Lighting Design
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Triskelion

February 15, 2012

Low energy use was a particular priority for the Triskelion, a 1,300-square-foot moveable pavilion commissioned by the nonprofit arts organization FOR-SITE. Designed by Ogrydziak/Prillinger Architects, San Francisco, the building consists of three shipping containers arranged at 120-degree angles to define a central skylit atrium. Since May 2010 it has been installed at the Presidio, where it was part of the yearlong Presidio Habitats'an exhibition of artist-created animal habitats distributed around one corner of the national park. The pavilion served as a space for the display of sketches and models. Because Presidio officials required that the building be easily demountable and

Joann Gonchar, FAIA

February 15, 2012

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Last June, Yotel'a U.K.-based hotel chain inspired by Japanese capsule hotels and luxury airline cabins'opened a location on the far west side of Manhattan. It is just one component within a vast, $800 million, mixed-use complex designed by Arquitectonica. But the hotel, with a facade, public spaces, and 669 rooms by Rockwell Group and lighting firm Focus, possesses its own distinct character. It has a '2001: A Space Odyssey feel,' says Michael Cummings, Focus design director. The hotel's public spaces are illuminated almost exclusively with LEDs. The brightness of the source worked well with the sleek, predominately white and gray

British Petroleum Chicago

Corporate branding gets an illuminating twist in two projects where light is as essential as environmental graphics to convey company philosophy in satellite offices—one urban, the other suburban. In each case, architect and lighting designer integrate the interior fit-out of an existing space with an effective lighting scheme that is not only energy-efficient and low maintenance, but also tailored to client identity as it relates to the new location.

David Sokol

November 15, 2011

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Across the country, corporations whose fortunes are built on indefatigable twentysomethings are reverse-migrating from suburbia to cities, where many young professionals prefer to live.

Microsoft Technology Center

Corporate branding gets an illuminating twist in two projects where light is as essential as environmental graphics to convey company philosophy in satellite offices—one urban, the other suburban.

Laura Raskin

November 15, 2011

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Smithgroup had completed four Microsoft Technology Centers (MTC) for the software giant by the time the multidisciplinary firm was asked to design a fifth, in Southfield, Michigan.

Linda C. Lentz

August 16, 2011

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A study in urban planning, the Novartis campus manifests a logic and order that facilitates its day-to-day operations. Yet the grounds are neither sterile nor overtly homogeneous. Entering onto Fabrikstrasse, the main boulevard, one is immediately struck by the numerous environments for employees — landscaped piazzette, informal indoor and outdoor seating and dining areas, day care centers, even a supermarket, pharmacy, and health club — all integrated in and around the new and renovated buildings. Art is everywhere. Moreover, while the various architects are given similar briefs and physical parameters, their solutions are, of course, unique. Two blocks east of

Linda C. Lentz

August 16, 2011

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Breaking the bounds of of Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani's master plan, Fabrikstrasse 15 by Frank Gehry stands in a surprising juxtaposition to the serene array of rectilinear buildings that dominate the Novartis campus. It is located at the geographic heart of the campus, in full view of the company's renovated 1939 Forum 1 International Headquarters building, and across the street from a refined stretch of porticoed offices and labs by Adolf Krischanitz, Rafael Moneo, Lampugnani, and Yoshio Taniguchi. The highly visible, independent site gave the architect freedom to exploit his expansive, free-spirited style. Relieved from many of the constraints binding the

Linda C. Lentz

August 16, 2011

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At first glance the Novartis headquarters appears to be an average, though impeccable, corporate facility. Situated on the east bank of the Rhine near the borders of France and Germany in the St. Johann district of Basel, Switzerland, the 50-acre campus is sheltered by trees, old buildings, busy thoroughfares, and the river. But that impression shifts as one approaches the ethereal reception pavilion, designed by Swiss architect Marco Serra, and glimpses the diversity of building forms beyond it. A work in progress, the Novartis campus is the brainchild of Chairman of the Board Daniel Vasella, who began a collaboration with

Uniqlo

Enlisted to craft an understated yet visible Shanghai flagship for Uniqlo, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson teamed with Candela Lighting Design to transform a quirky existing structure into a lustrous icon for the popular Japanese brand.

Clare Jacobson

May 16, 2011

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Shanghai’s Nanjing Road is the center stage of the city’s shopping culture. Its eastern end features a pedestrian zone with towers of neon signs competing for attention. Its western side has dramatic storefronts for high-end brands, including a brightly lit five-story suitcase for Louis Vuitton.

LAPD Motor Transport Division + Main Street Parking

New to Downtown L.A.’s developing Gallery Row, John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects’ Main Street Parking + Motor Transport Division building for the Los Angeles Police Department sets a glowing standard for utilitarian civic architecture.

Linda C. Lentz

May 16, 2011

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Part of the three-stage master plan for the Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters (2009), spearheaded by an AECOM/Roth + Sheppard joint venture in the city’s redeveloping Downtown, the Main Street Parking + Motor Transport Division is the kind of ancillary project that could sever a neighborhood by virtue of its sheer mass and typically unattractive aesthetic.

Marc Jacobs Flagship Building by Jaklitsch/Gardner Architects

Tokyo, Japan

Naomi Pollock, FAIA

May 16, 2011

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Making the most of a small footprint within a crowded, competitive shopping zone, architect Stephan Jaklitsch married textural layers of materiality with a creative lighting strategy to catch the eye of tony passersby, and to create a subtle yet unique visibility for the American fashion designer Marc Jacobs’s Tokyo flagship.