The elegance, functionality and sustainability of two high-profile U.S. buildings – a Las Vegas football stadium and a Los Angeles luxury hotel – both featured interior lighting designs by WSP USA that were recognized among the best in the industry.

On Aug. 9, The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) presented its 2021 Illumination Award of Excellence to WSP USA for lighting design on two projects: Allegiant Stadium, which debuted as the home to the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders in 2020; and the West Hollywood Edition, a signature hotel and residence featuring classic style and décor reminiscent of mid-century Hollywood, when legends like Humphrey Bogart and Kathryn Hepburn dominated the movie marquees.

“We’re excited that both WSP USA lighting studios received an Illumination Award of Excellence in the same year – on two projects with completely different aesthetics and technical challenges,” said Lilian Fu, WSP national lighting design practice leader. “They really exemplify the breadth and depth of our design skills.”

On Aug. 9, IES honored seven projects from around the globe – including four in the U.S. – with the organization’s annual Illumination Awards. Recognized as one of the world’s premiere awards for lighting, the Illumination Award for Interior Lighting Design highlights exceptional interior lighting projects that balance the functional illumination of space with the artistic application of light to enhance the occupant’s experience.

As the lead lighting designer for the $1.9 billion, 65,000-capacity venue, WSP USA created a design that utilizes lighting as a visible, graphic element in high-contrast spaces while maintaining visual comfort for its occupants throughout the facility.

An illuminated 93-foot-tall 3D-printed torch sculpture acts as a beacon for fans approaching the stadium from outside. The concourse features integrated lighting at display walls, and linear pendants radial to the field. Seating-integrated lighting and a backlit ceiling element provide ambient light for VIP suites, while lines of light in a black ceiling reference the gridiron.

Highlighted escalators present a dramatic entrance to the event-level club, while the carved volume beneath becomes an intimate space with foot-level lighting. Linear lights follow the sloped ceiling with a bold graphic line of light reflected in architectural finishes, in contrast to the intimate scale of bar illumination.

Additional concealed sources provide functional light levels for visual tasks, where dark finishes obscure any perception of brightness. This balance maintains the dramatic experience within a legible space.

Linear luminaires curve and slice through clubs and concourses as design elements to conceptually connect complex multi-level spaces. While some appear as continuously lensed linear fixtures, they are recessed slot details with indirect sources that create complex shapes, as a creative alternative to custom fabricated luminaires.

Allegiant Stadium’s energy-efficient LED lighting and event-specific controls consume 49 percent below the energy code allowance of 0.40 watts per square feet.

“It’s an iconic building and specific aesthetic that utilizes lighting as a graphic and essential design element,” said Anne Rainbow Savage, lead lighting designer for WSP on the project. “There’s the challenge to provide the big sweeping gestures – to provide an engaging spatial experience – and then there’s challenge to make it work, functionally.”

WSP USA lighting design team for Allegiant Stadium included Savage, Jay Wratten, Ethan Neslund, Eric Witthaus and Nicholas Dewey.

Click here to read more about the Allegiant Stadium lighting design.

When guests enter the West Hollywood Edition they are struck by the simple elegance of its design – a consistent, easy flow that harkens back to the golden age of Hollywood.

But creating something that looks and feels this simple, consistent and easy? Well, that’s where it gets complicated.

For the owners of the $125 million signature hotel and residential building located along Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, it wasn’t enough to strive for perfection; the results had to be perfection. Naturally, that edict included its spectacular lighting design.

WSP served as the engineer of record for the project, providing the developers with professional services that included mechanical-electrical-plumbing systems, fire protection, commissioning … and its architectural lighting design.

“Because the design is so intricate and super clean, what is special is the attention to detail, and it is extraordinary,” said Chester Thompson, who led the architectural lighting design services throughout the project for WSP. “All of the dimensions had to be located precisely.”

The objective was to simplify the experience for guests in every possible way – right down to the lighting, plumbing and electrical systems.

The 242,000-square-foot building features 190 guest rooms on the first eight floors of the building and two penthouses. The Edition has 20 luxury condominiums on floors 9-13 for permanent residents, a ballroom, restaurant and other amenities for guests and residents.

Designers of the Edition lighting from WSP included Thompson, Yucheng Lu, Lilian Fu, Muge Birgen and Cory Madeson.

Click here to read more about the West Hollywood Edition lighting design.

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