We like to think of the Lumen Awards as the lighting industry’s Oscar,, joked Randy Sabedra, president of the Illuminating Engineering Society of New York (IESNY). The 38th annual Lumen Awards named ten winners in two categoriessthe award of merit honors whole built works, while the citation recognizes portions of projects and installations. Jurors included: Addison Kelly, US Lighting Consultants; Dan Jacoby, TPG Architecture; Elizabeth Donoff, Architectural Lighting; Mustafa Abadan, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Nelson Jenkins, Lumen Architecture; and Thomas Thompson, Brandston Partnership Lighting Design. Teresa Herrmann and Aaron Seward
Awards of Merit
A. Chanel Ginza (Tokyo)
Tanteri + Associates
The 2-foot-deep, 184-foot-high facade layer of this mixed-use tower in Tokyo designed by Peter Marino Architect shades the interior during the day and illuminates the neighborhood at night. A layer of 700,000 computer-controlled LEDs transforms the facade into a giant pixelated screen displaying artist-commissioned imagery and live videos.
B. 111 South Wacker Drive (Chicago)
Cosentini Lighting Design
Cosentini worked with Lohan Caprile Goettsch Architects on the curving curtain wall that encloses the lobby of 111 South Wacker Drive. A dramatic spiraling ceiling wraps around a marble-walled elevator core and is accentuated with recessed fluorescents and suspended tungsten lamps. The lobby’s low energy needs earned it an LEED gold rating.
C. Frisson (San Francisco)
Kester Inc.
The lighting design of this San Francisco restaurant gives diners the experience of a sunset with changing neon lights in a large dome in the room’s center. Rings of yellow, orange, and magenta are activated and intensified. A similarly intense colored lighting palette draws diners to the restaurant’s bar area later in the night.
D. Mixed Greens Gallery (Manhattan)
Tillotson Design Associates
Energy-efficient dimmable fluorescent lights brighten up this ultra-white windowless Chelsea gallery. According to juror Mustafa Abadan, The architecture and lighting reinforce each other so seamlessly that it is hard to see where one ends and the other begins..
E. Robin Hood Library, P.S. 32 (Bronx)
Renfro Design Group
The jurors voted unanimously for Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects’ Robin Hood Library for its simple and playful lighting design. Juror Dan Jacoby praised its success despite a small budget; designers used low-energy fluorescents in a mix of dropped ceiling fixtures and recessed lights to create a starry ceiling.
F. The National World War II Memorial (Washington, D.C.)
Horton Lees Brogden
Lighting Design
For the National World War II Memorial designed Friedrich St. Florian, Horton Lees Brogden created a lighting plan that highlights important elements of the memorial without interfering with surrounding monuments.
G. Terminal 1, Lester B. Pearson International Airport (Toronto)
Brandston Partnership
The lighting design of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s new terminal was created to help passengers navigate through the space. Skylights in the departures hall express a passenger’s path; uplights in the baggage claim area reduce brightness and glare; downlights in seating areas provides light that’s comfortable to read by.
H. Central Wing, School of Architecture, Pratt Institute (Brooklyn)
Arc Light Design
Juror Mustafa Abadan noted that the lighting of Steven Holl Architects’ addition to Pratt Institute’s School of Architecture is extremely delicate within the structuree and not overdone. To emphasize the project’s minimalist aesthetic, all hardware and power is hidden within the pre-cast concrete structure and no exposed conduits were allowed.
Citations
I Dodger Stages (Manhattan)
Sachs Morgan Studio
For Beyer Blinder Belle’s conversion of a 1989 cinema multiplex into a five-theater, off-Broadway complex in 2005, atheatrical lighting scheme was paramount. Colorful incandescents bounce off brushed metal surfaces while fluorescent bulbs form the number of each theater along the main corridor.
J The Porter House (Manhattan)
SHoP Architects
The striking appearance of New Yorkkbased SHoP Architects’ Porter House owes much to its lighting design: Powerful fluorescents behind thin strips of opaline acrylic panels give the addition to the 1905 factory the appearance of a digitized DNA-sequence.
