Prize(s) Honorable Mentions
Lighting Design/Product Company Lam Partners
Lead Designers Maggie Golden
Other Designer's names Glenn Heinmiller, Amber Hepner
Architecture Company Sasaki
Client The Lawrenceville School
Photo Credits Jeremy Bitterman
Other Credits Van Zelm - Electrical Engineer
Completion Date 2024-08-27
Project Location Lawrenceville, NJ
Entry DescriptionEnergizing large-scale sports venues while defining cozy moments for everyday student life is at the heart of the lighting design for this 240,000-square-foot hub of academics, athletics, and community. Lighting serves as a connective, malleable element, shaping multifunctional environments that balance athletic performance with daily activities.
Moving beyond utilitarian norms, the design emphasizes wellness, comfort, and engagement while meeting the rigor of athletic play. Sculpted ceilings glow with bespoke indirect lighting, providing visual comfort and enhancing spatial character. Fixtures are cleverly integrated into architectural pockets and details, illuminating swooping planes, accenting wood materials, and highlighting moments of interest.
This layered strategy defines flexible, multifunctional spaces while custom mounting solutions and tuned wattages ensure performance, comfort, and energy efficiency. Concealed uplighting of wood surfaces and low-brightness sources establish a cohesive visual language across venues, guiding wayfinding and enhancing spatial perception. The renovation integrates creative design with technical precision, delivering a sustainable, engaging environment that elevates the experience of lighting in athletic settings.
Sustainability ApproachThe lighting design emphasizes sustainability through energy efficiency, durability, and visual comfort. Fixture wattages were fine-tuned to reduce lighting power density while meeting the rigorous needs of sports and multipurpose environments. Independently controlled sources and carefully tuned lumen outputs provide flexibility without unnecessary energy use. Robust, long-life fixtures were selected to withstand athletic conditions, minimizing replacement and material waste. Concealed, low-brightness sources reduce glare, while consistent uplighting of wood surfaces enhances spatial perception with minimal energy. By embedding lighting into architectural details and focusing on efficiency at every scale, the design delivers a high-performance system that balances sustainability, comfort, and longevity.
