The LIT Lighting Design Awards proudly announces Suzan Tillotson, Founder and President of Tillotson Design Associates, as the recipient of the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award. Suzan has devoted her career to shaping how people experience architectural light, combining technical precision with an artistic sensibility that transforms buildings into living, breathing spaces.
Suzan’s story begins with a childhood spent living across the globe. Her father, a civil engineer, worked on oil refineries, and frequent moves nurtured her curiosity about the built environment. “I loved to paint, draw, and make things with my hands,” she recalls. That creativity, paired with a fascination for how spaces look and feel, led her to Louisiana State University. There, a lecture by lighting designer Howard Brandston sparked an immediate and lasting passion for light. She changed her major from architecture to interior design to focus on lighting, setting the course for her life’s work.
After graduation, Suzan began as a draftsman at an engineering firm, quickly taking charge of all lighting design. In 1986, she moved to New York City with her husband and son, joining Flack + Kurtz Engineers, later working with Howard Brandston and Jerry Kugler. In 2004, she founded Tillotson Design Associates (TDA), guided by her belief that lighting is both an art and a science, and that great design enhances the emotional and sensory experience of space.
Perelman Performing Arts Center, New York
After exploring numerous concepts, the team at TDA developed a technically and optically complex scheme that transformed standard LED products into elegant, high-performance assemblies. The design evokes the precision of a working theatre while delivering the glamour of a performance venue. Custom V-shaped chandeliers illuminate the façade from behind, turning the cube into a glowing lantern after dark. Each LED is precisely aimed and calibrated for seamless illumination, while integrated lobby lighting highlights the rhythmic wood ceiling and public gathering spaces. The result is a study in precision and flexibility, with a lighting system that adapts to an infinite range of stage configurations.
(Awards: 2024 IALD Award of Excellence, 2024 IES Illumination Award of Distinction, 2023 LIT Award Winner for Cultural Building Lighting Design.)
Perelman Performing Arts Center. REX. Image: Iwan Baan.
The Broad, Los Angeles
A soft gradient of light transforms the museum’s veil into an iconic presence at night. In-grade LED fixtures with custom lenses accentuate the delicate geometry of the façade while preventing light spill to neighbouring residences. Calibrated luminance confirmed through on-site mockups ensures seamless integration with its urban surroundings. Subtle uplighting defines the entry thresholds, and continuous floor coves gently guide visitors through the vaulted interiors, revealing glimpses of the archives beyond.
(Awards: 2016 IES Illumination Award of Excellence, 2016 IALD Award of Merit, 2016 IESNYC Lumen Award of Merit, 2016 A|L Commendable Achievement Award.)
The Broad. Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Photo Credit: John Muggenborg
The Shed, New York
This dynamic building features an iconic ETFE structure that envelopes the museum and performance hall, capable of extending over the plaza to create a large-scale event space. The transparent, reflective ETFE pillows are softly illuminated by LED spotlights embedded into the structure grazing the steel framework from within, creating a luminous effect visible even when blackout shades are deployed. LED grazers at the glass entry portals highlight the overlap between the kinetic shell and the permanent building, enhancing the interplay of light, structure, and transparency.
(Awards: 2021 IESNYC Lumen Citation, 2021 LIT Award for Exterior Architectural Illumination, 2021 IES Illumination Award of Merit.)
The Shed. Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Photo Credit: Bridgit Beyer.
Bloomberg European Headquarters, London
This project provides a glare-free, welcoming glow for the public realm of London’s financial district. Vertical ribbed fins are edge-lit with concealed LEDs, while narrow beam accent lights illuminate sidewalks. Linear uplights within a bronze plinth softly light the stone soffits above. A nearby historic church is illuminated by LED spotlights placed high within the eighth-floor soffits. Inside, an LED system sandwiched between ribbed and etched glass provides ambient light for vertically stacked rooms, glowing at night while allowing natural daylight during the day.
(Awards: 2019 IALD Award of Excellence, 2019 LIT Award Winner for Workplace Lighting, 2019 LAMP Award for Indoor Lighting, 2018 LDA Global Project of the Year.)
Bloomberg European Headquarters, London. Foster + Partners. Photo Credit: Aaron Hargreaves
712 Fifth Avenue Lobby, New York
A luminous and elegant space defined by light. The linear coves emphasize the curved glass and stone elements, while dimmable warm-white LEDs bring out the limestone’s texture. The design cleverly works within the building’s tight constraints, limited plenum depth and energy code restrictions, to create an illusion of depth and height. A knife-edged cove appears to float above, with blended light strips of varying optics producing a seamless, sculptural glow.
(Awards: 2024 IES Illumination Award of Merit, 2024 IESNYC Lumen Award of Merit, 2023 LIT Award Honorable Mention.)
712 Fifth Avenue Lobby, New York. Kohn Pedersen Fox. Photo Credit: Michael Moran/OTTO
Lincoln Square Synagogue, New York
Undulating ribbons of glass form the east façade, representing the Torah Scroll and its five books. Bronze-coloured pleated fabric between the laminated glass layers glows softly in light, while a white ceramic silk-screen pattern enhances privacy for worshippers inside. The interplay of transparency, reflection, and faith results in an atmosphere that feels both sacred and contemporary.
(Awards: 2016 IALD Radiance Award, 2016 IES Illumination Award of Distinction, 2016 IESNYC Lumen Award of Excellence, 2016 LIT Award Winner.)
Lincoln Square Synagogue, New York. CetraRuddy. Photo Credit: David Sundberg/ESTO
Lincoln Center North Plaza and South Campus, New York
Lighting that celebrates the anticipation of performance. Glass canopies and stainless steel poles adorned with vertical light fixtures flank the Grand Entry Stairs, enveloping patrons in warm, even light with minimal glare. The luminous fountain at the centre becomes a glowing heart of the plaza, with the Metropolitan Opera House façade providing a radiant backdrop that completes the composition.
(Awards: 2011 A|L Outstanding Achievement Award, 2011 IES Illumination Award of Excellence, 2011 IES Lumen Award of Merit.)
Lincoln Center. Diller Scofidio + Renfro, FXCollaborative, Beyer Blinder Belle. Photo Credit: Iwan Baan
Longwood Gardens West Conservatory, Pennsylvania
Working within one of America’s most beloved gardens, the goal was to create gentle transitions between light and dark across exterior and interior landscapes. Discreet, colour-tunable fixtures prioritise the subtle illumination of trees and plants over direct pathway lighting, maintaining the environment’s natural atmosphere. The team collaborated with manufacturers to refine products for glare control and ensure integration with the site’s ecology. (Awards: 2011 A|L Outstanding Achievement Award, 2011 IES Illumination Award of Excellence, 2011 IES Lumen Award of Merit)
Longwood Gardens West Conservatory, Pennsylvania. Weiss Manfredi. Photo Credit: Albert Vecerka/ESTO
Christ Church United Methodist, New York
The relighting of this historic church restored the grandeur of its sanctuary while honoring its architectural heritage. Large-scale lanterns were recreated from original watercolor designs, integrating modern LED technology with four layers of individually addressable light. The result is a luminous atmosphere for worship that merges history with innovation.
(Awards: 2024 IESNYC Lumen Award of Merit, 2023 IES Illumination Award of Merit.)
Christ Church United Methodist, New York.Thomas Fenniman Architects. Photo Credit: John Muggenborg
Suzan’s influence extends beyond her studio. She has taught IES workshops, led design and rendering workshops, lectured at Louisiana State University, NJIT, University of Arkansas, Cornell, McGill, Dalhousie, and Princeton University. She has also been a past IALD board member.
In 2012, LSU honoured her with the Distinguished Alumni Award, where she also delivered the commencement speech, reflecting her deep commitment to education and mentorship. In 2022, Suzan was named LSU’s College of Art & Design Nadine Russell Chair.
Reflecting on the award, Suzan shared:
“Receiving this award is truly an honor. I’ve been fortunate to spend my life doing something I love, surrounded by people who share the same passion for light and design. My hope is that this award inspires young people to see lighting as the incredible and meaningful profession that it is.”
Astrid Hébert, Co-Founder of the LIT Lighting Design Awards, shared her admiration:
“We are incredibly proud to recognise Suzan Tillotson with this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award, as her work shows that lighting is not only a technique but also a combination of empathy, vision, and storytelling. It is especially meaningful to celebrate a woman who has inspired so many others to build careers in lighting design. Suzan’s influence reaches far beyond her projects; she has helped shape the profession itself.”
Suzan Tillotson will officially receive her Lifetime Achievement Award at the LIT Lighting Design Awards ceremony in early summer 2026, where the international design community will gather to celebrate her extraordinary contribution to the world of light.