June 27, 2023
The 2023 Lumen West Awards were held at The Novo at LA Live in Downtown Los Angeles on June 24, 2023. This year we celebrated 50 years of The Illumination Awards with a record-breaking number of awards!
Oculus is proud to have won two Awards of Merit for Interior Lighting Design, including Confidential Technology Company with ShubinDonaldson and CSULA Student Services Building where we collaborated with ZGF.
May 30, 2023
This year LightFair was held in May in The Big Apple – New York City – at the Javits Center. Five from the Oculus team attended and four were also selected to present on a variety of topics.
On Tuesday May 23rd, Archit Jain participated in a panel alongside Mariel Acevedo of ALR and Jeff Woodrum and Kurt Hamilton of Cherry City Electric, where they discussed the essential parts of the design process and working together to get the perfect end result. Archit was the designated “designer”, Mariel the “rep”, Kurt the “budgeter” and Jeff the “builder”.
It was lively dialogue about how lighting designers can design in a way that makes the construction process a little earlier, and how contractors can coordinate better with the design team.
March 23, 2023
The International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) SoCal Chapter hosted a pre-Chase the Dark event on Sunday at Pasadena Stained Glass, where we all created stained glass suncatchers – a perfect tool for shadow play! Glass-masters Janel and Elise expertly guided us through the process of cutting, foiling, soldering, and polishing our works of art. As shadow play comes to life around the world during this year’s #IALDChaseDark, we decided to showcase textured and colored glass sparkling to life under a beam of light. A reminder that lighting is not just about the fixture or source, but how it interacts with the environment around itself. Thanks to IALD’s SoCal Coordinator, and Oculus designer, Leslie Crapster-Pregont for putting together this enlightening event along with help from our generous sponsors Targetti and Performance Lighting Systems.
October 18, 2022
Lumen West Awards are finally back in person! We are excited to announce that we won two Awards of Merit – one for the for 5670 Wilshire located in Los Angeles, and another for Amazon Frontier in Seattle.
5670 Wilshire was designed in collaboration with Rapt Studio and includes a remodeled lobby and amenity areas of a mid-century style tower located within Los Angeles’ Miracle Mile. A sculptural line of light forms a chandelier to enhance the high-end hospitality vibe of the space. Concealed lighting within knife edge coves highlights the fluted marble walls. The vibe is one of understated luxury.
May 5, 2021
Oculus Principal Scott Hatton will be presenting at LightFair in New York this fall! His talk titled “Using Light to Create Natural Environments and Powerful Human Experiences: A Case Study of Three Aquarium Projects”, will take place on October 28th from 8:30am-9:30am (Session Code: L21EL2; check out the conference schedule here).
Join us on a journey through the recently completed St. Louis Aquarium, Mississippi Aquarium, and the “SHARKS! Predators of the Deep” exhibit at the Georgia Aquarium. These examples will show how the latest lighting and control technologies were used to create a variety of natural environments for the animals, and an experiential journey for humans.
December 8, 2020
It’s share-with-the-local-community month! Both of Oculus’ principals will be presenting at upcoming online IESLA events!
“What I Wish I Knew!”
As part of the Emerging Professional series, Scott Hatton, IES, LEED® AP, Principal at Oculus Light Studio will dwell on the question “While I am definitely still learning life’s lessons, what key advice would I give my past self?”
Besides this deep reflection, Scott will also discuss some of Oculus’ award-winning projects to help emerging professionals gain insight into the design process and the firm’s philosophies.
December 10th, 2020 at 6pm PST
The event is free and you can register here!
September 20, 2019
Oculus had one last summer hoorah on the beautiful island of Catalina! Thanks to Kathie, Stacie, and the SCI Lighting Solutions team, we had a fantastic group outing– it was a beautiful sunny day, and the team was ready for action!
Half of the group went ziplining for an adrenaline-filled aerial view of the island, while the other half went on an exciting off-road jeep tour around the east end of the island where they caught a glimpse of the local bison population.
December 20, 2018
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!
October 16, 2018
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!
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→
June 25, 2018
We are happy and honored to announce that Oculus Light Studio was a recipient of four awards at the 2018 Lumen West Awards Dinner on Saturday, June 23, 2018 at the Millenium Biltmore Hotel. The Illuminating Engineering Society of LA and Orange County (IESLA & IESOC) yearly hosts this big awards night for the best of Southern California lighting design.
Award of Excellence – Energy & Environmental Design for RDC/S111 Urban Office
Award of Merit for RDC/S111 Urban Office
Award of Merit for AT&T San Francisco Flagship
Award of Merit for Parasol Park
May 18, 2018
Sarah Wang and I were the official Oculus representatives at Lightfair in Chicago. It was fun walking through a large variety of luminaires, controls and components at the show. Even better was to catch up with old friends and acquaintances.
As lighting design firms go, we are lucky to be considered important enough for many manufacturers to come by our office regularly to keep us appraised of their newest products and advances. However, Lightfair still gives us a wide overview into upcoming products and general trends in the lighting industry.
April 20, 2018
The Oculus Team spent a lovely late afternoon and early evening outside of the office. We traveled to the Marciano Art Foundation to view and be inspired by Olafur Elliason’s Reality Projector and afterwards visited Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar, one of our award-winning hospitality projects!
At Marciano Art Foundation we were awed by the expansiveness of Ellison’s warehouse-sized video projection. To experience light and art combined, was right up our alley as lighting designers! According to MAF’s website, “For his exhibition at the foundation, titled Reality projector (2018), Eliasson has conceived of a seemingly simple, yet complex installation that uses projected light and the existing architecture of the space to create a dynamic shadow play. The artwork references the space’s former function as a theater as well as the history of filmmaking in the city by turning the entire space into an abstract, three-dimensional film.“
March 12, 2018
Check out Oculus Light Studio principal, Archit Jain, speak at Illuminating Engineering Society Los Angeles event ‘What Inspires Me, Powered by PechaKucha’, from 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm on March 15th
“Come join us for an evening of inspirational exchange. We will have a variety of presenters sharing their passions: lighting designers, architects, lighting reps, & lighting manufacturers. Every day as an architect or lighting designer requires inspiration, but where do these individuals find it?”
January 4, 2018
About:
As a warm up to the award season, please join us for a panel discussion with last year’s award recipients. It will be an informative and inspiring discussion with the project designers. Hear from the designer’s in their own words how the project came to be. And get the inside view as to why these projects were selected by the judges.”
September 13, 2017
This year’s LightShow West at the LA Convention Center is coming up shortly, be sure not to miss Oculus Light Studio Principal, Archit Jain, participating as a panel member for the seminar The Dos and Don’ts of Working with a Commercial Lighting Designer!
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July 11, 2017
It was a fun and exciting night at the annual Lumen West Awards and Dinner, put on by the Los Angeles and Orange County Sections of the Illuminated Engineering Society. This year’s event took place at the historic Biltmore Hotel and it created the perfect atmosphere for all the festivities of the night which included a cocktail hour, the award’s dinner and an after-party with a live band. The Oculus team enjoyed cheering on and socializing with our colleagues and friends throughout the event!
Oculus was one of the big winners of the night, taking home an Award of Excellence for Boston Consulting Group and three Lumen West Awards of Merit for interior lighting design for The Bloc, Officine Brera, and Creative Tech Hub Backlot.
June 24, 2017
We are happy and honored to announce that Oculus Light Studio was a recipient of four awards at the 2017 Lumen West Awards Dinner on Saturday, June 24, 2017. The Illuminating Engineering Society of LA and Orange County (IESLA & IESOC) yearly hosts this big awards night for the best of Southern California lighting design.
Award of Excellence for Boston Consulting Group
Award of Merit for Creative Tech Hub Backlot Landscape
Award of Merit for Officine Brera
Award of Merit for The Bloc
March 30, 2017
Yesterday marked the exciting unveiling of the Retail Design Collaborative/Studio One Eleven Space in Long Beach, CA. Oculus was happy to serve as lighting designers for the office, especially since we’ve had the opportunity to work with both groups on a great variety of projects since our inception. The office itself is around 30,000 sf and exudes a welcoming, industrial yet creative vibe from the start. Oculus employed two main strategies in order to break up the space. The first are long, slender linear fixtures that lead the eye inwards, welcoming guests to the reception and social gathering areas such as the kitchen. The second was to utilize industrial high bays over the open work space in order to deliver more uniform light over desk areas. Additionally, all vertical surfaces are illuminated not only to show off special features such as colorful art and green walls, but also to subtly balance daylight from the glazing at the offices’ street frontage.
March 13, 2017
Last week I attended the IALD Enlighten Asia Tokyo + Lighting Fair 2017 combination event in Japan, and it served as a great reminder that we have an ever-growing toolbox of lighting products, manufacturing and construction techniques… but it left me with a few questions to ponder: What is it about the human experience that we want to capture or relate to in our designs? Lighting can be so abstract yet visceral at the same time; how do we as Lighting Designers use it to shape the environment and connect with the users within?
A few of the Enlighten seminars provided some insight—Mark Major (Speirs + Major) presented the first hour called “The Qualities of Night (or why we need darkness as well as light)”, and he referenced Junichiro Tanizaki’s essays “In Praise of Shadows”, which celebrate intentional darkness for its ability to grant us mental “quietness” and by contrast allow us to be more aware of and appreciate illumination. In application, this means designing with darkness as much as we are designing with light (especially in exterior landscaped areas) so that we can create a distinct nighttime character as opposed to just replicating or extending the daytime experience.
February 7, 2017
The Metro connection from the Bloc to the 7th avenue station is finally open to the public! The event was both festive and pun-y, with officials using mallets to knock down actual blocks to provide access to the Bloc as shown in this video from the Bloc’s Facebook Page.