June 29, 2026
Lumen West 2026 Honors Excellence and Legacy
SoCal's lighting community honored leaders, launched new opportunities, and celebrated standout projects
On a clear Friday evening in the Sepulveda Pass, the Southern California lighting community gathered once again at the Skirball Cultural Center for Lumen West 2026. The Los Angeles and Orange County sections of the Illuminating Engineering Society hosted the annual SoCal Illumination Awards event, drawing the region's designers, specifiers, reps, and industry supporters for a four-act evening that included a cocktail reception, awards presentation, seated dinner, and a sponsored afterparty.
The project list was leaner than in years past: 14 awards compared to as many as 24 in recent years. But what the evening lacked in volume it more than recovered in weight. A Beacon Award to a legendary industry leader, a surprise academic announcement, a tribute to a lost colleague, and a wine selection that did not go unnoticed.
Chip Israel Receives the Beacon Award
The Beacon Award, the highest individual honor presented by the Los Angeles and Orange County sections, went to Chip Israel, lighting legend, founding principal of Lighting Design Alliance, and former IES national president.
In remarks that covered four decades of practice, Israel traced a career that ran from a Los Angeles market with fewer than a dozen lighting designers between Santa Monica and San Diego, through five consecutive Disney hotels, casino projects on multiple continents, the Oval Office, a billion-dollar residence in Mumbai, and most recently an eight-million-square-foot cultural center. He credited a culture of retention at his firm, noting that more than half of LDA's staff have been with the company for over 15 years.
Above: Chip Israel receives the Beacon Award at Lumen West 2026
The passage that landed hardest was not about projects. It was about participation. "Volunteering has been my biggest benefit to my career," Israel said. "It's helped me to grow, it's helped our company to grow, and now it's equally rewarding to mentor the next generation." He described being mentored by Ray Grenald, Lesley Wheel, and Howard Brandston as possible only because he showed up: to meetings, to activities, to the work of the organizations that hold the field together. His closing was direct: "Follow your heart, follow your passion, jump in, push yourselves, push the people around you, and please, please volunteer."
Israel also offered a clear-eyed reading of where the profession stands and where the real pressure originates. The expansion of lighting design, he said, is not limited by competition or by artificial intelligence. It is limited by apathy.
The Projects
The 14 awarded projects spanned experiential, interior, exterior, controls, and energy and environmental design categories, ranging geographically from Los Angeles and the Inland Empire to Orlando, Osaka, and King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Multi-award firms included NYXdesign and BRC Imagination Arts, Lighting Design Alliance, Visual Terrain, and LPA, Inc. The full list appears below.
Among the standouts: Visual Terrain earned recognition for both Netflix House Dallas and Netflix House Philadelphia, accepted by Nicole Eng. Lighting Design Alliance collected awards for Javier's Restaurant DTLA and Constellation in Light in Orlando.
Above: Emcee Sara Schonauer looks on as Emanuel Treeson accepts the Award of Distinction on behalf of NYXdesign and BRC Imagination Arts for SCADstory at Lumen West 2026.
NYXdesign and BRC Imagination Arts were recognized with an Award of Distinction for SCADstory in Atlanta and the USA Pavilion at the Osaka World Expo, both accepted by Emanuel Treeson. Arup's Joyce Hahn accepted for the LAX/Metro Transit Center Station. Radiance Lightworks took the Controls category for the Deer Valley Resort Terminal Building in Park City.
USC Opens the Door
Another announcement that drew a celebratory reaction came from Lauren Dandridge, a spec salesperson at LINX Lighting and Controls and a longtime professor at the USC School of Architecture. Standing alongside Dr. Bhavna Sharma, Director of Graduate Building Science at USC, Dandridge announced that USC will launch its first graduate certificate in lighting design this fall.
Above: Dr. Donna Sharma of USC and Lauren Dandridge at Lumen West 2026, announcing the university's new graduate certificate in lighting design.
The program will be open to students in architecture and, notably, to students in engineering, music, and cinematic arts as well. Dandridge framed the announcement not as an institutional milestone but as a long-overdue door. "If only 10 percent of architectural projects include lighting designers," she said, "we need to do more." She credited Dr. Sharma, specifically and without hedging, as the reason the certificate moved from years of conference room conversations to an actual launch date.
For a profession that has spent decades lobbying for its own relevance inside architecture schools, a graduate certificate at a major research university felt like something more than a curriculum update.
A Tribute to Ann Kale
Amidst the awards presentation, the evening paused. Ann Kale, whose firm Ann Kale Associates received the evening’s top award in 2023, passed away the following year after a battle with cancer. Colleagues offered remembrances from the stage, speaking to her mentorship, her generosity, and the standard she set for the profession.
Her firm was represented in this year's project list as well: Ann Kale Associates received recognition for the Plaza Theatre Rehabilitation in Palm Springs, accepted by Rebecca Fox and Nathaniel Bartos. The work stood on its own merits. The tribute made clear the firm was built on something larger.
Section Service Awards and Other Luminaries
Section Service Awards went to Sabra Clark, recognized by the Los Angeles Section as she prepares to retire, and to Tom Ruzika, honored by the Orange County Section.
Sara Schonauer returned as emcee, a role she has now held long enough that the event would feel slightly off without her. Brienne Willcock, Associate Director of IES national, was also in attendance.
The Afterparty
The evening's fourth act moved outside, where the Skirball's grounds provided a festive outdoor setting. The triumphant return of the event's afterparty was sponsored by iGuzzini, and the night’s house wine came courtesy of two industry supporters: red from Lumenwerx, white from Lumascape. Francesco Ghergo, Regional Director at iGuzzini in Recanati, Italy, made the trip across the Atlantic to attend in person. We were unable to confirm whether Ghergo sampled the house wine selections or requested something special from the Skirball's wine cellar.
Above: The Lumen West 2026 afterparty on the grounds of the Skirball Cultural Center. Photo: David Martin.
For the firms that walked away with hardware, and for the rest of the room, it was a fitting close: clear sky, good weather, and a profession that, whatever its pressures, still knows how to mark the work it is proud of.
