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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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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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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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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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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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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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
December 7, 2022
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
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 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
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.
August 18, 2022
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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Vanderpump à Paris
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The Bedford by Martha Stewart
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