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As we move full speed into 2023, we wanted to reflect on some of our incredible award winning lighting projects from our United States team over this past year.

Our lighting team outdid themselves with last years award winning projects, from the world’s premier institution devoted to exploring the art and science of movies and moviemaking, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures to the world showcase for the future of green living, Terra the Sustainability Pavilion – take a look at our top five award winning United States’ lighting projects of 2022.

1. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures— located in the historic May Company Building in the Miracle Mile neighborhood of Los Angeles — is the world’s premier institution devoted to exploring the art and science of movies and moviemaking.

With a major renovation to the 1930s Saban building and the addition of the glass-domed spherical theater that houses up to 1,000 guests, visitors can enjoy the wonder and great escape that is the filmmaking process.

Teamed with Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Gensler, º£½ÇÊÓƵ provided lighting design, structural engineering, MEP engineering, environmental design, energy modeling, IT, and sustainability consulting services on the project.

2. Terra – the Sustainability Pavilion

Achieving LEEDv4 Platinum and designed to create an immersive educational experience, Terra – the Sustainability Pavilion promotes ecology, sustainable technologies, and design. The Pavilion’s core building features an 86,000ft2 exhibition space that includes an auditorium, courtyard and reservoir. The buildings contain solar energy, water harvesting and innovative materials in a context that is unique to the region.

The 425-ft wide canopy not only provides shade, but also generates power using nearly 5,000 photovoltaic (PV) panels that draw energy from the sun to power the site. There are also 18 ‘Energy Trees’ that act as solar panels to absorb the sun’s energy. These ‘trees’ also have the ability to generate water from the atmosphere.

By showcasing smart technologies, and making them accessible and understandable, the pavilion aims to inspire, educate and empower visitors to make a positive difference. Looking to the future, this permanent structure is serving as a science ‘Exploratorium’ since the expo’s closure in 2022.

3. Denver Art Museum

The Denver Art Museum (DAM) desired to create a community driven space that both welcomes and engages as well as leverages the entire campus to benefit their visitors. To bring the building into the new century, DAM renovated their 210,000ft2 North Building, originally completed in 1971.

“Mockups were critical to the renovation of Gio Ponti’s original facade lighting concept as well as the interior lighting for the new 50,000ft² welcome center. In this image light choreographs visitor movement through the main hall: its density increases at each destination. The ceiling is a three layer system: a tensioned LED grid, over a light density fabric scrim, over a perforated metal pan ceiling. As part of the design process, we built a mockup kit in our office to test various options for each layer. After this, we recommended a full-scale mockup to test installation sequencing, to confirm visual effect for a larger sample size, and to confirm photometric performance.”

Gabe Guilliams, º£½ÇÊÓƵ partner and lighting designer.

The façade of the North Building has two, glass tile-covered towers that are iconic to the museum. The building form was designed with a series of reveals that emanate light. As part of the renovation, the lighting was upgraded throughout the North Building. º£½ÇÊÓƵ maintained the design intent, with improved technology, and significantly less required maintenance.

4. University of California Santa Barbara’s Institute for Energy Efficiency

The University of California Santa Barbara’s Institute for Energy Efficiency provides an interdisciplinary research facility committed to the development of solutions that will contribute to a sustainable, energy efficient future.

The new LEED Platinum certified Henley Hall serves as the hub of the energy research activity on campus, housing 17 laboratories, 34 faculty and postdoctoral offices, nine administration offices, ample group office space, and a lecture theater. A key design outcome for this 55,000ft² building was to provide flexible spaces that allow for experimental work and collaborative research to take place within them.

Innovative sustainability strategies include low carbon energy with natural ventilation, biophilic design for the lab space and one of the first campus buildings to complete embodied carbon LCA analysis.

5. Maison d’Art

The Maison d’Art repurposes an existing bank building in to an art gallery. Teamed with Johnston Marklee, º£½ÇÊÓƵ provided lighting design services on the project.

The project kicked off with a 12-hour design charrette where º£½ÇÊÓƵ explored 7+ conceptual ideas. The main gallery space includes a 21-foot tall volume approximately 30 x 40 feet in plan. The space proportions were improved with a lower ceiling installed at 16 feet. The lighting team used the cavity space to conceal a luminous panel system that creates the room’s diffuse ambient glow. The system is fully dimmable and color tunable from 2700k to 4000k to accommodate a range of artworks from different periods.

Additionally, our team had monopoints installed just above the sheetrock in the lower ceiling. In the event that accent lighting is required for a particular show, the gallery can cut in to the ceiling to access them.

To accommodate various scales of works and a range of mediums, the design includes an ambient and accent layer of lighting, both of which are color tunable. The ambient layer is a concealed soft wash from luminous panels above a knife-edge ceiling plane. The accent system is formed from a series of monoprints whose backboxes are concealed above the finished ceiling and can be trimmed out if needed for a specific exhibition.