April 25, 2013
"Design with Light" Winners Announced at Lightfair
Lumenpulse-sponsored national student competition announces winning team at Lightfair
Philadelphia, PA
The winners of the “Design with Light” competition were announced at Lightfair 2013. The Lumenpulse-sponsored national student lighting design competition awarded a $1500 cash prize to the winning team, which consisted of Jack Risser, Rob Currie and Reinhardt Swart, all Architectural Engineering students at Pennsylvania State University.
All contestants were asked to create a lighting scheme for Terrain, a home and garden retail space located in Westport, CT, and owned by Urban Outfitters. In their concept, Risser, Currie and Swart riffed on the theme symbiosis, drawing inspiration from the way plants interacted with manufactured materials in the boutique. “We wanted to use at least four different layers of light, which were general illumination, accent lighting to spotlight products in the space, decorative lighting to add a visual interest to the space, and way finding lighting to guide users through the space,” says Currie. Part of their design included pendant fixtures with plants on top.
“Choosing the winner was very difficult on the judges,” explains Emad Hasan, Project Manager at The Lighting Practice and competition Co-Chair along with Kimberly King. “The first-place team provided a unique design solution that enhanced the architecture, but did not detract from the merchandise. They took the extra step to prove their design solution could work through both calculations and a lighting mock-up.”
“We were not expecting to win this award,” Currie admits. “The other projects exhibited really interesting design concepts and ideas. It is a great honor for us to receive this award and to have the judges look favorably upon our design.”
“Each of the teams showed much promise,” says Lumenpulse President and CEO François-Xavier Souvay. “I look forward to following their careers in lighting design.”
“Design with Light” was organized by the Philadelphia Section of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA). Other sponsors were the International Association of Lighting Designers and Lightfair.
