Note from Leslie
July 28, 2025
By Leslie Crapster-Pregont
Growing up in northern Wisconsin, my elementary school career ambitions rapidly evolved from teacher to lawyer to a physician that specializes in sports medicine. My career dreams were a mirror image of my surroundings; all lofty aspirations and admirable occupations that my skillset never aligned with. Ultimately, I slowly turned my passion in lighting into a career through a squiggly trajectory, a series of trial and error, until I found myself as an architectural lighting designer at Oculus Light Studio – for students in Los Angeles, SoCal NOMA’s Project Pipeline Summer Camp now offers a more direct route.
This year, SoCal NOMA hosted its 16th annual Project Pipeline Summer Camp. It’s aptly named “Project Pipeline” as it sparks the interest of Middle School students, provides foundational skills in architectural design for High School students, and offers internship and observership opportunities for college students – it provides a structure for those entranced by the creative world of design and construction, and shows them a path for turning a passion into a career.
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July 11, 2025
Located in the largest Vietnamese American community in the US, the Marian Gardens at Our Lady of La Vang Shrine honors a Marian apparition significant to Vietnamese Catholic history. Designed as a physical representation of the Rosary, Marian Gardens offer a winding path that guides worshippers through four shrines, each shrine offering a distinct space for meditative prayer of each decade (set of prayers in the Catholic faith that represent a segment of Jesus’ life).
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May 22, 2025
Last week, our Seattle team had the pleasure of attending the 2025 IES Gloria Koch Leonidas Illumination Awards, hosted by IES Seattle at Block 41 in Belltown. The evening brought together a vibrant community of lighting professionals to celebrate outstanding projects from across the region. With multiple awards presented among various categories, it was an inspiring night highlighting the innovation and artistry driving Pacific Northwest lighting design.
We’re thrilled to share that our project, St. Callistus Chapel, received the IES Seattle Gloria Koch Leonidas Illumination Award for Interior Design. This recognition is especially meaningful for our Seattle team, as it marks our very first submission to the local IES chapter, and our first award.
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May 6, 2025
Oculus has a record number of projects nominated at this year’s IIDA Calibre Design Awards! A total of 8 projects were nominated including:
The Congressman Alan Lowenthal Trade & Education Center, nominated by Studio One Eleven in the Public & Community Spaces category, features dynamic lighting that enhances the interactive exhibits describing the operations and suitability initiatives at the Port of Long Beach. The lighting design needed to evolve with the space while remaining intentional so every design decision was about balance – highlighting key moments while ensuring the flexibility to grow and adapt, much like the port itself.
In the Transformation category, 11755 Wilshire designed in collaboration with Rios, epitomizes the design goal of transforming a stale office space into a multi-functional hospitality oasis. The abundance of decorative fixtures and accent coves make every corner of this space perfect for a spontaneous work meeting or a comfortable place to take a break.
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March 26, 2025
About Us:
Oculus Light Studio is an award-winning lighting design studio based in the Culver City area of Los Angeles, CA, with a satellite studio in Seattle, WA. We are passionate about great lighting design and how it can enhance the visual environment. We believe in collaborative design and enjoy working on a variety of project types. Oculus offers an engaging, informal, and inclusive work environment, a 9-80 schedule with alternate Fridays off and work-life integration. Other perks include frequent catered lunches and a part-time office dog. Look us up on the web, Instagram, and Linkedin!
We are currently looking for a full-time lighting designer with 2-5 years’ experience to join our diverse team, currently working on a wide range of architectural lighting design projects located both locally and around the globe.
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March 19, 2025
Nestled in the basement of a grand, light-filled cathedral, St. Callistus Chapel at Christ Cathedral offers an intimate sanctuary for up to 250 people. It also houses a columbarium, serving as the final resting place for bishops and funerary urns.
The lighting design fosters a serene atmosphere that enhances spiritual reflection and worship, emphasizing sacred elements that evoke reverence and connection. To achieve this ambiance, multiple custom fixtures were designed using standard products from different manufacturers.
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October 24, 2024
Last week, the Los Angeles Business Council celebrated its 54th Annual Architectural Awards, and Oculus is thrilled to announce that three of our projects have received awards.
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The Culver Studios
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Ranch Lot Studios
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9000 Wilshire
The Culver Studios was awarded a Community Impact Award. This iconic 100-year-old studio lot features 13 sound stages, offices, and outdoor event spaces, along with a range of amenities. In partnership with Gensler, Oculus provided lighting for the core and shell of five new multi-story digital media buildings, as well as enhancements to the plaza, event space, parking, and other outdoor areas.
Another studio project, currently under construction, also received a Community Impact Award. The Ranch Lot Studios in Burbank is set to be the largest under development in LA County. Our lighting design covers the core and shell of a five-story creative office space, production support offices, 16 sound stages, backlot facilities, and the entire 30-acre site. Oculus is working with Krismar Construction Co. and Worth Real Estate Group to meet LEED Gold standards for this project.
9000 Wilshire won a Workplace Award. In collaboration with Neil M. Denari Architects and HLW, this project is not only LEED Platinum certified but also holds WiredScore Gold and Fitwel certifications. Its striking purple facade—symbolizing a tailored suit—and a beautifully illuminated planting wall create a memorable presence at night, enhancing its identity from the street.
Congratulations to all the teams involved in these projects!
Note from Leslie
August 23, 2024
By Leslie Crapster Pregont
I still remember when I was 5 or 6, going with my Girl Scout Troop to the local theater for a tour. We were invited backstage, and I was given a lighting gel to hold in my hand. The feeling of the crinkly blue square in my hands is forever embedded in my memory. That experience for me was the first step on a lifelong journey navigating my way through performing arts, theater, lighting, and eventually, architectural lighting.
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June 3, 2024
Located in Century City, HPS’s new law office blends inviting hospitality with modern professionalism. Beyond a lighting strategy that enhances both aesthetics and functionality, the project prioritizes sustainability. At the heart of the design, we made a conscious decision to incorporate a majority of light fixtures manufactured in Southern California. By supporting local manufacturers and artisans, we ensured superior quality and craftsmanship while minimizing the environmental footprint and boosting the local economy.
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April 25, 2024
Oculus Light Studio is thrilled to announce that seven of our projects have been nominated for this year’s 2024 Calibre Design Awards.
Still currently in the design phase, and nominated in the Unbuilt/On The Boards category, is the Century City Cultural Pavilion. We look forward to the completion of this project as we envision attending future galas like Calibre in a venue that we contributed in designing!
Nominated in the Work Medium category:
- Universal Music Publishing Group’s lighting scheme designed in collaboration with Gensler, includes a line of light that traces its way through the project uplighting the wood ceilings and dynamic atrium lighting that can be customized for live impromptu performances.
- 9000 Wilshire, a project in collaboration with Neil M. Denari Architects and HLW, has an eye-catching purple facade (a tailored suit was the metaphor), and the beautifully illuminated planting wall draws attention from the street scale, creating a strong identity at night.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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February 24, 2023
If you missed out on any of Oculus’ recently completed projects within the last year, we’ve added these to our website!
In typical Oculus fashion, we have a wide range of projects added. These include an 218,000sf repurposed Physical Sciences building into a new student administration center with ZGF Architects, a 14.3-acre 100-year-old studio lot where we worked with Gensler, an 89,000sf of multi-level amenity spaces for Amazon’s new campus in Seattle with Graphite Design Group, a remodeled tower facade, lobby and amenities with Rapt Studio, and a brand-new studio office for a confidential client in which we collaborated once again, with Gensler. Phew.
In all case, the lighting design is approached in a way that is unique to each project and speaks to the specific architectural needs of the spaces. Let us know if you have any questions!
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CSULA Student Services Building
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Culver Studios
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Amazon Frontier
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5670 Wilshire
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Confidential Studio Offices
Check them out here:
CSULA Student Services Building, Los Angeles, CA
Culver Studios, Culver City, CA
Amazon Frontier, Seattle, WA
5670 Wilshire, Los Angeles, CA
Confidential Studio Offices, Los Angeles Area, CA
April 13, 2022
Oculus Light Studio has recently been featured as cover stories in two magazines, Architectural SSL Magazine and IES’ LD+A Magazine.
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February 11, 2022
Oculus is proud to announce that two of our employees, Sarah Wang (Associate) and Sebastien Payannet (Sr. Designer), have both been accepted as Associates of the International Association of Lighting Designers.
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November 10, 2021
About Us:
Oculus Light Studio is an award-winning lighting design studio based in the Culver City area of Los Angeles, CA with a satellite studio in Seattle, WA. We are passionate about great lighting design and how it can enhance the visual environment. We believe in collaborative design and enjoy working on a variety of project types. Oculus offers an engaging, informal and inclusive work environment, a 9-80 schedule with alternate Fridays off and work-life integration. Other perks include frequent catered lunches and a part-time office dog. Look us up on the web, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook!
We are currently looking for a full-time mid-level lighting designer to join our diverse team currently working on a wide range of architectural lighting design projects located both locally and around the globe.
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March 19, 2020
Oculus recently designed the lighting for the Culver City based 100 Thieves Cash App Compound, the largest e-sports team facility in the U.S. The 15,000sf space features multiple private training rooms, meeting rooms, gaming rooms, an Apparel Design & Retail space, and a business headquarters area.
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February 24, 2020
We are currently looking for a full-time mid-level lighting with 3-5 years experience, designer to join our diverse team currently working on a wide range of architectural lighting design projects located both locally and around the globe.
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May 16, 2019
A big thank you to the Lighting Design Awards for distinguishing Oculus Light Studio as the Emerging Lighting Design Practice of 2019! We are incredibly honored to receive this recognition.
The Lighting Design Awards are presented by the Lighting Design Magazine based in the UK. This year, the gala was held at the Troxy in London on May 16, 2019. Of the 5 finalists selected, Oculus was announced as the winner and praised as “a studio whose passion is at the heart of everything it does.”
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