USC Students Win Illuminating Engineering Awards at Lumen West

First Runner Up Design by Celeste Rodriguez (Photo Courtesy of Celeste Rodriguez)The Illuminating Engineering Society of Los Angeles held their annual Russell Cole Lighting Design Competition on June 23rd in Long Beach. The awards are designed to encourage and recognize students in Southern California who have shown an exceptional understanding of light and its effect on architecture.

First Place Design by Sananda Mukherjee (Photo Courtesy of Sananda Mukherjee)USC School of Architecture students swept the first three prizes in the graduate-level competition for Lighting Design. The competition required students to submit conceptual drawings, lighting plans, fixture schedules, fixture cuts, control intent, and visual vignettes. First place winner Sananda Mukherjee designed her project around themes of water and waves. She varied the color temperatures of LED flex strips to create a feel of gradient waves and on the opposite wall, formed a wave like pattern with the use of scallop-shaped sconces. 

Second Runner Up Design by Anyin Ye (Photo Courtesy of Anyin Ye)First runner up Celeste Rodriguez and second runner up Anyin Ye were commemorated for their innovative use of technology, aesthetic design, and energy efficiency in their projects. 

The IES is an international organization whose purpose is to promote lighting education and to develop recommended lighting practices.

The author of this post is a graduate student at USC.