We will be hosting the 5th Annual LIT Lighting Design Awards winners celebration online at 4:00P M (UTC) on Friday, 18th of February 2022.
We will be honoring the winners of the LIT Awards 2021, showcasing a selection of outstanding lighting projects and honoring those whose contributions to the lighting industry are tremendous.
The event will be streamed online via Facebook, Youtube and on the LIT Awards website, make sure to set up your alarm and follow us on social media.
Congrui Gao has a creative, futuristic, imaginative, and artistic approach to design! His design “Immersive Gestures” was mainly inspired by Balenciaga’s 2020 autumn and winter fashion shows, Congrui shares with us his enthusiasm and future professional aspirations.
Could you tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Congrui Gao. I was born in Shanxi, China, and I am currently studying Interior Design at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. I believe I have a creative, futuristic, imaginative, and artistic approach to design. Interior designers can have an impact on the lives of people in a given environment. I like the challenge of blank spaces, and I get excited about imagining the space we will inhabit in the future. I am extremely sensitive to colors. As an Asian, I have a unique perspective from the East. I love nature, the outdoors, travel, photography, and everything about art.
How did you discover your passion for lighting design? Why did you choose to study lighting design at the California College of the Arts?
The reason I love lighting design and am passionate about it is my sensitivity to color. The nuances of the color of light seem to me to have a huge impact on the environment, the atmosphere, the objects presented, and the senses of the experiencer. Reasonable control of light color, color temperature, intensity, atmosphere, type, and other elements, is a great challenge for designers. I like to explore the subject of lighting, so I chose to study at the California College of the Arts, which has a professional team, faculty, and abundant resources in the Bay Area.
Can you please share your creative journey behind “Immersive Gestures”? Where does your inspiration come from?
The idea for my work was mainly inspired by Balenciaga’s 2020 autumn and winter fashion shows. The original setting was at the Cité du Cinéma film studio complex in Paris, with the Balenciagas on a central runway submerged underwater and surrounded by an oblong amphitheater of seats. Although only a few centimeters deep, the water created the illusion of an almost bottomless abyss at the center of the show.
An LED screen suspended from the ceiling shifted between natural scenes of crashing waves, churning clouds, swarming crowds, and bright red glowing lava, which were reflected in the water below. In my work, “Immersive Gestures” will be used as a key set of oriented words for the creation and design of my performance space for Balenciaga within the context of the Z Space theater and performing arts company located in the Mission District of San Francisco, California. Each environment is connected through layers of immersive experiences.
The truncated cone form is the basic core element of the performance space, which is evenly divided and rotates around a series of center points within the site. The interior of the performance space is composed of a single strip-shaped LED screen, and the audience will stand along the arc edges to experience a 360-degree immersive experience. The video projected on the screen will physically respond to the model’s fashion clothing, creating a sense of mystery, oppression, structuralism, and powerful visual impact.
Instead of maintaining a fixed relationship between the stage and the audience, the relationship between fashion, model, and audience will evolve. The entire fashion show experience is not a static vision; it is an immersive experience of moving gestures between the audience and performer.
What does it mean to you to become the LIT 2021 Emerging Lighting Designer of the Year?
First of all, thank you, LIT, for affirming me. This was the biggest encouragement for me in the beginning stages of my journey as a designer. It made me realize that I am talented, and I am also capable of creating my dreams, and I am more convinced than ever that I will go further and further down the road of lighting design.
What are you working on now? Can you share a glimpse of your next lighting design project?
I just recently finished the design of the restaurant. Of course, lighting design is a very important part of it. This project is also a renovation of the old site in San Francisco. Lights play various roles in my new designs, such as guiding functions, layering functions, spatial functions, transforming functions, etc. I am exploring the relationship between light and different roles in space. I’m very excited to break through and challenge myself.
You are just starting your career as a lighting designer… What do you want to do next?
I want to have the opportunity to get in touch with a variety of excellent lighting designers and to learn from, collaborate with, and gain experience with them. In the beginning, I always thought that experience was the best teacher.
Last, what should we wish you for 2022?
To maintain a healthy and active life, and wish everyone in the world peace and happiness. I’m looking forward to finding a job and starting real physical projects for any of my design careers this summer.
Jay Burnett, a student at the Georgia Tech College of Design won the LIT Design Awards 2021 in the Lighting Product category with a chandelier design called “Trinity”. To produce Trinity’s concrete hub, Jay developed a 3d Printable concrete mold which increased re-usability, enabled highly accurate dimensioning, and allowed mounting hardware to be cast directly into the part all white decreasing cost & machining time when compared to reusable silicon or foam mold at this scale. Jay shares with us his love for design and inspirations for his career debut.
Could you tell us a little about yourself?
I’m 21, an Atlanta native, when I am not designing, I enjoy making music, staying active through competitive sports, and cooking!
How did you discover your passion for Lighting Product Design?
For the past few years at the Georgia Tech College of Design, the sophomore capstone project has been to design and fabricate a light that explores materials, scale, and experience. This was my first exposure to the field and is the project for which I created Trinity. As I worked, I discovered the power that furniture and lighting design have to create experiences & shape the story of space both passively and actively. I learned that Lighting Design is a mix of engineering, design, and art that I find extremely compelling. So much so that I am now pursuing a career in it!
Why did you choose to study Lighting Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology? When will you graduate?
My road to design begins similarly to many in recent generations- with Legos & the influence of an engineer in my family. FIRST (For Inspiration & Recognition of Science & Technology) Robotics got me hooked as a child on Lego robots & then as a high schooler on 120-pound metal ones. I learned how to CAD, how to make rough prototypes and then fabricate high-quality parts, how to code, & how to creatively and iteratively problem solve. I was mentored along the way by the Robojackets- Georgia Tech students who loved building robots too and wanted to teach kids like me how to do what they did!
Led by their example I applied to Georgia Tech, but I wasn’t sure what I’d major in. I liked creating things, I liked drawing, I liked leading design meetings and debating minute details of each part. Mechanical Engineering was the obvious choice, but my mom happened to find the GT School of Industrial Design webpage, called me over, and said “this sounds like you!” She was right, as she so often is.
Can you please share your creative journey behind “Trinity”? Where is your inspiration from?
Trinity is born out of a few core design ideas.
One, I wanted to explore what I could do with concrete. I knew I would be able to get much more complex smooth shapes with the tools I had by using a cast material instead of a solid one, & I thought this was as good a time as any to try it out!
Two, treatment of light. I was fascinated by designs that treated light as a solid that could either fill in negative space to complete a “solid” geometry or could act as an extension of a rigid limb.
Three, smooth material transitions. Finding a way to move from concrete to metal to glass with no visible fasteners was critical for two reasons. One is because I wanted this design to look sleek and professional, not like a flimsy prototype. Two is that it draws people in. I wanted to make people wonder “how does it do that? What’s holding it together”. That interaction takes it from a background piece to a focal point and a conversation starter. Good design is worth talking about.
What does it mean to you, to become the LIT 2021 Emerging Lighting Product Designer of the year?
I am very honored to have received this award, and It honestly could not have come at a better time. All designers face imposter syndrome at one point or another, and as I search for jobs it has been easy to doubt myself and my skill. But receiving the LIT 2021 ELPD of the Year reminds me that I am talented and passionate and my future is bright! It also reminds me that I am just emerging. I have a lot still to learn and explore in design, which is daunting but also very exciting! So, thank you very much for selecting my work!
You are just starting your career as a Lighting Product Designers… what do you want to do next? What are your dreams?
Over the past four years, I’ve gained an education in Industrial Design; I have learned sketching and modeling communication skills and prototyping and rendering; basically all the stuff one must know in order to say “I have a degree in Design”. But what I’ve really learned is how to serve others. How to put the user first, to try & understand their needs, that I should strive to design such that it can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people regardless of their age, size, ability or disability, & to be selfless in my designs because it’s not about me.
In short, I found a profession worth devoting my life to. That is why I stand on the edge of a precipice ready and excited to begin a career in design. This may sound cliche because I am sure most young designers hunger for the same thing, to improve lives and make eyes shine brightly. But I am proud that I am not unique in this goal. My heart swells to know that my peers and I truly want to make this world better, & I wholeheartedly believe that even if all of us don’t achieve such lofty things, a few of us will. So, having secured my Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design this December, I’m excited to start! I don’t know where I will work or what I will make, but I know I do my best to try and become one of those few.
Last, what makes light magical to you?
Light sets the mood. With light, you can take one space and make it feel like two. You know what I mean if you’ve ever been to a bar or club near closing time. When the tired staff turns off the soft, warm lights that leave ample shadows and accent the face of that person you met at the bar so well in favor of the bright, aggressive fluorescents. Nothing looks mysterious and sexy anymore… you realize that everything is dirty & wet & that the room resembles a warehouse more closely than anything.
With the click of a switch or a turn of a dial, we can change everything about an environment. Something that powerful can only be magic.
Read more about the “Trinity” light.
The Acropolis of Athens is one of the most important monuments of world culture. A living symbol that has stood the test of time, and is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world. On the 30th of September 2020, the new lighting of the Acropolis and its monuments, funded and supported by the Onassis Foundation, was unveiled to the world.
Eleftheria Deko and Associates approached the monuments first with respect. Before applying their thoughts on paper they observed the characteristics of this unique place, studied its history, the forms and materials, the visibility from different points of the city, and the significance of this landmark.
Their design approach was to highlight the beauty of the architecture, the timelessness of sculptures, the whiteness of the Pendelikon marble in contrast to the robustness of the Sacred rock, and the heroism of the fortification walls. We achieved the differentiation by the use of different focusing angles, differentiation of color temperatures, and of light intensity. Lastly, Eleftheria Deko and Associates’ lighting vision was to make the site look outstanding at night from multiple directions both up close and from afar, and bring new life into the monuments of the Acropolis.
Here is a video of the making of, production of the Onassis foundation.
Founder of the award-winning lighting studio Eleftheria Deko & Associates, Eleftheria Deko and her team started to work on the Acropolis of Athens and other Athenian monuments in January 2020. They have been working days and nights on this project, having only 45 days to deliver the lighting study and complete the whole project in nine months from the assignment. The “Acropolis of Athens” project has received the “LIT Lighting Design of the Year” award for 2021. Eleftheria shares with us her design vision for this unique realization, as well as for her upcoming projects!
Could you tell us a little about yourself? How did you discover your passion for lighting design?
I have been working as a lighting designer since 1990. That is 31 years!
I have designed lighting for more than 600 theater, music, dance, and opera performances, for public events, multimedia shows, exhibitions, as well as art installations, in Greece and abroad, and have received good reviews, awards, and honors, including the 2009 Woman Artist of the Year for my contribution to the arts as a lighting designer in Greece. I have been teaching stage lighting design at the Theater Department of the School of Fine Arts of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki from 2005 to 2019, and I have to say that teaching has been the most fulfilling experience! Teaching and sharing my passion for lighting with young people and seeing them over the years become great lighting designers themselves is the most rewarding thing of all.
A significant moment was also my collaboration in the opening and closing ceremonies of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, as lighting designer and director, and member of the creative team. These two and a half years have been very creative and full of passion. The Emmy Award for Outstanding Lighting Direction, at the 57th Emmy Awards ceremony (Sept. 2005), was the first international recognition, and as the first Greek to have achieved this recognition, I have to say that I felt very very proud.
In 1999, I started my practice in the field of architectural lighting, founding the firm Eleftheria Deko & Associates Lighting Design. Together with my colleagues, we have created more than 200 studies for interior, exterior, and façade lighting for a large variety of public and private venues, such as office buildings, shopping malls, residences, restaurants, cafes, art spaces, monuments, hotels, media façades, and public spaces.
In December 2018, Eleftheria Deko & Associates lighting design won the first prize for exterior lighting at the Darc Awards, and we were the first Greek lighting design studio that achieved such an international award. Then more projects and awards followed, assuring us that we do serve lighting design in a good way.
The Acropolis lighting project came in 2020, and it has been more than a project for me.
It has been a mission! As a Greek and lighting designer, the lighting of the Acropolis was a lifetime project. It has been a unique experience for me and my team. It has been a most interesting journey.
Going back to how I discovered my passion for lighting design, I should say, inadvertently! By chance, or by this magic way that life leads you to your destiny.
I was pursuing a master’s degree in performance choreography at NYU, and the very first class I chose was lighting design, to learn how to light my own choreographic pieces. I immediately fell in love with lighting, and I have never stopped loving it since. Of course, New York in those days was full of art, theater, and dance performances, all with new ideas and pioneers in lighting. I was very lucky.
How would you describe the role and responsibilities when working on the new lighting of the Acropolis of Athens projects? Which other moments are included in this project? What was the design brief and your process when taking on this project?
This project was so much different from any other one. I felt I had to forget all I knew and start from scratch. Before starting our lighting study, I became an observer of the Acropolis. I spent many hours observing the monuments during the different phases of the day. That observation was the guide and the teacher. From different neighborhoods near and far, I observed the Acropolis as part of the city and its coexistence in today’s urban landscape. From these observations, I realized that the three elements of rock, fortification walls, and monuments, needed to be differentiated. Each bears different symbolism as well as different materiality.
The fortification, the rock, stands proudly in front of mankind. The walls represent human effort and craftsmanship, and the monuments are worship, art, and if I may say so, mystery.
These three elements cannot be illuminated in the same way. And this was our concept/philosophy for the new lighting of the Acropolis. Thus, through color temperature, direction, and intensity differentiation, we managed to achieve this. Moreover, we wanted to highlight the details of the sculpting parts and to create a depth of field to make the different volumes distinct from far away. For that reason, we used 12 different shades of white, to give different hues of light to the different monuments on the rock: the Parthenon, the Erechtheion, the Temple of Athena Nike, and the Propylaia.
My role and responsibility were to tame the desire to do more than needed. To achieve this, the new lighting would reflect the monument’s own light, highlight the light inherent in them, together with their history and the civilization they represent, and not project on them something that was not appropriate. It is such a delicate thin line to avoid the desire to “show off” and surrender to the needs of the monument and not to the ego of the designer. When we undertake large projects, I believe it is easy to fall into the trap of exaggeration. Sometimes the project itself might allow it, but in monuments such as the Acropolis, this is, in my opinion, forbidden. As in the ancient Greek saying, “all in good measure”!
In addition to the study of the new lighting of the Acropolis, we also undertook the complete implementation and execution of the project, including new wiring, electrical panels, and control system. For this, we collaborated with a sub-contractor, Mr. Dimitris Kapetanelis, and his team.
Another task was to obey all the restrictions and follow the guidelines of the archaeologists.
Due to the archeological significance of this historical monument, the placement and installation of the new lighting fixtures had to go through specific processes and get permission and installation approval from the Central Archaeological and Museum Council.
As per the brief, we didn’t receive a brief for the lighting design, but we received a technical study with guidelines and restrictions from the archaeological department of the Ministry of Culture, which we had to respect. They had only requested the improvement of the existing lighting and the replacement of the old luminaires, but we went beyond that and proposed a new philosophy. Thanks to the sponsor, the Onassis foundation, all this became a reality.
We undertook the project in January 2020 and completed the first phase on September 30th and the second phase (the temple of Hephaestus and the Philopappo’s monument) on December 3rd.
One of the main challenges that we faced in completing the project was the tight schedule. We had to deliver the lighting study within 45 days and complete and deliver the whole project within nine months from the assignment day. This restriction forced us to have a very strict schedule. And I have to say, we managed it very well. We divided our team into smaller groups, and each one had a different task. Working day and night in shifts to meet the deadline was not easy, especially for me since I was there day and night. Everybody involved, I have to say, worked with so much dedication and passion, and despite the very long hours, no one ever complained.
Our strict but effective schedule helped us a lot with the additional problem that appeared in the meantime, which was the COVID pandemic. A new situation we didn’t know how to handle, as we didn’t have the demo luminaires on time to do our on-site tests. We tested on-site similar spotlights and the real ones on Dialux and Relux.
This project was a journey with many difficulties, but also many rewards. The feeling after completing the task is not easy to describe in words. The Parthenon has been called by historians, artists, and architects throughout the centuries, the perfect building. Taking on the task of lighting it can only leave you in awe!
What does it mean to you to win the LIT 2021 Lighting Designer of the Year title?
The LIT award, and especially the title of designer of the year, gives me more than pride and satisfaction for the international recognition of my work. It is a great honor!!!
Being recognized by a jury panel of 38 of the most talented and successful professionals is the greatest honor for me and my team! I thank all the jury members for this recognition and the LIT organizers for the prestigious lighting awards that help our field grow and evolve into a brilliant community!!
What do you feel is the most challenging part of working in lighting design today? Are there any new trends you would like to share?
I believe now is the most interesting time to be a lighting designer. An artist lighting designer! Because now we have so many tools to work with, so many… ways of lighting to promote beauty, to create magic! Lighting is at the peak of its evolution, and I am expecting many more technological advances to come. I imagine total cableless lighting, even smarter control systems, sound and light collaboration, interactive lighting projections, and even healing through lighting.
What are you working on at the moment, and do you have any upcoming projects or collaborations that you’re able to tell us about?
In fact, we are very busy and happy to work on some very exciting projects.
We just finished the lighting study of the Temple of Afaia on the island of Aegina, another amazing monument from the glorious times of Greek antiquity, predating the Parthenon.
We have just completed the lighting of the new Archaeological Museum of Cyprus in Nikosia and the Archaeological Museum of the island of Kythnos in the Cyclades, Greece.
Other ongoing projects are the façade lighting of the Appotronics headquarters building in Shenzhen, China, the lighting of the renovation of the Athens Hilton, the Amathus Hotel in Limassol, Cyprus, and the lighting of two new hotels, one in Thessaloniki and one in Corfu, Greece. Also, the lighting of the façade of the Intercontinental Hotel in Doha, Qatar.
A new project that is starting with the new year is the Riviera Galleria by architect Kengo Kuma, part of the Hellinikon project.
What would be your best advice to emerging lighting designers?
Not only to work with light, but also to be in the light!
Do not give up on the details.
Keep on learning about light, not only the technical part, but from nature, literature, art, philosophy, even astronomy… broader minds, broader ideas, and better designs.
Last, what should we wish you for 2022?
Exactly what I wish for you and all people: to keep our inner flame lit, so that in the darkest moments it illuminates our path, gives us hope and strength, and warms up our hearts to be able to feel joy and share love.
Winner of the LIT Awards “Lighting Product Design of the Year” 2021, we meet with Charlie Prograce, a structural engineer with a design journey that started with Architecture before becoming a lighting designer. Charlie shared with us his creative process behind the “Opteris” Chandelier being a homage to the Tomopteris, a deep-sea creature.
Could you tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Charlie Prograce. I am a structural engineer with a love for architecture and design. I enjoy the interplay between the technical and the whimsical sides of design. Design for me starts with visualization of an idea followed by a deep exploration into the details of integration and fabrication of the components.
How did you discover your passion for Lighting Product Design?
My passion for Lighting Product Design started with Architectural design. Early on, I was inspired by the works of Morphosis founded by Thom Mayne and Michael Rotondi. Then I got turned on by Frank Gehry, Antoni Gaudi, and Zaha Hadid. I found the free-form rule-breaking asymmetry qualities to their designs totally inspiring. I’ve had many building designs never see the light of day because of insurmountable construction costs and rigid building code requirements. Recently the epiphany struck me. Design occurs at all scales. Lighting fixtures are at a perfect scale for my workshop, the cost of construction is a rounding error for a similarly designed building, and the code requirements are comparably negligible. Finally, after a 30-year career in the design of buildings, I’ve found my voice and I’m ready to say something.
Your winning project is the Opteris Chandelier, can you please explain to us, what was your creative journey? What is the signification behind the Opteris Chandelier?
Any design can be expressed with plan and section. The most basic of shapes would have the same section in three orthogonal planes. Additionally, there are basic forms of geometry like the triangle, circle, or square. These are ideal shapes that really don’t occur in nature and for me feel static and less inspiring. I use NURBS modeling in my designs because they more accurately depict forms found in nature. The Opteris is an exploration of these principles. It contains 104 unique NURBS based sections. The geometry is so powerful that it appears to be in motion.
In general, where is your inspiration from?
The Opteris chandelier pays homage to the Tomopteris. A deep-sea creature whose name is derived from the Greek meaning “a cut” + “wing” but taken to mean “fin”.
What does it mean to you, to win the LIT 2021 Lighting Product Design of the Year prize?
It means the world to me. It gives me a sense of legitimacy in my design. There were so many amazing submissions from all over the world and to have the panel of esteemed jurors choose this fixture is truly humbling. It’s one thing to say something and it means so much more to be heard.
What are you working on at the moment, and do you have any upcoming projects or collaborations that you’re able to tell us about?
There are new designs in the works but first and foremost we are actively pursuing forming a relationship with a manufacturer to bring this and other works to the world market. We are welcoming inquiries.
What would be your best advice to Emerging Lighting Product Designers?
Go into this knowing that design is only a fraction of what will be required of you. And say something in your designs that is thoughtful and meaningful to you.
Last, what makes light magical to you?
Light exists in a vacuum but is imperceivable by the human eye. It is not until it collides with matter that we can then see it. It’s nothing short of magical.
LUCI has received the 2021 Spotlight prize of the LIT Lighting Design Awards for its contribution to the lighting community.
The LIT Lighting Design Awards was created five years ago to recognize the efforts of talented international lighting product designers and lighting implementers. The Spotlight Prize was introduced in 2020 to reward and put the“spotlight” on an organization, association, project, or initiative that carries out remarkable work for its community and has a major contribution to the lighting industry. This year, the 2021 « Spotlight » prize has been awarded to LUCI Association for its contribution to the lighting community.
Astrid Hebert, Director of the LIT Design Awards and Co-founder 3C Awards, presented the award to Sylvain Godinot, Deputy Mayor of Lyon in charge of Ecological Transition and Heritage, Public Lighting and Lighting Masterplan, representing the LUCI Vice President City of Lyon. The presentation, on 9 December 2021, was at the occasion of a LUCI event, the Lyon Light Festival Forum 2021, taking place in Lyon during the city’s Fete des Lumières light festival.
“We are proud to accept this award on behalf of all members of the LUCI network and of the LUCI Executive Committee, of which Lyon is Vice President. LUCI now brings together 70 cities around the world and our members benefit throughout the year from meetings, knowledge exchange, and city-to-city cooperation projects via offline and online tools. We invite other cities to join us in amplifying this movement so that we can together respond to the challenges facing the cities of today and tomorrow, challenges to which light can provide some answers,” Sylvain Godinot, Deputy Mayor in charge of Ecological Transition and Heritage, Public Lighting and Lighting Masterplan, City of Lyon.
The awards jury panel composed of 38 talented and experienced professionals, architects, interior designers, academics and media representatives in the lighting industry selected the winners of the LIT Awards 2021. « We have received a collection of incredible works with over 500 applications from 33 countries, making this program a global reference in the lighting industry, » said Astrid Hébert.
“We are really delighted and honoured to receive the LIT 2021 Spotlight Prize. At LUCI, we strongly believe in city-to-city collaboration, exchange, learning and co-creation to improve urban lighting and quality of life in cities. As LUCI is about to turn 20 years young, this comes at a perfect time to recognize the Association’s contribution to the global urban lighting community!” said Mark Burton-Page, General Director of LUCI.
The company’s key mission is to promote design through awarding great designs, exhibiting, developing designers and artist communities, providing networking opportunities, and advancing the appreciation of excellence in design through education, outreach, and grants.
Developed by Hossein Farmani and Astrid Hébert, 3C Awards is part of a larger organization Three C Group GmbH based in Switzerland and specialized in Awards, Marketing, Media, and Events. 3C Awards represent today’s diversity and innovation in Lighting Design, Furniture Design, Interior Design, and Architecture. Each brand is a symbol of design excellence around the world, showcasing Professional and Emerging designers’ work to over 100 expert jury members. 3C awards is part of Three C Group GmbH, a Swiss-registered company based in Grabenstrasse 15a, 6340 Baar, Switzerland. More information is available on: www.3Cawards.com
Under the company Three C Group GmbH, 3C Awards will play a key role to develop our footprint in Europe and support the growth of our programs:
Three C Group GmbH is a sister company to Farmani Group, founded by Hossein Farmani. Farmani Group is a leading organization curating and promoting photography, design, and architecture across the globe since 1985.
The Farmani Group is responsible for many successful awards around the globe. Farmani Group organizes the International Design Awards (IDA), Architecture Masterprize, DNA, Paris Design Awards, London International Creative Awards, Prix de la Photographie in Paris, and the Annual Lucie Awards for Photography, which has emerged as one of the world’s most prestigious awards.
If you would like more information in regards to the program and our company, please contact: astrid.hebert@threec.group
With a career of over 50 years in Lighting Product Design, Tony Lawrence has been working since April 1969 at Concord Lighting part of the Sylvania Lighting group. He has been designing products that brought accent lighting to the high streets, art galleries, museums, hotels, and more… He has also set design briefs and evaluated projects for degree students of St Martins School of Art London’s students and at the University of Sussex.
Tony was trained as an Electrical/Mechanical Engineer and knew little of lighting. He joined Concord at the age of 21 as he wanted to live in London and was soon taken up with the subject of the combination of Product Design and Lighting Design Technology. He was fortunate enough to join at a time when the emphasis was very much on Design as championed by the artist founder, Bernard Stern, and working in the studio of Professor Robert Heritage of the Royal College of Art. It still gives him satisfaction to see those products he has designed being used to enhance beautiful objects or spaces.
Tony has won numerous prizes with Concord’s innovative range of LED luminaires starting with the Red Dot Award in 1996 for the Torus 100 Low volt spotlight range, followed by the FX Interior Design Awards in 1999 for the Torus 35W CDMT spotlight. In recent years, the Beacon Muse won 4 lighting industry awards mandating a ‘clean sweep’ and expert endorsement for high performance and beautiful products. The Stadium spotlight in 2010 won the prestigious Red Dot award. This was followed in 2013 when Concord Glace won the Best Interior Luminaire at the Lighting Design Awards and been a finalist at the Lux Awards and the FX Awards, whilst 2014 saw industry recognition of Concord’s Officelyte with new intelligent Sylsmart technology.
Tony has been involved in the design of all Lighting products from Concord by Sylvania, being the center of innovation and development; his contribution to the lighting industry is prodigious!
Meet Tony Lawrence
Craig A. Bernecker’s lighting career now spans nearly four decades and during that time he has had the opportunity to play a significant role in the development of two highly regarded lighting education programs, one at Penn State University and one at Parsons School of Design, The New School. Craig’s contribution to Lighting Education is tremendous, as an Educational Facilitator for the LIGHTFAIR International, Professor of Lighting Design and Director at Parsons School of Design, The New School, New York and Founder of The Lighting Education Institute as well as his involvement in professional societies such as the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES), the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) and the International Commission on Illumination (CIE).
Craig shared with us his involvement in lighting design to understand his career:
Craig A. Bernecker: After leaving college with an undergraduate degree in psychology, I chose to pursue a very different career by entering the Master’s Program in Architectural Engineering at Penn State University. Unknown to me was the fact that the lighting faculty member there, John Flynn, was conducting research on the psychology of light. I got into lighting because my background in psychology led me to serve as his graduate assistant. And my master’s thesis work in lighting, The Potential for Design Applications of Luminance Data, turned out to be awarded transaction status when presented at the 1979 IES Conference and published in the Journal of the Illuminating Engineering Society. It also introduced the first computer-generated photorealistic rendering of the lighting effects in a space.
The influence of John Flynn on my career was not over yet, however, as after graduation I took a position with a large architectural engineering firm in Philadelphia, and was asked by Flynn to co-teach graduate architecture students at the University of Pennsylvania. Thus my teaching career began.
After designing lighting systems for all of the A&E firm’s projects for two years, I was hired by a west coast manufacturer, primarily based on the strength of my thesis, to run their applications department and conduct research. Shortly after arriving there, I learned of the illness and ultimately the passing of John Flynn, which began a road to return to Penn State to continue the lighting program there. One of the carryovers from the west coast manufacturer to Penn State was research I conducted on indirect lighting systems and brightness perception. This led to a second major publication, The Effect of Source Luminance on the Perception of Environmental Brightness, and to an effort by a number of manufacturers to convert totally indirect lighting systems to direct-indirect lighting systems.
Penn State Lighting Program
Craig A. Bernecker: While at Penn State, I was able to expand the lighting program in the Department of Architectural Engineering from 2-1/2 courses to eight courses, and created stability by bringing a second lighting faculty position to the program, which led to the hiring of Rick Mistrick, who remains a mainstay of the program. I was also able to garner funding from the Besal Foundation to provide a significant number of lighting scholarships for our students. During my twenty years at Penn State, we placed well over 200 professionals into the lighting industry, with notable graduates like Chip Israel (Lighting Design Alliance), Rick Mistrick (Penn State), Kevin Houser (Oregon State), Clarence Waters (Nebraska), Bob Davis (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory), Dorene Maniccia (Design Lights Consortium), Jim Baney and Emily Klingensmith (Schuler Shook), Andrea Hartranft (Hartranft Lighting Design), Karen Murphy (HDR), Mary Ann Hay (Syska Hennessy), Ron Kurtz (Dark Light), Dave Pfund and Joe Zaharewicz (The Lighting Quotient), Dave Ranieri (Acuity Brands), and countless others I have missed, who hold significant positions in the lighting industry.
I also got involved in distance learning in its formative stages during my tenure at Penn State, in particular serving on the university steering committee for Penn State’s World Campus and serving as a Faculty Fellow in Distance Education. As a part of my work in this arena, I developed a course that I taught jointly between Penn State and Tennessee State University students using early distance learning technologies. Focusing on creating diversity using these technologies, this led to several publications, An inter-institutional approach to distance learning and diversity, and Distance learning in architectural engineering: An inter-institutional case study.
My research at Penn State included collaboration with Dr. George Brainard, where we published the first study (Biological Effects of Architectural Lighting and Their Associated Energy Utilization) demonstrating that the physiological effects of lighting could be influenced by architectural lighting systems rather than solely through the use of therapeutic devices.
During my time at Penn State, I also authored five chapters in the IES intermediate education course (ED150), as well as many other articles published in a variety of journals.
The Lighting Education Institute
Craig A. Bernecker: Ultimately my work in distance learning and restrictions on the ability to reach a wide range of people led me to leave Penn State and pursue distance learning on my own by forming The Lighting Education Institute (LEI). I continue to deliver professional lighting education through LEI, including offering an annual Lighting Certification (NCQLP) review course with the Illuminating Engineering Society and serving as Educational Facilitator, responsible for planning the conference program at LIGHTFAIR each year. I also annually teach the two-day intermediate lighting course annually at LIGHTFAIR.
Parsons School of Design Lighting Program
Craig A. Bernecker: A few years after starting the Lighting Education Institute, I was asked to travel to Parsons to teach one of their lighting courses. Over a year or so, this quickly morphed to four courses and a full-time position in the lighting program beginning in 2006.
At Parsons, I contributed to revising the curriculum in the two-year MFA Lighting Design program, and, in particular, helped establish a stronger fundamentals base for the lighting design students. We also developed an interdisciplinary emphasis, establishing both a dual degree program to award a Masters of Architecture and MFA Lighting Design simultaneously, and a double major granting an MFA in Lighting and Interior Design, led by my colleague Derek Porter.
An additional curricular initiative relatively early in my tenure was to create an elective course offering, Lighting Technologies in the Developing World, exploring the large part of the world that does not have access to electric lighting either due to poverty or lack of access to electric power. We generated significant interest among our students in exploring the developing world, including design issues, technologies, and implementation. As a result, I was able to deliver twenty-four solar-powered lighting systems, identified through a series of these course offerings, to a remote village in Senegal, and presented both our students’ work and my experience in several venues – IALD Enlighten Americas, PLDC, and IES.
In 2014, I was awarded an educational grant by the Illuminating Engineering Society to seed the development of a one-week intensive lighting design studio, intended to bring practicing professionals back into the design studio to refresh, reinvigorate, and learn new design techniques. The studio has been quite successful, drawing attendees from around the world. One international attendee wrote on Facebook, “to one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had along my journey with light,” and “If it existed… the 10 courses to take before you die, surely this one would be at the top of my list.”
We recently added a Daylighting Intensive Design Studio to pair with the regular intensive, taking advantage of the heliodon and diffuse sky simulator of our Light and Energy Lab. The studios are run back-to-back in consecutive weeks so participants can schedule either one or both together.
In the fourteen plus years since I’ve been at Parsons, we’ve been able to create a unique research program within a design school. Focused on evidence-based design, to get our design students to conduct experimental research as their final thesis projects. Over the last four years, we have presented and published more than a dozen of their projects as technical papers at the IES Annual Conferences. Students learn how to do a good research so they can more critically evaluate cutting-edge information potentially informing their future design decisions.
A significant accomplishment of the research program involves two studies to finally expand the psychology of light work of John Flynn by exploring the influence of color temperature on subjective responses to lighted environments. These two studies, The Influence of Chromaticity on Subjective Impressions in Lighted Environments, and, The Influence of Color Temperature along with Illuminance on Subjective Impressions in Lighting, were presented and published in 2017 and 2019.
Another part of the research program is being conducted for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Next Generation Lighting Systems program. As a result, there are currently thirteen different connected lighting systems installed on the New School/Parsons campus that serves as a “living laboratory,” where students are engaged in evaluating these systems to better inform their effectiveness. The ongoing work of the assessment of these systems following the stages of the overall building design and construction process from specification to post-occupancy evaluation has been presented in a variety of venues, from LIGHTFAIR to LEDucation to both the IES and IALD conferences.
Our most recent research is focused on the integration of germicidal ultraviolet radiation (GUV) into architectural lighting systems. We are evaluating the potential for GUV to be safely integrated into architectural lighting systems to kill bacteria and deactivate viruses, including SARS-CoV2. We will test both the efficacy of GUV to treat upper room air to keep our environments safe over the long term and develop a protocol for the assessment of such systems as more manufacturers produce products that will require evaluation to ensure they are safe.
Most recently, I have developed a lighting certificate program in cooperation with The New School’s online distance learning initiative. Consisting of three five-week courses and entirely virtual, this certificate program will address a growing need for lighting education outside of full degree programs.
Service to the Lighting Profession
Craig A. Bernecker: A large part of my service to the lighting profession has been through the Illuminating Engineering Society. I have had the opportunity to serve in three major positions, Vice President of Technical and Research Activities, Vice President of Educational Activities, and President, including serving one year as Senior Vice President before serving as President, as well as one year as Immediate Past President, the year following. Within that arc of service, I was able to implement several changes. One was to create a new publication, a Technical Memorandum, to address cutting-edge issues in a timely fashion, another to establish a task force to develop a new classification system for exterior luminaires, and yet another to revamp the annual conference that had been lagging in attendance and quality. I also reorganized several committees and the overall committee structure in each position.
The IES recognized my service with the Distinguished Service Award in 2017, and my overall contributions to the profession by naming me a fellow in 1991.
I have served two terms on the IALD Board of Directors, but also have provided service in a different way, specifically to develop and deliver a series of workshops on solid-state lighting (LED’s), as it was becoming a more accepted technology and helping designers to understand it better.
I have been involved in the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) in the past, and again most recently, having been appointed as the United States representative to Division 3: Interior Environment.
Consulting and Other Services
Craig A. Bernecker: I have regularly attempted to stay current with design practice by engaging in design opportunities throughout my career as a lighting educator. My projects have included pro bono design work for a church in my community, to design for a historical township building. I was also called in to re-design a newly installed lighting system in a residence that purportedly contained the largest collection of modern art in the U.S.
A part of my consulting work over the years has been to serve as an expert witness in several cases. Over time these have included automobile accidents, personal injuries due to poor lighting, and even a murder case. My most recent expert witness work was a major multi-billion dollar trademark infringement case where the judge cited my testimony as one of the major factors influencing his decision.
Crossing back over to more of a service role, I was appointed by the U.S. Department of Energy as co-chair of the technical committee that evaluated and ultimately awarded the $10,000,000 prize for the Bright Tomorrow Competition, also known as the L Prize, of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act.
I find it important to be involved in these kinds of activities in order to bring an understanding of design practice, as well as cutting-edge information back into the classroom for my students’ benefit. And if I’ve accomplished anything deserving of this award, it is the students who as practicing professionals have contributed to the lighting profession in a myriad of ways, raising the importance of lighting as a critical design element in our built environments.
