February 24, 2023

New Projects on our Website

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, a 544,000sf luxury multi-family complex with KoningEizenberg, 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!

Check them out here:

CSULA Student Services Building, Los Angeles, CA

Culver Studios, Culver City, CA

The Park, Santa Monica, CA

Amazon Frontier, Seattle, WA

5670 Wilshire, Los Angeles, CA

Confidential Studio Offices, Los Angeles Area, CA

December 7, 2022

Long Awaited Site Visit to the Mississippi Aquarium

After a two-year COVID delay and two eventful hurricane seasons, we were finally able to visit the Mississippi Aquarium in Gulfport, MS for our long overdue punchwalk post-construction (and in this case, post-opening). The Mississippi Aquarium fills the void of its predecessor, Marine Life Oceanarium, which was tragically destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. Seventeen years later, this new aquarium is the definition of hope and regrowth – helping to rejuvenate tourism within the surrounding community, providing animal rehabilitation initiatives to animals, and aquatic life education to the public.

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November 30, 2022

Netflix Alert: Oculus’ Custom Home featured on Buying Beverly Hills

If you enjoy reality shows exploring multi-million-dollar homes, then Netflix’ Buying Beverly Hills is for you! The show gives you an inside look following a real estate agency that specializes in these high-end home sales.

In the final episode, developer/owner Duangpatra “Dang” Bodiratnangkura is ready to sell the 18,850 sft Orum Residence for a cool $42 million. Oculus worked closely with architects SPF:a and Dang on the lighting design of this “propeller” residence up in the hills. Its unique shape and glass exterior brings in panoramic views of the city and ocean, providing stunning views from every angle.

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October 18, 2022

Lumen West Awards 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.

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September 28, 2022

Enlighten Americas Emerging Program Scholarship

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

Oculus Celebrates 10 Years!

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.

August 18, 2022

Two New Celebrity Restaurants in Vegas

Oculus Light Studio is excited to share two new celebrity restaurant projects that have both recently opened at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, NV; alongside DezMotif Studios. The aesthetics of the restaurants are complete opposites, both with their own distinctive flair.

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July 6, 2022

We’re Hiring!

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

Promotion Updates!

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

Growing Oculus Team

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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April 13, 2022

March 8, 2022

International Women’s Day 2022: #BreakTheBias

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’ Newest Associate IALD Members

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

Recent Additions to the Oculus Team

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

Oculus is Hiring Again: Los Angeles/Seattle

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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August 27, 2021

My Internship at Oculus

By Elizabeth Ellinger

This summer I was incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Oculus Light Studio and learn what it means to be a lighting designer. Having always been interested in the experiential side of design, and after taking a couple of lighting related courses, I became highly interested in learning more about lighting design. While I was just excited to be able to learn anything about the field of lighting design, I ended up having a far more educational and engaging summer than I could have asked for!

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August 9, 2021

IES Illuminations Awards 2021

IES just announced their list of Illumination Merit Award Recipients and… drum roll please… Oculus has won 3 of these awards!

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July 1, 2021

Oculus Wins Best of Practice Award in the West!

Oculus Light Studio is proud to announce that we’ve won Architect Newspaper’s Best of Practice Award for Lighting Designer in the West! It’s a privilege to be in the company of the great design firms who have received this award this year and especially our clients and collaborators.

We are honored to be chosen for this award from amongst all of our fellow creative lighting design firms located in 13 states along the West Coast of the United States. And we look forward to continuing to deliver even more innovative and award-winning work as we near our 10-year anniversary.

Thanks to the Architect’s Newspaper for this award, and thank you to our clients, manufacturers and reps, and our talented, hardworking team!

June 26, 2021

St. Louis Aquarium Wins IES Lumen West Award!

Oculus is honored to receive an IES Lumen West Award of Merit for the new St. Louis Aquarium located in a historic train station, where guests travel from the “grand hall”, to river exhibits, to the ocean surface and into the depths. The lighting design brings this journey to life, transitioning from warm colors mimicking dappled sunlight over river exhibits, to the ocean tanks where bluer tones evoke the feel of being deep in the ocean.
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June 24, 2021