Prize(s) Winners in Low Carbon Lighting
Company Tillotson Design Associates
Lead Designers Erin Dreyfous, Chandni Azeez, Noor Traboulsi, Maria Mendes
Other Designer's names Traxon e:cue - Cy Eaton, Chase Corman
Client IALD | Lightfair NYC 2023
Photo Credits Tillotson Design Associates
Completion Date May 24, 2023
Project Location New York, NY
Entry DescriptionThis immersive installation, realized in partnership with the manufacturing team, represents the concept of circular economy through its carefully selected materials, aspirations for reuse and its signature barreled form. As amateur urban gardeners, we challenged ourselves to incorporate a secondary theme centered around nature, regrowth and resilience. The primary structure is a repurposed skeletal frame of a traditional greenhouse. The manufacturing team’s innovative fixture mounting system utilizes expanded metal mesh, which supports the field of LED point lights and creates an open skin rolled over the frame. Reflective flooring surfaces allow for maximal impact of a fully circular form while using only half of the actual resources and materials. Recyclable, lightweight paper was cut, by hand, and rolled to create a topography of extruded petal forms tension held within the luminous mesh, revealing each “seed” of light as one moves around and interacts with the installation from both internal and external vantage points. Forty distinct patterns mimic a flower bloom as each petal becomes more scalloped and open as they near the edges. Uniquely tailored programming of the media lighting system enhances the concept of cyclical life and vegetation as the “Seeds of Light” germinate, bloom, nourish, and reconnect us to the Earth.
Sustainability ApproachEvery day we are thinking about the resources we extract from the earth, the beauty we coax from them, the experiences they enable, and our responsibility to ensure that they remain accessible to future generations. Only repurposed, reusable and recyclable materials were used. The extruded petals were cut and rolled each by hand to keep emissions low. The conical form is tension held within the mesh without added fasteners and easily stacked for compact packaging. It was critical that the installation not just be recyclable but be reusable and adaptable for future display. Selected materials are durable yet efficient- all easily collapsed, packaged and shipped for future destinations (currently in London)! Sustainability is at the very forefront of our exhibition design – not just in these resourceful efficiencies but also in maximizing meaning with restraint.
Company DescriptionTillotson Design Associates, founded in 2004, is a WBE lighting design consultancy based in New York City. A diverse staff with backgrounds in architecture, interior design, and theater, including several LEED accredited professionals, combine talents to create exemplary work. Together, our principals provide over 80 years of lighting expertise. The launch of Tillotson Design Associates came just after Ms. Tillotson completed lighting designs for the Seattle Central Public Library and Prada Beverly Hills with the Office for Metropolitan Architecture.
