. The lighting concept unifies and brings a nocturnal identity to the project, emphasizing the institution’s 
nighttime vitality. Lighting emphasizes transparency of the glass facades, using interior surfaces as reflectors of light.

Merit Award: Bourbon Steak, Scottsdale, AZ

Lighting Design Firm: Focus Lighting - Paul Gregory, Kelly Hannon, and Brett Andersen

Architect: AvroKo - Adam Farmerie

Owner: Michael Mina

Phototgraphy: AvroKo

Marrying modern and rustic, this desert steakhouse balances warm and cool white light to create a dazzling dining space. The exterior is up-lit to emphasize the strong and modern facade. The sparkling entryway, lined with up-lit and down-lit wine racks behind glass walls, greets patrons. Ornamental cinderblock walls with tea light candles create pattern and motion. A dome acts as a “skylight” above one dining room, tricking the eye with  bluish tones of white neon. Conversely, the inset wooden ceiling in the next room has a cove of warm neon light to accent the natural wood and angular shape.

Merit Award: Yale Arts Complex: Paul Rulolph Hall, Jeffrey H. Loria Center for the History of Art and Robert B. Hass Family Arts Library, New Haven, CT

Lighting Designer - HDLC, Robert Leiter, Bianca Tzeng, Chung Ho, and Burr Rutledge

Photography: Esto Photographics Inc. – Peter Aaron and Ezra Stoller; Richard Barnes

In the arts complex renovation/expansion, lighting supports the architectural objective of integration and articulation of the two structures. Prominent linear channels and R40 lamps of the original design were recaptured through a custom metal halide fixture solution, restoring the design intent of  embracing the visual graphic of the fixtures and expressing the texture of the cast concrete Brutalist building while also supporting the interior program and achieving LEED Gold Certification. Elements of the original lighting vocabulary are reinterpreted within the expansion, with continuous fluorescents alluding to the linear channels. Daylight-responsive dimming was integrated into the expansion through skylights and perimeter windows.

Merit Award: Private Residence, Kuala Lumpur

Lighting Designer - L’Observatoire International, Herve Descottes and Etienne Gillabert

Architect: Jouin Manku, Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku

Photography: Roland Halbe

This wild, otherworldly architecture is the backdrop for a futuristic yet traditional house in Kuala Lumpur. A Parisian interior designer, a  Kenyan-born Canadian architect, and a New York lighting designer collaborated on this 32,000 sq. ft. residence for three generations of a prominent Chinese-Malaysian family.

Merit Award: The Wright, New York, NY

Lighting Design Firm: Tillotson Design Associates - Suzan Tillotson, Mark Kubicki, and Yoshimi Sato

Architect: Andre Kikoski Architect - Andre Kikoski

Owner: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation

Photography: Esto Photographics Inc. - Peter Aaron

Evoking Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic design, the dynamic lines of the Wright Restaurant are reinforced thru a harmonious relationship of light and architectural form that heightens the Guggenheim’s essential sense of procession. Its white palette, animated by an ever-changing 
aesthetic, is enhanced by continuous gentle light that gives the space lift and definition. Low level lighting , integrated at the banquettes, provides an intimate dining experience; while the “fiber-optic” wood wall and the illuminated edges of the glass shelving provide a necessary sparkle, which is extended in the reflections in the metal finished wall finish.

Merit Award: Aerole, New York, NY

Lighting Design Firm: Focus Lighting - Paul Gregory, Juan Pablo Lira, Michael Cummings, and Hilary Manners

Interior Designer: Tihany Design - Adam Tihany

Owner: Charlie Palmer

Photography: Eric Laignel

Passersby on busy 42nd Street are invited inside Aureole by the enticing glow of internally lit elements. Flattering ambient light is attributed to a new generation of dimmable warm white LEDs mounted within linear wall coves, custom sconces and the bar fascia. The low-maintenance and cost-effective sources also provide a warm, comfortable glow. A curved glass wine display, with neon backlighting and halogen up-lighting, hovers above the dining room as a glittering focal point. Xenon sources in the formed resin chandeliers create visual interest and additional ambient light. Recessed halogen fixtures accent each table and make the tableware sparkle!