January 27, 2025
We are pleased to announce the promotion of Batuhan (Batu) Tumba to Associate at Oculus Light Studio.
Batu has been with Oculus for 3 years, with a key role in a variety of projects. These have included educational, multi-family, healthcare, office TIs, specialty studios, and studio lots. His expertise in Dialux and Revit has been a huge asset to our team.
Batu holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Urban Planning and Architectural 3D Visualization from Turkey and a Master’s Degree in Architectural Lighting Design from Hochschule Wismar, Germany. When he’s not at work, you can find him enjoying playing the guitar, hiking, or going on road trips.
Join us in congratulating Batu on his well-deserved promotion. We’re excited to see what he’ll continue to achieve at Oculus Light Studio!
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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Note from Stephanie
July 3, 2024
By Stephanie Freedman
Stephanie Freedman, Oculus’ Marketing and Business Manager, put in many hours of work with the Lumen West Event Committee organizing this very successful show. We are so proud of her work assisting the local lighting design community.
The annual lighting design gala of Southern California, the Lumen West Awards were a grand success this year. Tickets were completely sold out two months before the event and nearly 100 projects were submitted for consideration. A total of 33 awards were presented, including 24 awards of merit and 7 awards of excellence.
Oculus proudly received an Award of Excellence for the Google Visitor Experience project in Mountain View, CA. By the end of 2023, this project stood as the largest new construction project to achieve the Living Building Challenge’s (LBC) Materials Petal Certification, a significant accomplishment in its own right.
From a personal standpoint, I had the pleasure of serving on the Lumen West committee for the second consecutive year. Drawing from my background in event planning, it was a rewarding experience to contribute to an organization highly valued by colleagues.
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January 22, 2024
Oculus is proud and excited to announce that two of our coworkers have been selected as 2023 cohorts of lighting design’s global 40 under 40. Congratulations to Sarah Wang, Assoc. IALD, Associate Principal and Joel Weston, Assoc. IALD, Senior Associate.
Both Sarah and Joel are our long-time colleagues, with Sarah soon to celebrate her 10-year anniversary and Joel recently celebrated 8 years.
Oculus, along with Sarah and Joel would like to thank the distinguished panel of judges: Adam de Guara, Andrea Hartranft, Andrew Bissell, Charles Stone, Maneck Tandon, Sakina Dugawalla-Moeller, and Suzan Tillotson.
Thanks also to Light Collective for organizing the competition and FILIX Lighting for sponsoring.
Wishing Sarah and Joel much continued success at Oculus and congratulations to all the winners!
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November 29, 2023
Oculus is honored and excited to announce well deserved promotions!
Sarah Wang as our first Associate Principal
Sebastien Payannet to Associate
Stephanie Chou and Leslie Crapster-Pregont to Senior Designer
“When we started Oculus, we knew that developing designers and helping them reach their fullest potential would be critical to the success of the firm. As we increase our reach in our second decade, it has been a rewarding experience to mentor the growth in these individuals and we look forward to seeing their further development as leaders and designers making an impact in our field and in the wider AEC industry.”
– Scott Hatton and Archit Jain, Founding Principals
Note from Yu Jung
August 29, 2023
By Yu Jung Lee
Jumping into my summer internship at Oculus Light Studio was like opening a book I always wanted to read. The experience here bridged the gap between theory and practice for me. I’ve always loved to see how design can impact our everyday lives. After a few lighting courses, I knew I wanted to learn more and my interest grew stronger. Oculus gave me that great opportunity and a lot more.
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July 28, 2023
This summer Oculus’ Archit Jain and Leslie Crapster-Pregont volunteered at SoCalNOMA’s Project Pipeline Summer Camp where they worked with kids aged 10-18. The camp is designed to help spark interest in the architectural field to underrepresented communities here in Southern California, so they may consider pursuing careers in the field.
The lighting module for the camp included lighting guides, a mini-lighting expo with 8 lighting product representatives with custom-designed spec sheets, and a lighting demo room which included daylighting, color, and beam spread demonstrations.
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July 13, 2023
The Oculus team would like to introduce the newest addition to the team at our Seattle studio, Lydia Michael. Lydia recently graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor’s of Science in Building Science, where she developed an appreciation for all aspects of the built environment.
Lydia discovered the artistic application of lighting through her digital illustration work, where she experimented with how lighting could change the tone and mood of scenes. The combination of these interests motivated Lydia to pursue Lighting Design, and join the Oculus team. After falling in love with the unique balance of nature and city that the Pacific Northwest offers, Oculus’ Seattle Studio seemed the perfect fit for Lydia.
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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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April 6, 2023
Oculus Light Studio currently has an opening for an Architectural Lighting Design Intern at our LA office! If you’re interested, read more below:
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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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September 28, 2022
IALD’s Enlighten Conference is back in-person this year! Each year the conference takes place in the Americas, Asia or Europe, and this year it will be held in sunny Palm Springs, CA. The event was created exclusively by and for lighting design professionals, with a series of boutique educational and networking events. Enlighten gives the lighting community a place to join together to share ideas, learn and explore solutions with likeminded individuals who are passionate about the lighting industry.
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September 8, 2022
2022 marks the ten-year anniversary of Oculus Light Studio. Over this time, it has become a thriving firm that collaborates with architects and designers to deliver quality lighting design solutions that not only illuminate spaces but also enhance lives.
With a decade of highly technical knowledge and expertise under our belt, we never lose sight of the fact that we are creating spaces for people. We are a diverse team located in Los Angeles and Seattle and we are approachable, inclusive and always open to new ideas.
The care we take in every part of our work shines through – in the design of our wide-ranging projects, and in our professional approach to our work. Throughout our 10-year journey, we have assembled a series of ideas that drive our practice. Ten of these have guided us for the past ten years and continue to drive us forward. These are: be collaborative, creative, nimble, meticulous, purposeful, humble, fearless, charitable, impactful, and exemplary.
With over 90 lighting design awards, including Lighting Design Magazine’s Emerging Lighting Design Practice of the Year (2019) and Architect’s Newspaper’s Best of Practice Award for Lighting Designer in the West (2021), our future is bright! Many thanks to all of our collaborators and here’s to many more brilliant outcomes.
July 6, 2022
Oculus Light Studio is currently looking to hire Senior Level and Mid-Level Architectural Lighting Designers for our Seattle and LA offices! If you’re interested, read more below:
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May 17, 2022
Oculus Light Studio is excited to announce the promotions of Sarah Wang to Senior Associate and Likhitha Rangaswamy to Associate!
Sarah has been an integral part of the Oculus team for over 8 years, working on a multitude of projects including The Culver Studios, Warner Media Workspace, San Pedro Public Market, Montclair Plaza Mall, multiple REI stores and award winners including Amazon Frontier, Blue Ribbon Sushi, Aviron and Drago Peterson. Sarah is an Associate Member of International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) and a LEED Green Associate. Sarah has been awarded with 3 Lumen West awards and an IES Illumination award.
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May 2, 2022
Introducing our two new co-workers, Yeon Lee and Batuhan (Batu) Tumba! They started in the first few months of 2022 and already are making a tremendous impact conquering the recently awarded projects.
Yeon was hired on full time in January after his successful internship with Oculus over the fall. He recently received his BA in Interior Design from Cal State University, Northridge. During that time, he explored many diverse architectural subjects and had an “ah-ha” moment when he fell in love with lighting design. Outside of work, Yeon is an energetic fan of sports, and an aspiring illustrator.
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Note from Likhitha
March 8, 2022
By Likhitha Rangaswamy
Change cannot be achieved in isolation, and when I was asked to host the International Women’s Day event for WILD (Women in Lighting + Design), it became the perfect opportunity to tie in this year’s IWD theme, #BreakTheBias. This global campaign is set to raise awareness around bias, and to encourage action toward women’s equality. Bias, whether deliberate or unconscious, is holding women back in the workplace—with lower pay and positions, lesser opportunities, and inadequate family support. With a focus on building workplaces without barriers so women can thrive, the campaign seeks to elevate the visibility of women creatives, and to continue inspiring women to pursue their goals freely.
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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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December 3, 2021
Towards the end of the summer, Oculus added two new team members, Leslie Crapster-Pregont and Sebastien Payannet! They’ve both hit the ground running and have taken on many projects in the short amount of time that they’ve been at Oculus.
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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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