April 25, 2019

Shoes and Social Media

ABC Mart Grand Stage opened up its doors last November in Tokyo’s trendsetting Harujuku district, where it was designed with Instragrammable photo opportunities at every corner so shoppers can take their social media to the next level while purchasing fashionable footwear. Working with CallisonRTKL, Oculus Light Studio was excited to be a part of this project as careful attention was taken to ensure that the seamlessly integrated lighting would flatter both the merchandise and the selfie-ready shoppers.

ABC Mart Grand Stage was also just nominated for a Shop! Award. The winners will be announced in June.

For more information on ABC Mart, check out this article here!

April 17, 2019

LA’s LGBT Center

Last week, Los Angeles’ LGBT Center had its grand opening of the Anita May Rosenstein Campus. This 2-acre campus will help expand their services to more of the LGBT senior and youth community. Oculus Light Studio had the privilege to work on this project with Killefer Flammang Architects. This mixed-use center includes a recreation room, Youth Center, Senior Center, 100 beds for homeless youth, and a Youth Academy as well as administrative offices.

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April 5, 2019

Designer’s Lighting Forum LA

This week, Principal Archit Jain spoke alongside two other industry professionals at the Designer’s Lighting Forum hosted at the RDC/Studio111 offices (lighting design by Oculus!). With a mix of architects, interior designers and lighting industry people, this 50-person turn-out was quite a success! Archit’s presentation included valuable information on lighting design for international clients, and how to successfully propose and negotiate those contracts.

International work provides Oculus with a chance to meet new people, work in new locales, on different kinds of projects and creating design solutions that may be entirely unique.  From a business perspective, international work also helps by hedging bets across regions.

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March 25, 2019

Hot Off the Press

Oculus recently finished working on Aviron, which was featured in a six-page spread in Contract Magazine’s March 2019 issue. Working with the team at Felderman Keatinge + Associates, we were able to create a successful lighting design based on their conceptual narrative of a boat moving through water, as Aviron in French means “rowing”. This narrative takes us on a journey starting with a rippling “waterfall” at the entry, through a flowing corridor past the stroking paddles of decorative pendants in the conference room, to the final destination of the lounge where the structure of the boat’s joists are celebrated with warm cove lighting.

 

March 21, 2019

Lighting Design Awards – Shortlist

We were just notified that Oculus Light Studio made the Shortlist for Emerging Practice of the Year for the Lighting Design Awards 2019! The qualifications were to be in the business for 7 years or less with proven exceptional innovation and consistent project successes. Check out the full shortlist here.

March 6, 2019

Vegas’ New Sushi Spot

After closing up shop in Vegas in 2015 to make way for renovations, Blue Ribbon Sushi & Grill is now back in action! Located in Vegas’ off-strip Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa,  the Bromberg brothers reopened this new location January 2019 after many requests to bring back all the favorites. This is Oculus Light Studio’s fourth restaurant with the Bromberg brothers, working hand in hand with Asfour Guzy Architects.

Designer Nico Meyer made a site visit before the grand opening to make sure the lighting was perfect. He says, “After aiming the lights, we had to make sure the food looked (and tasted) good under the lights too.”

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February 26, 2019

Saks $250M Renovation!

Working with Gensler NY, Oculus Light Studio just finished working on the main floor for Saks Fifth Avenue’s flagship store, which ended up being a $250 Million dollar renovation! The 53,000sf floor will be filled with a variety of handbags and multiple accessories.

Associate, Joel Weston, went on site stating: “The project went smoothly with the help of an organized visual team, carefully installed lighting, and the first-hand knowledge from aiming at previous Saks stores.”

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February 7, 2019

Quote This!

The words (and lighting design) of Oculus Associate Joel Weston were featured in LD+A‘s January issue with extra large font regarding Oculus’ recently completed project, Fender HQ. Listed with an IES Illumination Award of Merit, Fender’s LA office lighting reflects exactly what they are all about. Joel says “The overall look of the lighting takes cues from the knobs, frets, strings and finishes of a well-crafted guitar.”

LDA-Jan-19-2 COMBINED

 

January 29, 2019

New Projects Up On Site

Check out these recent projects from Oculus Light Studio, including an international flagship store, a structure that is redefining the look of the contemporary multi-family development, three Bel Air mansions, a luxury children’s clothing store, an Italian restaurant tucked away in and inspired by the Peterson Automotive Museum, a boutique hotel nestled in Culver City, a TI remodel with an eye-catching portal facade, and a cost-effective shoe retail store prototype.

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January 24, 2019

Oculus Gives Back

Oculus Light Studio got involved with the local community by working with DaVinci Rise High School in neighboring El Segundo. We guided their architecture class through the lighting design for their mobile learning center. The overall project was designed by Gensler, managed by Houston/Tyner architects, and hand-built by the students. They installed concealed strip-lights to provide indirect ambient illumination, recessed linears at task areas, and decorative pendants throughout, creating a comfortable and inviting environment for learning on the go! A big thank-you to all the lighting manufacturers who donated or discounted their lighting fixtures to make this possible.

 

January 10, 2019

Oculus Holiday Travels

Happy New Year, everyone! We hope you had a wonderful holiday, as did we! Some of our Oculus team members rang in the new year with new travels– here are a few recaps:


STEPHANIE

While in San Francisco for the holiday break, Business & Marketing Manager, Stephanie, went to Onedome’s LMNL, an immersive experience designed to inspire, amaze and transform. There are 14 interactive rooms full of multiple artistic forms of lighting and projection. She enjoyed playing around in each room, making her feel like a kid again. continued→

December 20, 2018

Oculus’ Holiday Festivities

This year the Oculus team went out for Holiday dinner and drinks at two of our recently completed lighting design projects located inside of the new Palisades Village! We started the evening out for fancy cocktails at Hank’s where we sat on the patio surrounded by the twinkling tree lights. Above us was the iconic and vintage-inspired Hank’s sign. Then it was time for our dinner reservation at Blue Ribbon Sushi. There we enjoyed sake and a delicious three-course sushi dinner. Afterwards, we strolled off into the Palisades Village and took a snapshot in front of Santa’s cottage, he must have been visiting from the North Pole that day. Oculus also held a white elephant style gift exchange the next day, and after some trading hopefully everyone left with a gift they wanted.

Happy holidays from Oculus and here is to another great year in 2019!

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December 18, 2018

Press is Flying in for Propeller-Shaped Residence

This new Bel-Air residence has flown onto the market for $56 million with its unique three-wing propeller design and luxurious amenities that include a home theater, a poolside deck overlooking the city, and a 1,000 bottle wine cellar! Developer Duangpatra Bodiratnangkura spent four years on the 18,850 sf mansion and chose SPF:architects for the design. Oculus Light Studio is proud to have contributed the lighting design that will truly help this residence stand out on the hilltop.

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December 6, 2018

ICSC Awards 2 Oculus Projects!

Oculus is pleased to find out that not one, but two of our projects are 2018 Winners awarded by the ICSC, the International Council of Shopping Centers. The ICSC U.S. Design and Development Awards are stated to “honor and recognize the premier design and development trends of retail projects, new developments, renovations, expansions, and retail store design within the U.S.”
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November 29, 2018

November 6, 2018

Oculus’ Project Wins 2018 AIA|LA’s Honor Award!

We are excited to learn that our lighting design project, Mayumi, won an AIA Los Angeles‘ Design Honor Award! We are especially proud of our hard work in helping to create this unique hotel environment and were happy to have been included on the project team with architect Shubin Donaldson.

This adaptive-reuse building features common areas that act as social hubs, such as the courtyard with a fire pit and a community kitchen, as well as flexible-stay options in their private micro-units.

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November 1, 2018

LA Times’ Article on Leisuretown

Check out this recent Los Angeles Times article featuring Leisuretown, a brewery, bar, retailer and food hall complex being built at 549 Anaheim Blvd. in Anaheim, CA. Modern Times, the project’s main tenant, will be set in a restored two-story, historic craftsman home and two re-purposed commercial buildings. This in-construction cultural hub will bring in the local community, which will surely also lure guests visiting California’s major theme park Disneyland. Anaheim is seeing an explosion of breweries opening up, particularly with a much lower permitting cost compared to Los Angeles.

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October 22, 2018

New Blue Ribbon Sushi Restaurants in LA Eater

Blue Ribbon Sushi and Hank’s have recently opened up inside the new Palisades Village upscale shopping center. Oculus Light Studio had the opportunity to work alongside Asfour Guzy Architects on these beautiful designs. Check out these intimate restaurant spaces, which were recently mentioned in Eater LA!

The tranquil dining environment at Blue Ribbon Sushi is surrounded by warm lighting that accentuates the beautiful color of the wood panels and the dark ceiling and walls at Hank’s have a soft reflection from the glowing divertive fixtures that provide a retro feel.

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October 16, 2018

Archit in 2018 LightShow West Panel Discussion

This year’s LightShow West at the Las Vegas Convention Center is just a day away! Be sure not to miss Oculus Light Studio Principal, Archit Jain, participating for his second time as a panel member for the seminar The Dos and Don’ts of Working with a Commercial Lighting Designer!

THURSDAY – OCTOBER 18
9:00 – 10:00 am | Seminar S13

The Dos and Don’ts of Working with a Commercial Lighting Designer
Once a lighting designer has signed on for your commercial project, what’s next? What does this person owe you, and what do you owe them? This panel will discuss the mutual obligations and accountability of this relationship, and the determining factors for a successful and amicable outcome. continued→

October 4, 2018

Celebrating Jane You’s 5 Years at Oculus

It feels like only yesterday that Jane started here at Oculus, and here we are celebrating 5 years! The years passed by in the blink of an eye!

In the meantime, Jane has progressed to a creative, knowledgeable, and effective lighting designer with an extensive portfolio of projects ranging from large core and shell projects, tenant improvements, aquariums, multi-family developments, and retail stores and retail centers. She is also instrumental in mentoring younger designers to graduate to the Oculus design standards that we so zealously guard. And she remains a favorite of her many clients!

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