Lighting Designer from Teheran, Aidin Ardjomandi, is working in his own design studio as a product and lighting designer. Aidin is also the lecturer and manager of marketing at Istituto Di Moda Burgo in Qatar and the international relations manager of the Azerbaijan Design Awards. Today he shared his experience of being a part of our amazing jury and described his special connection with lighting design.
First of all, what was the best thing for you of being a part of the 2020 LIT jury?
Nothing is as exciting as being surprised. When you expect good works and suddenly you face unique and unbelievable ones. I have had the experience of being on the jury panel of more than 25 awards before and this event has always been one of the most special. Where you are amazed to see every single submission and expect a better one every moment.
What do you think of the overall quality & diversity of the submitted projects?
Undoubtedly, the level of submitted works was very high and this level is getting better year by year. What I saw during this period made one of my best memories of such events. However, the presence of this significant number of high-quality works increases the responsibility and makes the decision-making process difficult. But being among the best in order to decide for the best is a unique feeling.
Which designs have stood out for you? Can you share a couple and let us know why?
I think all jury members agreed that Niamh Barry’s work, the Artist’s Hand was truly special and unique. It was difficult to find a problem on and it conveys a wonderful feeling to the audience. This good feeling was what I saw in two wonderful products designed by Ren Peng, the Z-Lamp and the Time Machine table lamp. In my opinion, they were wonderful, and the interaction included in the work created more than just a lighting product. It was an added value that made these works unique.
What is the current situation for young designers and lighting in your home country, Iran?
As you may know, due to the existence of many historical buildings in Iran, lighting has always been a significant field for designers and in recent years, with the growth of interior design, lighting has developed as an inseparable part of this very popular field. Today, Iranian designers are strengthening their position by participating in national and international projects, especially in the Middle East design market. And it promises good days for this industry in the near future.
When we are talking about Design it is impossible to separate function and the soul meaning of beauty. Design is a logical art which has considers all aspects of objects so when you call a lamp “a beautiful lamp” it simply means it was a Lamp fundamentally before it was beautiful so beauty, functionality, and even ergonomics together fabricate the Word Aesthetics in the Lighting Design.
It is possible to have functioned without beauty, but the word aesthetics without functions is meaningless.
What are the ongoing trends that you have noticed in the world of lighting design?
Today, lighting design is not considered a luxury field and its impact is much greater than before. Light as a phenomenon that causes vision affects beauty and beauty is not possible without lighting. It seems that with the advancement of technology, the place intended for lighting will soon be upgraded from an art to an inseparable science from all aspects of design and become a part of it.
Is there any advice you would like to give to future Lighting Product & Lighting Designers joining the LIT Awards?
Creativity and light can both lighten the darkness. The combination of these two concepts creates magic, and if this connection comes from inside of the designer, anything would be possible.
Lighting is the principal in enhancing the user experience of the hospitality industry. As illumination is a critical component, careful design is invested in ensuring that space takes full advantage of both natural and artificial lighting. A powerful medium needs a creative mind with expert understanding and team collaboration. You’ll have contractors to lighting designers, all with one goal of creating an immersive experience, unforgettable and awe-inspiring.
The following lighting companies’ amalgamation of lighting elements has successfully showcased the architectural elements they require and, at the same time, contributed to a cohesive whole. These six lighting companies’ masterful use of lighting have earned their works as the winners in the Hotel and Restaurant Lighting for the year 2020 by Lighting Design Awards.
The Grand Plaza Mövenpick boasts magnificent lighting spectacles that offer a euphoric experience from its spectators.
The Swoop – the eye-catching chandelier made of 3,500 hand-blown crystals that act as a spiraling centerpiece – sets a majestic scene upon entering the property’s atrium. Katerina Handlova created the artistic masterpiece, which was inspired by the flight of a bird, a simple concept whose aerodynamic intricacies are perfectly captured.
The lighting needs to complement and enhance how the spaces looked and felt during the day, evening, and night, as well as reinforce the architecture and interior design of a five-star property.
The lighting scheme meets every requirement of the brief, from a dynamic façade lighting scheme that draws attention to the architecture in a competitive location to the automated lighting scenes that run through the interior public spaces, each taking into account the space they illuminate. The restaurants’ feature lighting scenes that complement meal times throughout the day, lobby spaces reveal uplit screens that graze texture and materiality, lift lobbies softly glow through backlit lightboxes with inlaid metalwork, and the rooftop bar comes alive in the evening with edge-lit artworks, sparkling glass displays, and internally glowing onyx counters.
Company: neolight global
Lead Designers A. Mitchell, M. Eizadfar, G. Thornton, L. Columna
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Studies have shown the correlation between light and how we choose and process the meals we eat. Designers of the Odesa Food Market take the dining experience to a whole new level by ensuring optimum comfort, and the right ambiance is achieved any time of the day.
The lighting designers have created different atmospheres with light and enhanced the interior architecture.
Restaurants often have different missions: some are dominated by the function of breakfast or lunch, others are created for the evening pastime. The task was to create the light that would provide comfort for breakfast when you need to cheer up, and for a business lunch in the middle of the day, and for an atmospheric dinner, when you want to move to intimate places and have a drink in a darkened bar closer tonight.
In the morning, the light is cool, flooding, and soft. By lunchtime, it warms up and gradually shows accent spots on the tables. The light becomes more dramatic in the evening, without a flooding effect, with the most contrasting accents and nuanced work with shadows.
We revived the central element of the tree with light and scaled it to the entire space of the restaurant. With the help of several light sources, one tree was revealed with picturesque shadows over most of the circular vault. We selected the optics and the location of the light sources for the widest possible contrast shading.
Company: Expolight
Lead Designers: Mykola Kabluka
Other Credits: Restaurateur Alex Cooper, Architect Slava Balbek
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Truman’s Social Club in London is housed in a large industrial building divided into three bays: the Brewery, the Events Space, and the Social Club. It was established in response to social distancing to create a space that accommodates a variety of seating areas that not only adhere to guidelines but also provide seclusion from other parties. With this in mind, the lighting design approach added much-needed warmth to deliver a sense of tranquility and community to an intentionally sparsely occupied floor layout, assisting in wayfinding and zoning.
The purposeful reuse of old fixtures saves money while also meeting environmental views on circular economy and ethical growth. Keeping the customer journey in mind, we wanted to create a festival-like atmosphere that echoed throughout the spaces. A striking canopy of suspended pendants marks the entrance and path out into the beer garden. In contrast, indirect lighting secludes large enclosed booths flanking the entrances and smaller ones beyond the bar area. The high-level lighting can be dimmed to focus on the interior design elements, such as the “roundabout” with green foliage and central bar, as well as the branding.
Company: There’s Light Limited
Lead Designers: Fabio A P Cristini, Darran Prior
Other Designer’s names: Hunter’s Daughter (interiors)
Other Credits: Colin Ross (photography)
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The lighting design incorporates technology that allows for a seamless combination of controllable white light and unrivaled rich color combinations. It was decided to create a light show in this barrel vault ceiling in conjunction with the Marina Bay Sands light show, creating spectacular lighting effects and incorporating the dinners into the overall mesmerizing experience.
VUE@OUE Bayfront Bar & Restaurant used to be housed on the 19th Floor rooftop of the OUE Bayfront building and was closed a few years ago. Recently opened, it had recently gone a total makeover to become one of Singapore’s must-go, must-visit dining and bar establishments. The location is an unrivaled and magical draw to the public, with a stunning 270-degree view of the Singapore Skyline, the Marina Bay area, and its iconic Marina Bay Sands building. The interior designers maximized the space and volume to get the most impact and the best views and experience possible, combining a cozy, intimate dining experience with dramatic views of the skyline. In the evenings, Marina Bays Sands also has an hourly light show.
Prize(s) Winners in Interior Architectural Illumination
Company: Klaasen Lighting Design
Lead Designers: Martin Klaasen
Other Designer’s names: Amanda Yap
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Metropol, a stunning restaurant and project from Juskani Alonso Estudio, takes inspiration from Fritz Lang’s 1927 film Metropolis. The lighting spectacle was designed by ILWT and was created for Millesime GNP.
Utilizing the layers of lights and shadows, the space, made of 3D prints, represents the materiality and depth of the city. Various elements can be seen throughout the film, including the movie’s buildings on the walls. The flower centerpieces in Garden of Eden pay homage to the film’s expressionism.
Maria, the robot in the film, reinterpreted by ILWT as the “light giver” to the people to make the rebellion against the system, was conceptualized as the light giver for the restaurant as well; these stainless-steel fixtures on the tables were designed specifically for this restaurant, and together with the dimmable LED strips.
Prize(s) Winners in Ambient Lighting
Company: ILWT
Lead Designers: Miguel Vega / Juskani Alonso
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As the name implies, it serves dishes inspired by land, sea, and air animals in Fusion Italian Mediterranean cuisine. It is a famous restaurant in Indonesia with its unlikely and imaginative architecture. This restaurant’s lighting design is critical since guests will be transported to various environments such as the sea, land, forests, caves, and mountains.
The element of the boat at sea becomes the main element in the reception area with sea nuances. The hallway leading from the reception area to the main hall is decorated in a navy blue and forest green color scheme. The concept of sky clouds is created using fluorescent light waves. The cave atmosphere is felt in the VIP room from the cracks in the ceiling with the selection of blue sky, the sun shining on the table by placing the spotlight there.
Warm colors are chosen with spots on each dining table in the main room with nuances of forest land, without forgetting other supporting elements that are also given a softer light. Lighting is used to highlight the shape of decorative hanging elements in outdoor areas. So that there are no other elements on the ceiling, a mini spotlight to the table is integrated into the element.
Prize(s) Winners in Ambient Lighting
Company: MAW desain
Lead Designers: Mario Widagdo
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Light is a technically difficult yet awe-inspiring medium that necessitates mastery of numerous and ever-changing disciplines. A lighting design practice extends far beyond concerns about visibility and horizontal footcandles to include the arts, sciences, and business of illumination design and implementation.
A project owner or even a designer may be unmindful of the benefits that an independent lighting consultant can bring to today’s design and construction processes.
Exterior lighting animates the architectural exterior and outdoor spaces and, whether used for security, landscape, or dramatic effect, can change how you see and understand a building or pathway. While exterior lighting may fall under the purview of a landscape architect, it is critical for all types of architects and designers to understand how outdoor lights can integrate with a building and its larger site. Architects can use contrast and shadows to create inspiring and intriguing spaces by understanding the play of light and dark.
The following are exceptional outdoor design solutions honored in the latest LIT Design Awards by four great lighting design companies.
Neri SpA created the Nebula urban lighting collection in partnership with American architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill – SOM. The set includes a pathlight, an illuminating bollard, and a lighting system. The latter has three luminaire head types (Small, Large, and Venezia) and two poles with four different heights (mounting height of highest luminaire head: 15′, 18′, 21′, and 24′).
Accessories for the Nebula lighting system include snoots, banner holders, planters, NEMA sockets, Zhaga Books, motion sensors, and photocells. The three luminaire heads that rotate and tilt around the pole are composed of two light sources controlled simultaneously or separately. A few of the configuration options include symmetric and asymmetric distributions, beam angles ranging from very narrow (10°) to wide (80°), and color temperatures ranging from 2,700K to 4,000K, including Amber and RGBW. A specialized ring system is used to attach accessories and luminaires to the pole.
Neri SpA is an Emilia-Romagna-based manufacturer of urban lighting and furniture (Italy). Domenico Neri founded the company in 1962, and the third generation of the family now leads it. The company is best known for its urban décor culture and unrivaled product archive, which can be found in cities worldwide, from Venice to Paris and New York to Dubai.
Prize(s) Winners in Street Lighting
Company Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Lead Designers Carlos Madrid III
The new Cyborg Outdoor lamp’s unique shape is composed of three legs, and the internal positioning of the indirect-light LED light source produces dramatic effects of light and shadow on lawns. Made of fiber-reinforced concrete with selected aggregates, it blends perfectly with both your impervious and landscaped areas.
The Cybor Outdoor lamp was actually first conceived as an indoor lamp. Karim Rashid, the lead designer, defines the unique lamp, characterized by “sensual minimalism,” as having the peculiarity of being minimalist but also soft, interactive, and fascinating, before transitioning to its outdoor version with a sustainable, durable, and resistant vocation.
The Cyborg outdoor is a larger version of Karim’s original Cyborg Lamp, which he created in 2015 for Martinelli Luce. Outdoor lamp with an electric cable and plug that can be set on the ground or secured with pickets. High-strength concrete structure with a water-proofing agent. It comes in two shades: concrete gray and yellow ochre.
Prize(s) Winners in Outdoor Spotlights
Company Martinelli Luce spa
Lead Designers Karim Rashid
Designed for a landscape lighting project “Nabeya Bi-tech Kaisha” in Seki, Gifu, Japan. There are about 400 people who work in this factory, which designs, manufactures, and sells machine elements and components for motion control technology. This plaza, with its staircases, serves as a connection point for employees from the workplace to the parking lots. The plaza can serve as a meeting place for workers because the building next to it has a rest area and a fitness center.
The plaza becomes dark in the evening due to a lack of lighting and the surrounding forest. For the most part, only cold-colored lighting is provided for roads.
The factory interior is created to have a relaxed and calming atmosphere with warm lighting so that workers can communicate with one another. Warm orange-colored lighting with a three-dimensional curving bench invites you to the factory’s space as a special lighting color. By combining lighting with table lighting and a pole, depth and impressive space for nighttime activities are created.
Prize(s) Winners in Landscape Lighting
Company Sfg Landscape Architects Inc.
Lead Designers Akihiko Ono
Lighting plays an important role in today’s green building and sustainability movements. It’s one thing to design a stunning lighting layout; it’s quite another to design a stunning lighting layout that is also incredibly energy efficient. This energy utilization can be accomplished by ensuring that the majority of the light reaches its intended destination and that there is less wasted light. The building will be more efficient if the amount of wasted light is reduced. Installing LEDs instead of fluorescent lighting is a simple way to accomplish this. Because of the technology, LEDs waste less light than fluorescents due to their directional nature.
On the other hand, SPL’s innovative lighting system is designed to precisely direct all generated light onto the sports field from within the housing, eliminating the need for shielding. As a result, light is precisely directed where it is needed, with no light spilling in undesirable directions or even above the horizon. As a result, SPL can provide high-quality lighting for sports venues and other surfaces while lowering nighttime light levels for residents, animals, and nature. Because of SPL, floodlight systems can be truly environmentally friendly, in harmony with neighbors, and in compliance with statutory requirements. Long-term and cost-effective solution.
While it reduces light pollution, this system has several other advantages. Namely, it uses up to 40% less electrical power than alternative conventional LED luminaires. It is very low-maintenance, easy to monitor, and can be fully recycled when its service life is up. SPL believes that “what is good now will be good for our grandchildren.” Furthermore, because the system is completely modular, it can be customized to meet (potentially changing) site-specific requirements and use conditions.
The Swiss Precision Lighting AG (SPL), based in Murten, is a global innovator. Their precise lighting system reduces light pollution in all areas that are not meant to be lit. When compared to traditional lighting systems, this also significantly reduces power consumption.
Enjoy a good night: floodlighting without spill
Prize(s) Winners in Energy Saving Lighting
Company Swiss Precision Lighting Ag
Lead Designers Ralf Stucki
LEDforum.21 will be held online November 5, 2021 and is guaranteed to be met with the same success as 2020!
The 12th LEDforum, Latin America’s premiere lighting design conference, ushers in some new additions. This year, the program and speaker line-up have been drawn up in partnership with the unstoppable lighting designers behind the Light Drops Project, Diana Joels and Paula Carnelós. Together with Thiago Gaya, LEDforum’s creator, the three are preparing an unforgettable theme-based event complete with lectures and content that mesh, converge and complement each other and that culminate in a harmonious round-table dialogue at the forum’s closing.
The feature article “In Praise of Design,” published in the March edition of the L+D Magazine, is both the starting point and the common thread of the LEDforum.21 publication. The event’s four themes were drawn from the article in which Diana shares her thoughts on design and its particularities as a complex, integral and human discipline: REPERTOIR, VOCABULARY, APPROACH, and HOLISTIC DESIGN.
And the speakers who will be addressing the selected themes are: Manaus-based Belgian architect Laurent Troost (REPERTOIR); New York-based lighting designer, phototect and photectural critic Nathalie Rozot (VOCABULARY); Catalan architect Josep Ferrando (APPROACH); and Middle East-based Tanzanian lighting designer Sakina Dugawalla-Moeller (HOLISTIC DESIGN). And to round off this journey of knowledge and exchange, Jan Ejhed, professor emeritus and founder of the Lighting Laboratory at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, will lead a panel discussion with our guest speakers.
True to its stellar reputation, LEDforum is once again proud to present a vibrant, intense and inspiring program: LEDforum.21 digital | In Praise of Design
Registration is already open, and 50% of the net ticket sales be donated to the Junta Solidária Project. Ticket prices have been set at a token amount, but all sales will be of enormous value for this magnificent organization that distributes meals made by refugees to the homeless.
The LIT Lighting Design Awards is joining the Women in Lighting (WIL) initiative as a supporting program having a 50/50 gender balance when selecting our jury members.
Women in Lighting received the 2020 SPOTLIGHT prize at the LIT Design Award 2020, dedicated to rewarding an organization or project which carries out remarkable work for its community, and for being a major contributor in the lighting industry.
About Women in Lighting
International lighting designers and light activists, Light Collective launched the project, Women in Lighting on International Women’s day in 2019. It is a celebratory project that set out to create an inspirational digital platform for women working in the architectural lighting industry to promote their passion and achievements, narrate their career path and goals, celebrate their work and elevate their profile in the lighting community.
Women in Lighting consists primarily of a website – www.womeninlighting.com – with a database of interviews with women from around the world. Starting with lighting designers, the scope has expanded to include women in all aspects of lighting – education, journalism, manufacturing, art and research. The project has already gathered support from individual female designers in over 70 different countries. These “ambassadors” are a point of contact in each location for other women seeking to find out more about the project. Initially started as it was evident that female participation in conferences, committees, juries and panels were underrepresented, the main aim was that as there are approximately 50% of female lighting designers, they get 50% visibility.
Women in Lighting is not about gender inequality but about inclusivity and how this is beneficial to the profession as a whole. The project is supported by formalighting and archifos.
For more information about Women in Lighting, please visit https://womeninlighting.com.
Nima Bavardi from Nima Bavardi Lighting Design was born in Tabriz, Iran. He received a master of industrial design from the central Tehran branch of IA University and now is a lecturer and the head of the lighting design group at Villasufia concept store. By now, he has recorded up to eight awards in lighting design categories in his outstanding design awards such as European Product Design Awards, A’Design Awards, and IDIRAN Awards throughout his professional career up to now. He shared with us a few words about his work, inspiration, and gave a couple of encouraging words to young designers.
How did your love for design and lighting begin?
I can never imagine a dark and black world without colors, contrasts, and variety of shapes, and so on. Light and brightness are the cause of seeing the beauties of the world. Because of everyday conflicts, people often forget or ignore this. I love the source of revelation of love and beauty, and this is what draws me to lighting design to make people aware of it.
What inspired you to share your knowledge through teaching and become a university professor?
Perhaps one of the main reasons is that when I was a university student, I noticed the frustration and lack of motivation of many of my classmates due to poor education. After graduating from university and achieving many successes, I returned to the educational environment to prevent such things from happening as a teacher. Because the university is the bedrock for the flourishing of talents and should not be suppressed.
View winning entry for Nima Bavardi’s students.
You believe design “should be easy to interact with and easy to understand”; what makes a ‘good design”?
Yes, that’s right. The products we design stimulate the emotions and feelings of users. They may be fascinated and happy with them or hate them. So they have souls. The user must be able to establish a friendly and good relationship with the product so that he can enter it into his living environment and enjoy seeing and using it. This is exactly the mission that a designer must accomplish.
When do you personally feel most creative?
Sometimes when I’m sitting in a crowded cafe and sometimes when I turn off my cell phone and stare at nature and drink my coffee with light music. In my opinion, creativity does not lead to a specific time or place, and situation.
Project Name: Strawberry Chandelier / Designers: Nima Bavardi, Siavash Sufinejad
Brand/Company/Studio: Villasufia/ Year: 2020
Project Name: Brocco Chandelier / Designers: Nima Bavardi, Siavash Sufinejad
Brand/Company/Studio: Villasufia / Year: 2019
Project Name: The Newmoon Lamp / Designer: Nima Bavardi
Brand/Company/Studio: Nima Bavardi/ Year: 2017
What skills do you believe, a good designer should have?
All scales are interconnected and inseparable, and these together lead to a successful design. As well as a good script, professional actors, great sound and music, good stage and lighting make a successful and best-selling film.
Do you have any pieces of advice for young lighting designers, something they should be aware of on their path to success?
I see a lot of students who see good designs or copy or modify them a little bit without understanding the philosophy of the design and the line thought of the designer. The result is a design with a fake identity.
Try to be themselves and follow their line of thought. The design created will be the result of their creative thinking. Try to be familiar with the latest technologies, materials, manufacturing methods, etc. Because it will enable them to have a flawless design. Monitor the needs and expectations of communities and human beings because our plans will affect the quality of human life.
Project Name: Lumoss Chandelier / Designers: Nima Bavardi, Siavash Sufinejad
Brand/Company/Studio: Villasufia / Year: 2020
How to help new talents with motivation, inspiration, and strength to move forward, even when all lights seem to go out?
The worst thing a creative designer can do is go around or deviate from a path they think is a dead end. Stay. Either remove the obstacle or change it. Never be afraid of failure. These failures are like serious and strict teachers who try to teach us for progress and excellence.
Project Name: Lunipse Pendant Lamp / Designers: Nima Bavardi, Soroush Vahidian
Brand/Company/Studio: Nima Bavardi/ Year: 2017
Project Name: Queen of Acorns Chandelier / Designers: Nima Bavardi, Siavash Sufinejad
Brand/Company/Studio: Villasufia/ Year: 2020
LIT Design Awards 2021 is now open for submissions!
Do you think you should sit amongst the best Lighting Designers and Lighting Product Designer of your generation? LIT Design Awards is the fastest growing Lighting Designers community, join the 5th Edition and make your mark in the industry!
The Farmani Group and 3C Awards are launching the 5th Edition of the LIT Lighting Design Awards, a powerful cross-disciplinary platform celebrating the highest quality of Lighting Design and Lighting Product Design since 2017. With 78 categories represented, the LIT Awards is today one of the most comprehensive lighting design competitions, uniting creativity, and innovation.
The LIT Lighting Design Awards honors every year; the LIT Lighting Designer of the Year and the LIT Lighting Product Design of the Year; both given to professionals and students. LIT Design Awards is encouraging students and young designers to apply, winners of the “Emerging” prizes will receive a cash prize of US$1,000 to support their next project in lighting design.
The Lifetime Achievement prize has been introduced in 2018 to recognize Lighting Designers, Lighting Product Designers and other professionals in the Lighting Industry, whose contributions over their entire career to the industry are tremendous. Nominated and dedicated to professionals, the prize is today the highest honor awarded in the lighting design field.
The Spotlight Prize has been introduced last year to put the “spotlight” on an organization, project, or initiative that carries out remarkable work for its community and having a major contribution to the Lighting Industry. Nominated, this prize was received by the “Women in Lighting (WIL)” in 2020.
Selected by our esteemed jury of designers and leaders in the lighting, interior design, and architectural fields, the annual winners will receive the LIT trophy, extensive publicity showcasing their designs and products to an international audience, and more.
The LIT Design Awards 2021 will close on the 17th of October 2021. Receive a 10% discount on the submission fees by applying before the 30th of June 2021!
A museum’s lighting is a powerful medium where it conveys a story and presents a concept while creating the perfect stage for man’s creativity and ingenuity.
The following winners of the LIT Visitor Experience & Museum Exhibition not only imbues the elements necessary in lighting design at the same time provides progressive solutions for transcending environments. These creative innovations ultimately place the wholistic experience of art in a modern, sustainable and unforgettable light.
The Museum Goldkrammer in Frankfurt is a spectacular display of rich textures and surreal illumination in a space dedicated to 500 pieces of gold on display. From the fascinating gold’s origin in space to the element’s varying cultural symbol, you’ll find the 480 sqm museum an interesting space to be.
Refined lighting is used to make the room more visually expansive and with the light through underground tunnels and vaults of the property. The gorgeous lighting highlights the exhibits beautifully while remaining unostentatious to the view.
The fascinating space took four years before its realization. Finally opening to the public in May 2019 where it succeeded in providing a captivating air for the varying themes of the 500 gold exhibits.
The Holmegaard Værk has a long-standing history with glass as it was once home and workplace to generations of glassworkers. This historical significance makes the venue even more fitting to house the curated glass art exhibits. Paying homage to the 200 years as an atmospheric site of craftsmanship, the pieces of machinery were left as they are, giving visitors a glimpse of the past.
Which such significance, the Holmegaard Værk is designed primarily to preserve and showcase a huge collection of glass art while educating its spectators. The museum is located at Holmegaard, Denmark with the largest glass collection in the Nordic region where it currently holds 42,000 Holmegaard glass and has over 6,000 original Kähler objects making it the largest Kähler collection as well.
A Winner in Visitor Experience & Museum Exhibition, the Holmegaard Værk lighting design utilizes daylight as the main source of illumination and is supplemented with white LED and colored electric lighting. The interplay of light, shadow, and the color of gold create a strong dynamic quality while the shifting from natural light to the LED lighting adds to the movement and experience of the space. Aside from the excellent utilization of contrast, color, and brightness to enhance the holistic experience of visitors, the lighting is carefully designed to prevent damage to the exhibits. The white LED lighting was the best choice as it does not produce IR or UV lights that can damage the artwork making it sensitive to the environment.
A Winner in Visitor Experience and Museum Exhibition, Kings and Scribes: The Birth of a Nation is a stunning historical exhibition housed at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire England, a venue that bears historical significance in itself.
The lighting design challenge is to create a balanced illumination while protecting the integrity of the exhibits and revealing the collection to the best advantage.
Lead by Mark Sutton-Vane of Sutton Vane Associates integrates light-sensitive luminaires with a maximum of 50 lux to highlight the rare collection of valuable bibles. To even lower the light exposure, a special lighting system of hanging chains is used. In spite of the limitations given by the sensitivity of its exhibits, the lighting design did an amazing effect of highlighting the historical items such as showing and highlighting the character of the stone faces.
Honoring the stories of people who out of violence were snuffed out and silenced, The National Memorial for Peace and Justice commemorates the history of racial injustice. This national lynching memorial gives voice and public recognition and through illumination creates a transitional space.
As one approaches the monument, you’ll notice rectangular boxes on the horizon with an air of mystery, and getting closer the light below reveals the hanging corten steel monuments. Finally in the midst are 800 six feet monuments hanging above where each is lit from below with a narrow beam of light. The dappled effect where light and shadow combine create an uneven illumination like indicating that there’s too much monuments to count. Interestingly, the varying lighting creates an effect signifying that no two monuments are the same thus not one shade of black people in America. The evenly spaced monuments are etched with the names of the lynching victims on each of the monuments. Interestingly,
Situated on top of a six-acre sacred site at Montgomery, Alabama, The National Memorial for Peace and Justice is the ever first national memorial to victims of lynching in the US. A winner in Visitor Experience and Museum Exhibition. Designed by Lam Partners lead by Keitch Yancey and Dan Weissman.
The Winner in Visitor Experience and Museum Exhibition evokes a moody and dark ambiance evident as one goes through the dark boxes and a corridor. This architectural concept is drawn from the people’s repressive living conditions during the years under the Soviet government. Cold lighting is used to give visitors an experience of the feeling of unstopping draught in barracks. Special lenses were used to correct 3000K of existing light that is brought down to 4000K. This way it adjusts the color temperature without losing the color rendering index. Cracks from the walls allow light to pass through that simulates the natural lighting. This light through the cracks allows you to navigate through the exhibit and symbolizes it as a light of hope. Meanwhile, a warm color temperature is used to represent of life and hope of people through showcasing the personal belongings.
The GULAG Museum revisits the past with lighting as a critical element to achieve the experience. The museum was completed in October 2018 at Moscow, Samotechny line, 9-1 and designed by the Yarko Lighting Design Studio lead by Ksenia Lanikina.
The MMOMA 99/19 Anniversary Exhibition at Moscow Russia is a celebration of modern art where 20 independent artists are given a set as guest curators. The lead designer for the lighting project is Vlad Oblasov of Form Bureau and completed in December 2020.
Taking into account the uniqueness of 20 different artists, the different museum exhibits use clever lighting to try to convey what makes each artist unique. Applying different lighting colors, each artist’s (who is also a curator) personality is reflected.
As an example, the ballerina Diana Vishneva has a hall with pieces of artwork hanging with transparent constructions to convey flight. The voyager Feodor Konyukov meanwhile has nets to symbolize grid coordinates on a map.
When architectural lighting is drawn from inspiration and need, the outcome is an extraordinary design that captivates and also in turn inspires its spectators.
To recognize these innovative and creative efforts given in line with lighting design in an exceptional capacity, LIT Design has awarded these 5 breathtaking exterior architectural illumination projects.
With a people-oriented and environmentally conscious architectural design, Vanke Cloud City is an already impressive building in itself. Integrate a well-thought lighting display and the remarkable architecture further shines through on all four corners of Nashan District’s skyline.
The 280.8-meter super high-rise building has more reasons to stand tall as it is the Winner in the Exterior Architectural Illumination Category of 2020.
The design intention for Vanke Cloud city to be a landmark of Cloud City is without challenges as the innovative design should meet the needs while having to satisfy strict demands of lighting distribution and budget constraints.
The final lighting design uses LEDs and is automated by a system that will activate or deactivate the lights at a given schedule, allowing the structure to save on energy. Another reason for the control is to prevent creating additional light pollution during migration months that will affect birds traversing the area.
As a test case for estate projects, the structure was made on top of Zijinshan Park on a hill, following the “super flat” design. The structure integrates office functions, tourisms, and exhibitions. The idea is to push the envelope for what is possible between indoor and outdoor lighting.
While the design aims to obscure the boundaries between indoor and outdoor, light pollution is a challenge for this project. To mitigate this issue, the structure is equipped with the necessary equipment to control timing and light intensity. The lights themselves are expected to work at least 80,000 hours, and all are recyclable. All in all, the result is a highly efficient, functional, and structure that is a work of art. With its masterful use of smart lighting design, the project won the Exterior Architectural Illumination category.
Covering 1200 square meters of Zijinshan Park Fuyang, Hangzhou, China, the expansive lighting project is designed by Fangfang Lighting Design.
From China to Bangkok, the 314-meter-tall King Power MahaNakhon standS as the tallest skyscraper in the country. The challenge of lighting a literal giant piece of art seems to be the focus of this project. The structure is equipped with light panels, controlled by software for animating, based on the city’s day and night cycle. Since the structure follows a more eroded geometry rather than the traditional beacon approach, the light panels are installed on this “eroded” section. Another recipient of Exterior Architectural Illumination is the King Power MahaNakhon in Bangkok designed by SEAM Design.
The white scheme imitates the color temperature of the evening sky over the city. The whole project aims to establish a connection between this and nature. But it does not end there, this project lies the ambitious goal to establish Bangkok as Southeast Asia’s design capital.
The Lakhta Center in St. Petersburg, Russia is a winner of Exterior Architectural Illumination with its remarkable lighting design using a versatile lighting scheme based on aquatic themes. There are 23,000 lighting devices, around half a million LEDs. The versatile lighting scheme is mostly based on aquatic themes where lighting changes, depending on the current season. There is a lighting scheme for the winter, summer, during a festival, day, night, and other special events. Aside from the adjustable lighting feature, it is
Designed by Carla Wilkins & Elena Bayda, the project also boasts 100 innovations while saving 40% of energy. Using light intensity between the interior and exterior lighting to define the volume of the tower is an effective way technique. This is done by modifying the frame lighting and edge lighting, respectively. The remarkable lighting design also consider
A special part of the tower lighting was developing the detailed concept of aircraft obstruction lights and “bird-friendly” lighting and their integration into the overall concept. The project is also LEED platinum-certified making it one of the five most environmentally friendly skyscraper in the world.
Chongqing Guo Tai Arts Center Lighting Design
The eye-catching arts center is located in Jiefagin CBD, Yuzhong District, designed by China Architectural Design & Research Group in 2007, and constructed in 2013. Further improvements on the lighting design particularly on the art center’s facade were carried out in 2018 as was delegated by the client of the Chongqing Yuzhong District Management Committee.
A winner in the Community Building Lighting category, it’s a stunning architectural piece that employs digital lighting consoles, touchscreen panels with dimmer modules, Ethernet-network, a complete installation that includes 86 boxes, spotlight equipment including accessories, and complete distributions.
The LIT Design Awards 2021 is now open, receiving submissions from lighting manufacturers, lighting product designers, lighting design firms and practices from around the world.
The Farmani Group and 3C Awards are launching the 5th Edition of the LIT Lighting Design Awards, a powerful cross-disciplinary platform celebrating the highest quality of Lighting Design and Lighting Product Design since 2017. With 78 categories represented, the LIT Awards is today one of the most comprehensive lighting design competitions, uniting creativity, and innovation.
The LIT Lighting Design Awards honors every year; the LIT Lighting Designer of the Year and the LIT Lighting Product Design of the Year; both given to professionals and students. LIT Design Awards is encouraging students and young designers to apply, winners of the “Emerging” prizes will receive a cash prize of US$1,000 to support their next project in lighting design.
The Lifetime Achievement prize has been introduced in 2018 to recognize Lighting Designers, Lighting Product Designers and other professionals in the Lighting Industry, whose contributions over their entire career to the industry are tremendous. Nominated and dedicated to professionals, the prize is today the highest honor awarded in the lighting design field.
The Spotlight Prize has been introduced last year to put the “spotlight” on an organization, project, or initiative that carries out remarkable work for its community and having a major contribution to the Lighting Industry. Nominated, this prize was received by the “Women in Lighting (WIL)” in 2020.
Selected by our esteemed jury of designers and leaders in the lighting, interior design, and architectural fields, the annual winners will receive the LIT trophy, extensive publicity showcasing their designs and products to an international audience, and more.
Due to the extreme circumstances of COVID-19, resulting in the cancellation of the Awards Ceremony; the Board of the LIT Design Awards decided to host an online event, honoring the outstanding work of the LIT 2020 Winners in the Professional and Student categories.
The LIT Design Awards 2021 will close on the 17th of October 2021. Receive a 10% discount on the submission fees by applying before the 30th of June 2021!