Prize(s) Winners in Residential Lighting Design
Lighting Design/Product Company John Cullen Lighting
Lead Designers Sally Storey
Other Designer's names Hazel Park
Architecture Company Michaelis Boyd
Interior Design Company Michaelis Boyd
Client Alex Michaelis
Photo Credits James McDonald (main shot) /James Balston (rest of shots)
Completion Date January 2025
Project Location Cotswolds, UK
Entry DescriptionThis biophilic-inspired home looks to, speaks with and mimics the world around it in extraordinary ways. The vision for this project was to create a lighting scheme that felt as contemporary and refined as the property itself — modern, clean, and perfectly in harmony with the architecture. The brief focused on enhancing the home’s striking curves and raw finishes, while keeping fittings as discreet as possible.
Minimal plaster-in downlights were chosen to maintain the clean aesthetic, carefully positioned to accentuate key architectural features. Uplights were introduced to draw attention to doors, corridors, and high-level windows, subtly encouraging the eye to travel upward and appreciate the volume of the space.
A central corridor — the architectural spine of the property — was defined with a rhythm of uplights, reinforcing its importance within the overall design. Meanwhile, ground-floor window pockets were illuminated with spiked lights, seamlessly blurring the boundary between indoors and out by drawing the landscape into the living spaces.
The result is a scheme that not only complements the property’s ultra-modern style, but also enriches the architectural experience through light, shadow, and texture.
Sustainability ApproachSave for Wi-Fi, Leaf House runs completely off-grid. Water is UV-filtered and comes from a borehole on-site, while electricity is generated by solar panels integrated into the barn’s roof pitches. Any excess power is stored in batteries for rainy days and in good weather there is enough to sell back to the grid. Air-source heat pumps provide warmth for hot water and heating.
The sustainable lighting design scheme focuses on placing fittings only where light is truly needed. All luminaires are designed with our environment in mind supporting British manufacturing to minimise our footprint. By optimising the design of each component within the manufacturing process, we are able to keep waste to the minimum (and even then it is recycled where possible). Each design has been developed to be modular, with the circular economy in mind being fully repairable by our team in-house.
Company DescriptionFor over 40 years, John Cullen Lighting has been enhancing spaces with the power of light across 45 countries. We design schemes that bring interiors and spaces to life with light and design discreet luxury architectural luminaires which create stunning effects. Operating from offices in London, Paris, Dubai and Mumbai, John Cullen Lighting is well placed to provide the very highest standards of design and discreet fittings for the world’s luxury residential and hospitality lighting schemes.
