Prize(s) Winners in Hospitality Lighting Design
Lighting Design/Product Company Within Light Studio
Lead Designers Wes Burdett
Other Designer's names Mara Villegas, Andres Trujillo
Architecture Company Lake Flato
Interior Design Company Post Company
Client Marchbanks Company
Photo Credits Daniel Kelleghan
Other Credits Operator: Bunkhouse Group, Landscape Architecture Company: Ten Eyck
Completion Date January 2025
Project Location Houston, Texas
Entry DescriptionLocated in Houston’s museum district, the hotel was designed to blend into its quiet residential street. Divided into five buildings connected by covered bridges and paths, the exterior lighting is intentionally restrained. We chose not to light the facades, so each building reads like the surrounding homes. Balconies are fitted with minimal, shielded wall lights, dimmable from within the rooms, giving guests control over their own space. Seen from the street, the effect feels organic, reinforcing the hotel’s neighborhood connection.
Pathways are lit with low bollards concealed in planters, creating gentle pools of light that provide guidance without disrupting the neighborhood feel. Three heritage trees within the hotel courtyard are uplit as natural landmarks, while the rest of the landscape remains dark to avoid a commercial look.
Inside, the lighting shifts to create a rich welcoming environment. In the reception, which doubles as retail, we combined backlit shelving and ceiling panels with adjustable downlights to highlight merchandise without casting silhouettes, creating a vibrant atmosphere.
The lobby bar and restaurant are layered with vintage and custom decorative fixtures for a warm ambient glow, while architectural downlights provide focused illumination on tables and seating, allowing overall lighting to remain low and cozy yet functional for dining and drinks.
Sustainability ApproachFor most of the hotel’s decorative lighting, we specified warm-dim retrofit bulbs instead of integral LED fixtures. This reduces waste since only the bulb needs replacing if an LED fails, not the entire fixture.
Typically, we would use a static warm-white fixture to set the right mood at night, but during the day that same lamp requires much higher output just to match the perceived brightness of a cooler source. With warm-dim bulbs, we achieved both: a crisp, cooler tone during the day that feels bright without extra power, and a smooth transition to a warm, cozy glow at night, all without redundant layers of lighting.
Company DescriptionWithin Light Studio is an architectural lighting design firm committed to enhancing how people feel and engage with the built environment.
Established in 2020 by Mara Villegas and Wes Burdett, and with studios in Los Angeles and Chicago, Within Light Studio is the culmination of over a decade spent in luxury hospitality lighting design. Each project in their global portfolio — be it restaurants, bars, or hotels – has shaped their dual roles as both artists and engineers. For Mara and Wes, the design philosophy is clear: lighting and the human experience are inextricably linked.
