Note from Jane
March 13, 2017
By Jane You
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.
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December 22, 2016
Happy Holidays from Oculus Light Studio!
We took some time out of our busy work schedule to visit the Enchanted: Forest of Light installation currently showing at Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge. The event is described as “an interactive, nighttime experience unlike anything else in Los Angeles, featuring a one-mile walk through 8 distinct lighting displays in some of the most beloved areas of Descanso Gardens.”
We always appreciate thoughtful design, especially when lighting is the star of the show and there is an emphasis on being environmentally friendly! It was especially fun to watch the younger family members of the team being inspired to play with the interactive pieces as they realized that standing on a certain spot or running across a disc would make lights move or change color. Descanso Gardens served as the perfect lighting-related activity for our holiday party, and after we enjoyed a wonderful meal (and flash rainstorm!) at Red Herring in Eagle Rock, CA.
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Note from Elise
November 28, 2016
By Elise Cantu
While most of our posts here are focused on work that we have done or are doing, sometimes it is important to take a step away and take a moment to see inspiration in the world around us. To this end, I asked the Oculus Team members for one or two photos from their break to show how they spent their days off. Enjoy the photos below!
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November 17, 2016
We are looking for an enthusiastic intern to work and learn with our diverse team on a variety of architectural lighting design projects located around the country and the globe. You will be interacting with and assisting Oculus’ team of designers and principals on all aspects of the art, science and business of lighting design, including design, renderings, presentations, lighting calculations, office organization, CAD and 3-D modeling. Based on performance, you will have a chance to be a permanent member of our team.
Qualifications: Students with 3-4 years of architecture/engineering school or enrolled in a Masters program and knowledge of Revit, AutoCAD, SketchUp, Microsoft Office, Adobe InDesign and Photoshop in a Windows environment. Desirable qualifications would be proficiency in performing lighting calculations, lighting design coursework or experience. If you are a foreign student, you must have the necessary permissions to work.
We look forward to hearing from you! Email resume with portfolio as pdf attachment (not more than 7MB) to
jobs+in2016@oculuslightstudio.com.
November 1, 2016
Three Oculus Designers are in Miami this week aiming for the expansive Saks Fifth Avenue at the Brickell City Centre, and while we cannot yet share photos of the space, we can share these photos of Miami, below. Keep an eye out for the coming articles on what looks to be a star-studded opening!
July 19, 2016
Oculus designers Chao-Wei Su and Spurthy Yogananda have both been selected as Emerging Lighting Designers and awarded scholarships to attend the IALD Enlighten Americas Conference in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. IALD describes the conference as “Offering a global perspective to educational sessions, the conference program will offer 21 inspirational and informational sessions in three concurrent tracks, featuring 35 confirmed architectural lighting design experts from nine countries”.
These are the third and fourth scholarships won by Oculus designers in the past few years, the first having gone to Jane You in 2014 and the second to Sarah Wang in 2015. Congratulations to Chao-Wei and Spurthy, and thank you to all of the sponsors for the opportunity for young designers to continue to grow and learn within the industry!
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Spurthy Yogananda
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Chao-Wei Su
June 27, 2016
This Saturday was the annual Lumen West Awards put on by the Los Angeles and Orange County Sections of the Illuminated Engineering Society. This year’s theme was “Under the Big Top”, and guests were welcomed into The Wiltern by juggling mimes, zebra-like stilt walkers, carnival lights, and even vintage circus music!
Oculus was one of the big winners of the night, taking home 3 Lumen West Awards of Merit for interior lighting design for Google Orange County and Blue Ribbon Sushi, and also an Energy and Environmental Design award for Google Orange County.
We are honored to be recognized by our peers, and we would like to thank all our collaborators who have made this possible. This includes our clients who have trusted us with their projects, and our reps and manufacturers who have worked closely with us to get the drawings to reality.
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May 16, 2016
REI is a unique company that offers a way to get in touch with nature by providing gear and travel opportunities. Working alongside the retail architect, CallisonRTKL, with whom we have collaborated on many projects over the years, the lighting design plan adapted to the new store design guidelines while complementing the modern and rustic aesthetic that the brand is known for. The new lighting utilized controls that can monitor and integrate the lighting levels with natural daylight cohesively in the space.
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April 29, 2016
This week was a busy one with multiple site and aiming visits, but the team was still able to take the opportunity to drive down to Lightfair International 2016 in San Diego, California for a walk around the convention center floor to view all of the latest and greatest luminaires available from most of the major lighting manufacturers in the industry. But Lightfair isn’t just a large showroom, it is also a place where lighting industry professionals can learn, network, attend panels to inspire new ideas, and even interact with students who are just breaking into the industry. We had the opportunity to attend the 2016 IALD Awards Dinner at the San Diego Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park. The Awards Ceremony recognizes lighting design from all over the world and is one of the most prestigious lighting design awards, so we were very fortunate to be hosted by Wattstopper, Cooledge, Edison Price, Eaton, and Wiedenbach Brown Lighting. We won an IALD award a couple of years back, and we hope for a repeat performance soon!
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April 14, 2016
While the busy pace we’ve been enjoying has been exhilarating, sometimes it is important to seek inspiration away from work to maintain creativity. Since one of our designers who normally lives in China was here for a month, we took the opportunity to do just that at The Broad in Downtown Los Angeles.
This museum is unique both in form and in the fact that it houses the private collection of philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad. We were extremely lucky to have the opportunity to view Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room, an installation experienced in a room alone that is full of small lights reflected back an infinite amount of times by mirrors covering every surface of the room. The feeling of standing inside of it is quiet, whimsical, and empty all at once, and was something that every member of Oculus enjoyed seeing very much. After that we were able to see the work of artists such as Jeff Koons, Barbara Kruger, Glenn Ligon, and Takeshi Murakami. Later we discussed what we’d seen over a wonderful Italian Dinner at Casa Nostra.
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April 1, 2016
Oculus Principal Archit Jain was invited to speak on the Illuminating Engineering Society of Los Angeles Panel “Collaborating with Lighting Designers-a Panel Discussion About Bridging the Gap between Artistic and Technical”. About a hundred people showed up and it was an evening dedicated to the idea that while lighting seems intangible during the the design process, it has a profound effect on the final outcome of a space. Ultimately they discussed how they work, and how they prefer to best work together to create beautiful and memorable spaces.
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March 21, 2016
Oculus Principals Archit and Scott are back from their trip to Frankfurt, Germany for the 2016 Light + Building Exhibition. The show is one of the largest on the planet, encompassing almost 6 million SF of floor space to show the latest and greatest in lighting technology from over 2,500 vendors from all over the world. Of particular note were the many advances in smart technology dedicated to improving the way that humans interact with light in their everyday lives; a concept perhaps best demonstrated by the CoeLux Skylight that “reproduces the physical effects and optical phenomena of natural light in indoor architecture”.
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November 10, 2015
If you missed the “The Ten Biggest Lies About LEDs” at Light Show West in October, you’re in luck! The panel discussion was featured on an episode of KCRW’s DnA (Design and Architecture) and summarized in an article published on KCRW’s website.
Oculus Principal Archit Jain participated as one of the panelists and he was quoted describing the current state of LED lighting in our projects: “100 percent of most of our projects are LED lighting, they are the source of the future. Until a couple years ago we had to sell LED lighting to our clients, now our clients are coming to us and asking for LED lighting on our projects, but the challenge we are now facing is that the kind of quality required for a project may not be available at the price the client wants.”
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October 19, 2015
Are you the lighting designer we are looking for?
Mid-Level to Senior Lighting Designer
About you:
You will be working in close contact with the principals and other designers on all aspects of the art, science and business of lighting design, including project management, design, presentations, lighting calculations, and marketing. You have great organizational skills as you will be working on a number of lighting design projects at any given time. You will be enthusiastic and resourceful, always looking for a unique perspective and a more efficient method to help us be the best. You are collaborative and believe that you succeed only when the team succeeds. You innovate, have strong ideas, and enjoy dialoguing with others who may differ from your point of view. You have strong visual and verbal communication skills.
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July 30, 2015
Oculus celebrated the end of busy summer months and the successful internship of our summer intern, Heejung Son from the MFA program at the Parsons New School of Design. Dinner was sushi at the newly opened Blue Ribbon Sushi at the Grove, lighting design by Oculus.
We had our fill of sushi and the Blue Ribbon’s famous fried chicken. Now, with a full stomach and open minds we wait for fall to come.
July 15, 2015
Oculus designer Sarah Wang has been selected as an Emerging Lighting Designer to attend the IALD Enlighten Americas Conference in Baltimore. Sponsored by the LIRC, this scholarship allows growing lighting designers to gain access to continuing education by attending one of the IALD conferences. The scholarship includes a full conference pass and a stipend for travel and expenses.
Congratulations Sarah, and thanks for the IALD and LIRC for providing these opportunities.
June 29, 2015
We’ve outgrown our old office and we have moved to a new location in Culver City, with quick access to all areas in and around Los Angeles.
Please come visit us at 5855 Green Valley Circle, Suite 306, Culver City, CA 90230 (our phone numbers remain the same).
September 23, 2014
We’re proud to announce that our very own designer Jane You has won an IALD scholarship as an Emerging Lighting Design Professional to attend the IALD Enlighten Americas 2014 conference in San Diego this October. She will be sponsored by one of many lighting manufacturers who, as members of the Lighting Industry Resource Council, have pledged to “financially support designers within their first five years of on-the-job practice to attend [the conference]” as part of the Emerging Lighting Designers Initiative, which makes it possible for lighting design practices to send their junior staff to continuing education and professional training conferences. Congratulations to Jane, and many thanks to the LIRC for supporting our emerging designers!
August 27, 2014
We are a growing, award-winning lighting design firm located in Santa Monica, California. We are looking for a full time, entry to mid-level lighting designer to join our talented team and work on a variety of exciting projects located locally, nationally and around the globe.
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March 18, 2014
Our landscape lighting design for YouTube’s outdoor theater in Playa Vista has been featured on Illumni.co! Click here to see the full spread.
