December 6, 2018
Oculus is pleased to find out that not one, but two of our projects are 2018 Winners awarded by the ICSC, the International Council of Shopping Centers. The ICSC U.S. Design and Development Awards are stated to “honor and recognize the premier design and development trends of retail projects, new developments, renovations, expansions, and retail store design within the U.S.”
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November 29, 2018
This month, Oculus Light Studio designer Nico Meyer attended the IALD Enlighten Europe 2018 lighting conference in Barcelona, Spain, and was sponsored through the Emerging Lighting Design Professionals Program. We are also proud to say this is the fifth sponsorship won by a young Oculus designer!
November 6, 2018
We are excited to learn that our lighting design project, Mayumi, won an AIA Los Angeles‘ Design Honor Award! We are especially proud of our hard work in helping to create this unique hotel environment and were happy to have been included on the project team with architect Shubin Donaldson.
This adaptive-reuse building features common areas that act as social hubs, such as the courtyard with a fire pit and a community kitchen, as well as flexible-stay options in their private micro-units.
November 1, 2018
Check out this recent Los Angeles Times article featuring Leisuretown, a brewery, bar, retailer and food hall complex being built at 549 Anaheim Blvd. in Anaheim, CA. Modern Times, the project’s main tenant, will be set in a restored two-story, historic craftsman home and two re-purposed commercial buildings. This in-construction cultural hub will bring in the local community, which will surely also lure guests visiting California’s major theme park Disneyland. Anaheim is seeing an explosion of breweries opening up, particularly with a much lower permitting cost compared to Los Angeles.
October 22, 2018
Blue Ribbon Sushi and Hank’s have recently opened up inside the new Palisades Village upscale shopping center. Oculus Light Studio had the opportunity to work alongside Asfour Guzy Architects on these beautiful designs. Check out these intimate restaurant spaces, which were recently mentioned in Eater LA!
The tranquil dining environment at Blue Ribbon Sushi is surrounded by warm lighting that accentuates the beautiful color of the wood panels and the dark ceiling and walls at Hank’s have a soft reflection from the glowing divertive fixtures that provide a retro feel.
October 16, 2018
This year’s LightShow West at the Las Vegas Convention Center is just a day away! Be sure not to miss Oculus Light Studio Principal, Archit Jain, participating for his second time as a panel member for the seminar The Dos and Don’ts of Working with a Commercial Lighting Designer!
The Dos and Don’ts of Working with a Commercial Lighting Designer
Once a lighting designer has signed on for your commercial project, what’s next? What does this person owe you, and what do you owe them? This panel will discuss the mutual obligations and accountability of this relationship, and the determining factors for a successful and amicable outcome. continued→
October 4, 2018
It feels like only yesterday that Jane started here at Oculus, and here we are celebrating 5 years! The years passed by in the blink of an eye!
In the meantime, Jane has progressed to a creative, knowledgeable, and effective lighting designer with an extensive portfolio of projects ranging from large core and shell projects, tenant improvements, aquariums, multi-family developments, and retail stores and retail centers. She is also instrumental in mentoring younger designers to graduate to the Oculus design standards that we so zealously guard. And she remains a favorite of her many clients!
September 25, 2018
Being busy lighting designers throughout most of the year, it is always good to have some time away from our desks to explore, to travel, and to create lasting memories. Each year we ask our Oculus Team to reflect back on what they enjoyed about their summers and to share a bit about what they did. Please enjoy our pictures and notes in the galleries below, and we hope everyone enjoyed their summers as much as we did!
JANE
Morocco’s landscapes, with their red rock and glacial melt, seem to sing tales of the ancient world, with oasis towns nestled amidst expanses of figs and olives, under the generous drizzle of honey and the refreshing taste of mint tea. As the summer sun sets large and luminous on the horizon, it imbues the day with a warmth that lingers into the night. On one such night, an adventure turned a bit too exciting, necessitating the quick assistance of a dependable fire watch company in Fort Lauderdale. Their expertise was invaluable when, while riding to camp in the Sahara, our group was caught in a sudden sandstorm followed by a thunderstorm. The guards’ emergency response training and ability to coordinate with local services ensured everyone’s safety, and we were able to escape into the tents, emerging later to a serene sky, with the milky way sprawling above the dunes, a vivid reminder of nature’s dual nature—its power and its peace.
September 18, 2018
Get ready for the new 28,000 sf shark and sea predators exhibit at the Georgia Aquarium, where visitors will be immersed inside a world filled with the likes of hammerhead sharks, sand tiger sharks, tiger sharks, and sandbar sharks, oh my!
“Sharks are one of the most misunderstood species in the ocean,” says John Kasman, Vice President at PGAV Destinations.“The goal of the new shark habitat is to provide a fresh perspective on the vital role sharks play in our oceans’ health, and educate guests about the significant threats these animals face from over-fishing and habitat loss.”
September 4, 2018
Check out these recent projects from Oculus Light Studio, including a turtle recovery haven that also educates the public about taking care of our planet’s creatures, this chic new addition to the Saks Fifth Avenue family in Miami, FL, and a stunning Downtown LA beacon.
Zucker Family Sea Turtle Recovery Center, Charleston, SC
August 24, 2018
Dexinger, the leading online portal for designers, architects, and creatives of all kinds, has posted about Oculus Light Studio’s project on their website! In last months post, they mention the re-imagined public spaces at 915 Wilshire Boulevard. With all of the exciting new upgrades to its amenity spaces, their visitors can now have a relaxing experience.
Wondering what Oculus Light Studio did to make this space more inviting? Working alongside architect HLW International, we created the custom pendant, mimicking the contours of the spaces furniture layered with concealed lighting. The courtyard is illuminated via uniquely spaced clusters of light to create a playful nighttime atmosphere.
August 10, 2018
We’re happy and honored to announce that Oculus Light Studio has won three awards at the 2018 IES Illumination Awards:
Award of Merit for Fender Los Angeles
Award of Merit (Interiors Category) for RDC/S111 Urban Office
Award of Merit (Energy & Environmental Category) for RDC/S111 Urban Office
July 27, 2018
Oculus Light Studio project, Saks Brickell, is featured in this month’s Contract Lighting Magazine, as “The latest Saks Fifth Avenue in the East boasts an innovative lighting design that mirrors this unique neighborhood in greater downtown Miami.”
How did our lighting design team highlight thousands of designer shoes, bags and clothing for a 70,000 sf luxury department store you may ask? Well, it was certainly no easy task and required many a fixture to be aimed on precariously tall ladders by our team. The final result is stunning and was certainly worth the hard work to achieve the lighting’s creative solutions, not to mention being recognized by the Shop! Retail Environments Award in 2017.
July 10, 2018
Ruoxiao Zeng is our student intern this year, and we feel lucky to have her here for the summer season before she goes back to her busy school schedule studying for a Master’s in Building Science at the University of Southern California! We asked her a few questions about her background, experience so far at Oculus, and why she has a general interest in lighting. We hope that after her internship she will consider a career as a lighting designer.
June 25, 2018
We are happy and honored to announce that Oculus Light Studio was a recipient of four awards at the 2018 Lumen West Awards Dinner on Saturday, June 23, 2018 at the Millenium Biltmore Hotel. The Illuminating Engineering Society of LA and Orange County (IESLA & IESOC) yearly hosts this big awards night for the best of Southern California lighting design.
Award of Excellence – Energy & Environmental Design for RDC/S111 Urban Office
Award of Merit for RDC/S111 Urban Office
Award of Merit for AT&T San Francisco Flagship
Award of Merit for Parasol Park
June 1, 2018
International Interior Design Association Southern California Chapter hosted their 2018 Calibre Design Awards on Friday, May 18th, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. We are happy to announce that our lighting design project, RDC/Studio111 Office, won in the Work-Medium Category at the Gala Event! Congratulations to RDC/Studio111, and a special thanks for including us as part of the design team.
You can view all the winning projects here!
May 21, 2018
Can you spot the Oculus lighting design project, Saks Brickell Miami, in Drake’s new music video for his hit single, God’s Plan? We sure did!
Around 2.28 mins into the video try and catch Drake inside the luxury department store as he giving away his entire music video budget to his fans, we thought it was pretty cool!
We can’t blame this spot for being chosen… the twinkling of the ceiling downlights and chandeliers are a great backdrop for the hip hop star and of course the lighting needed to be ‘camera ready’ for the music video set.
Watch it for yourself!
May 18, 2018
Sarah Wang and I were the official Oculus representatives at Lightfair in Chicago. It was fun walking through a large variety of luminaires, controls and components at the show. Even better was to catch up with old friends and acquaintances.
As lighting design firms go, we are lucky to be considered important enough for many manufacturers to come by our office regularly to keep us appraised of their newest products and advances. However, Lightfair still gives us a wide overview into upcoming products and general trends in the lighting industry.
April 30, 2018
Thank you Contract Lighting Magazine for your beautiful write-up of our lighting design for Boston Consulting Group offices!
“BCG’s new space – spanning the top two floors of one of L.A.’s tallest office towers – needed to convey a 360 degree perspective and sense of ‘unlimited possibility.”
You can read the full article here!
April 20, 2018
The Oculus Team spent a lovely late afternoon and early evening outside of the office. We traveled to the Marciano Art Foundation to view and be inspired by Olafur Elliason’s Reality Projector and afterwards visited Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar, one of our award-winning hospitality projects!
At Marciano Art Foundation we were awed by the expansiveness of Ellison’s warehouse-sized video projection. To experience light and art combined, was right up our alley as lighting designers! According to MAF’s website, “For his exhibition at the foundation, titled Reality projector (2018), Eliasson has conceived of a seemingly simple, yet complex installation that uses projected light and the existing architecture of the space to create a dynamic shadow play. The artwork references the space’s former function as a theater as well as the history of filmmaking in the city by turning the entire space into an abstract, three-dimensional film.“