May 23, 2025
IES Boston Shines with 2025 Awards Gala
Over 450 attendees gathered for a night celebrating design and community
On a damp, unseasonably chilly night in May, the lighting design community of Boston, undaunted by the weather or the lingering heartbreak of the Celtics’ early playoff exit, gathered in force.
Over 450 designers, manufacturers, reps, and a smattering of distributors packed the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel for the 2025 IES Boston Illumination Awards. What could’ve been a subdued evening, given the gray skies and gray mood in the City of Champions, turned into something else entirely: a spirited celebration of design excellence, community values, and a profession that increasingly sees itself as essential, not ancillary.
For the first time in recent years, the event was a Boston Section-only affair, no longer co-hosted with the Rhode Island chapter. That change didn’t shrink the crowd — if anything, it sharpened the focus. And this year, IES Boston introduced three new award categories that reflected the evolving priorities of the profession: sustainability, community engagement, and collaboration.
Three New Awards, Three Expansive Visions of Lighting
The Sustainability Award went to Lam Partners for their work on the Williams College Davis Center. The team — Glenn Heinmiller, Dan Weissman, and Carla Wilke — designed a lighting system aimed at nothing less than architectural decarbonization. The project is pursuing Petal Certification under the Living Building Challenge, and its lighting package is entirely Red List–free. Every fixture directs light downward, a small gesture with large implications.
The Community Award honored a strikingly poetic piece of public work: the Harriet Tubman Monument, Shadow of a Face. Designed by Ed Bartholomew (Bartholomew Lighting) and Insiya Divan (1D Lighting Design), with controls by Alana Shepard (Intangible Light), the lighting subtly amplifies the monument’s message of resilience, history, and presence. It’s public space as social commentary — and illumination as its quiet accomplice.
For Collaboration, the Groton Hill Music Center took the prize. The design was a collective effort: Ripman Lighting Consultants worked hand-in-hand with Epstein Joslin Architects and controls designer Margaret Raberow (BR+A) to weave light into the building’s sonic and spatial experience. The result feels more like an orchestration than a project.
A Familiar Name, A New Standard
The awards program ended with the Lighthouse Award — the evening’s highest honor, and a nod to both regional identity and design excellence. Sladen Feinstein Integrated Lighting took the prize for their work on Foundation Medicine’s Boston headquarters, a sprawling 600,000-square-foot campus in the Seaport District.
Above: The team from Sladen Feinstein Integrated Lighting accepts the 2025 IES Boston Lighthouse Award for the project, Foundation Medicine HQ
The team — Reiko Kagawa, Ben Strauss, Josh Feinstein, Jennifer Bean, and Carol Williams — delivered a lighting design that managed to be architectural, emotional, and operational all at once. Linear and curvilinear motifs echo the company’s scientific mission, while circadian lighting in labs and low-glare office fixtures ensure user wellness. Over 30% of all fixtures have material transparency labels. The project is LEED Platinum, but its greater accomplishment may be how seamlessly lighting supports both the physical space and the culture within.
Orchestrated to a T
Behind the scenes, the evening’s elegance and precision owed much to the leadership of event co-chairs Barrett Newell of CannonDesign and Jennifer Pierce of Boston Light Source. They ensured a night that was both efficient and celebratory — no small feat for an industry that knows how to fill a room and stretch a timeline.
Above: Event co-chairs Jennifer Pierce (left) and Barrett Newell (right) have their dinner interrupted by Al Uszynski
IES Boston is known for its no-nonsense approach to awards. Designers don’t give speeches. Winners are called, photographed, and done. When firms win multiple awards, they’re grouped. Honorable mentions? A quick roll call followed by a mass photo on stage.
This year, IALD President Andrea Hartranft was once again in attendance, as was Brienne Willcock from IES Headquarters — a signal that what happens in Boston matters beyond the Charles River.
And for once, there was no need for a giant TV in the afterparty ballroom. The Celtics’ season ended last week. No playoff game to compete with. But the spirit in the room suggested that maybe, just maybe, the city had another kind of team to rally behind — one that’s illuminating futures, not just arenas.
Awards of Merit
Section Awards
Honorable Mentions
Ted Williams Tunnel Lighting Rehabilitation
HONORABLE MENTIONLocation: Boston, MA
Firm: WSP USA
Illumination Award for Energy and Environmental Design
Boston Children's Hospital, Inpatient Renewal Project
HONORABLE MENTIONLocation: Boston MA
Firm: CannonDesign
Illumination Award for Interior Lighting Design
Seagate
HONORABLE MENTIONLocation: Narragansett, RI
Firm: Evelyn Audet Lighting Design
Illumination Award for Interior Lighting Design
Marymount Manhattan Judith Mara Carson Center for Visual Arts
HONORABLE MENTIONLocation: Manhattan, NY
Firm: HLB Lighting Design
Illumination Award for Interior Lighting Design
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center Stair
HONORABLE MENTIONLocation: Boston, MA
Firm: HLB Lighting Design
Illumination Award for Interior Lighting Design
Advanced Therapeutics Facility
HONORABLE MENTIONLocation: Marlborough, MA
Firm: CRB
Illumination Award for Interior Lighting Design
Boston EMS Training Facility
HONORABLE MENTIONLocation: West Roxbury, MA
Firm: Pieszak Lighting Design
Illumination Award for Interior Lighting Design
Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management
HONORABLE MENTIONLocation: Nashville, TN
Firm: Lam Partners
Illumination Award for Interior Lighting Design
Confidential Company
HONORABLE MENTIONLocation: Cambridge, MA
Firm: Lam Partners
Illumination Award for Interior Lighting Design
View Boston
HONORABLE MENTIONLocation: Boston, MA
Firm: Lam Partners
Illumination Award for Interior Lighting Design
The Orb
HONORABLE MENTIONLocation: Mountain View, CA
Firm: Lam Partners
Illumination Award for Outdoor Lighting Design
Harriet Tubman Monument - Shadow of a Face
HONORABLE MENTIONLocation: Newark, New Jersey
Firm: Bartholomew Lighting
Illumination Award for Outdoor Lighting Design
Groton Hill Music Center
HONORABLE MENTIONLocation: Groton, MA
Firm: Ripman Lighting Consultants
Illumination Award for Outdoor Lighting Design
Groton Hill Music Center
HONORABLE MENTIONLocation: Groton, MA
Firm: Ripman Lighting Consultants
Illumination Award for Lighting Control Innovation
