Three innovative products and 11 outstanding projects were the winners of this year’s Lighting Design Awards at the London Hilton Hotel, on 6 March.

Projects were as diverse as they were distinguished, with a sublime cathedral scheme sharing the laurels with a guerilla lighting movement and a Japanese restaurant. The latter was just one of three awards swept up by Isometrix Lighting + Design, whose senior designer Gerardo Olvera was also recognised as Lighting Designer of the Year.

Olvera’s award-winning schemes attracted consummate praise from the judges. His scheme for a Belgravia penthouse, winner of the Residential Lighting category, was ‘perfect’ and his lighting of Japanese restaurant Sake No Hana, which took the Leisure Lighting award, was ‘faultless’, said the judging panel.

Projects The Richard Desmond Children’s Eye Centre at London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital took the award for Exterior Lighting for Lightscape Projects, sponsored by Philips. The colour-change scheme used as its canvas the asymmetrically arranged louvres which protect against solar gain on the massive glazed façade. Precisely controlled and carefully considered, it was ‘a visual delight’, according to the judges.

The Retail Lighting award – sponsored by Hacel Lighting – went to the Marks and Spencer Press Centre at its Marble Arch building, a scheme by LAPD Consultants. The lighting of this multifunctional space – where the company can show clothing ranges to the press, host functions and hold interviews – was flexible, highly controllable and energy efficient, as well as demonstrating theatrical flair for special events.

The scheme for the Sake No Hana Japanese restaurant, winner of the Lutron-sponsored Lighting for Leisure category, was largely about meeting the exacting challenges of architect Kengo Kuma. The solution – by Isometrix Lighting + Design – provides a perfect marriage between the detailed lighting of individual elements with a coherent overall vision.

Winner of the Public Buildings award – sponsored by Trilux – was The John Murray Archive at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh. Here an interactive and carefully controlled lighting scheme – designed by Nich Smith – played a pivotal role in evoking atmosphere and drama in an exhibition of manuscripts and private letters.

ISG won the Wila-sponsored Workplace Lighting award with an imaginative and sustainable scheme for its own new headquarters in London. In the office spaces, a T5 direct/indirect scheme has been supplemented with a blue-light wash to perimeter columns and artificial skylights which gradually shift colour temperature throughout the day.

Taking the iGuzzini-sponsored Transport category was the Queen Alexandra Bridge in Sunderland. In a scheme which emphasises the viewpoint of the pedestrian and motorist rather than a more distant perspective (there are few vantage points) the tightly controlled lighting creates a sense of depth and brings the box-like structure to life. Designed by Stainton Lighting Design Services, it is ‘fantastic engineering,’ said the judges.

Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff took the Heritage Lighting award for Sutton Vane Associates. A listless and outdated lighting scheme has been replaced with one which reveals the drama and depth of the cathedral interior. The control system – an aspect which particularly impressed the judges – allows greater flexibility and a differentiation between architectural and ecclesiastical settings.

The category was sponsored by Dynalite.

BDP Lighting’s unusual Guerilla Lighting events, one in London, the other in Manchester, won this year’s Special Projects award, which is sponsored by iLight. Judges especially admired the collaboration involved in getting 100 people, armed only with battery-powered lighting, to transform six urban sites in one evening.

The Residential Lighting award, sponsored by Concord, went to a penthouse in Chester Square in London’s Belgravia. In a technically exacting scheme, the accent lighting for the numerous artworks also acts as the ambient lighting, while vertical surfaces are washed with concealed xenon to frame and model the space. It was designed by Isometrix Lighting + Design.

The Wakiya at Gramercy Park Hotel in New York won the International category, sponsored by Oldham Lighting – for what the judges described as ‘a scheme of great precision’. A mix of concealed uplighting from the perimeter banquette, pools of light to the tables and carefully positioned discreet downlighting to the decorative red string curtains delivers the chic ambience that owner Ian Schrager was after. The scheme was also by Isometrix Lighting + Design.

A new category this year, Low Carbon, sponsored by Etap, saw its first winner in the Arup Campus Phase II, with lighting by Arup. An extension to an awardwinning sustainable development, the emphasis was on daylight penetration into the deep-plan office floors. Judges were also impressed by the integration of artificial and natural light to create ‘a stimulating and pleasant working environment’.

Innovations Winner of the Interior Luminaires category was the Tempura LED spotlight from Zumtobel Lighting. Using either manual or automatic control (via Dali), it allows colour temperature to be individually selected in 100K increments, from 2,700K to 6,500K, producing cool, intermediate or warm white light. It also offers precise RGB colours. In retail or museum contexts, it means that display lighting can be adjusted as daylighting changes or as exhibits and displays are updated, while spa and health centres can tune light to seasonal variations.

The iSign from iGuzzini won the External Luminaires award. Both utilitarian and stylish, the range of T5 fittings is extremely versatile. Available in two diameters, two lengths and with either one or two lamps, the iSign can be surface-mounted or wall-mounted, suspended horizontally or vertically, and comes in single or double-module versions. In addition there is an RGB Dali option, ready for plug and play connection to a Colour Equalizer control system.

The Light Sources and Control Gear category was also taken by iGuzzini with its W_Saving, a power-saving flux controller that can be retrofitted into existing street lighting columns. Easily installed, the device means that without replacing the whole fitting, the lighting can be dimmed and the wattage reduced when full light output is not needed.

See full details of this year’s awards at http://www.lightingdesignawards.com/

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