Clark Nexsen's Lighting Studio has received a total of 15 awards from the Illumination Engineering Society (IES). The annual IES Illumination Awards program recognizes ingenuity, professionalism, and originality in lighting design. On May 20, the IES Tidewater Virginia Section honored seven projects with awards for excellence in interior lighting, exterior lighting, and lighting controls innovation. Six of these projects will also receive IES National Awards of Merit in November at the annual IES Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Clark Nexsen projects receiving awards for lighting design excellence were 4525 Main Street Tower, Clark Nexsen Corporate Headquarters, Edson Range and Chappo Dining Hall Facilities, Hill Hall Renovation and New Student Success Center, Operation Smile World Headquarters, and the Transient Wounded Warrior Lodge.

“Clark Nexsen’s Lighting Studio takes pride in being ready for any illuminating challenge,” said Senior Electrical Engineer, Noll Kretschmann. “These IES awards reinforce the range and success of our design capabilities and our mission to provide tailored and innovative lighting solutions to our clients.”

4525 Main Street Tower in Virginia Beach’s Town Center received both section and national awards for outdoor lighting design. Parking garage lighting of this multi-use building is balanced by a glowing roof canopy which, along with the grazing illumination, has color-changing LED lights. Luminaires, including 33 LED linear wall grazers, are coordinated to be concealed behind parapet walls in order to eliminate harsh glare. At the retail entrance, pedestrians are greeted by an intricate symmetry of glowing concrete and mirrored windows. Main Street Tower provides a defining night-time lit focal point in Town Center and changing LED lights allow the building to be a part of area holiday and event themes.

Clark Nexsen Corporate Headquarters received both a section and national Guth Award for interior lighting. With 79,400 square feet on four floors, Clark Nexsen anchors the new Main Street Tower the firm designed in Virginia Beach’s Town Center. The interior lighting promotes a creative and modern atmosphere by using dynamic lighting for collaborative spaces, sustainability through multi-zone scene and daylight control, and luminance contrast ratios to display work. The office received LEED Gold Commercial Interiors (CI) certification due in part to the open-workspace lighting layout that use a mixture of pendant-mounted luminaires, uplight elements, LED down-lights over workstations, and wall-wash fixtures.

Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps located in Camp Pendleton, California. Clark Nexsen designed the Edson Range and Chappo Enlisted Dining Facilities, which each won both national and section IES Guth Awards for Interior Lighting Design. Both halls replaced existing dining facilities and were designed to introduce a new standard for Marine Corps members who are dining on base. While each building caters to a different level of ranking, both facilities blend discipline and historic legacy with modern visuals, producing spaces that are highly functional, interesting, and representative of the Marine ideals. The IES judges score for the Edson Range Dining Hall qualified the project to be judged for a national award of excellence, with winners being announced November 8 at the annual IES Conference.

Hill Hall Renovation and New Student Success Center at Winston-Salem State University was honored with four IES awards: national and section awards for lighting controls innovation and national and section Guth Awards for interior lighting. Clark Nexsen and the WSSU project team reimagined a 1960s science classroom building that had been vacant for several years into a vibrant academic outreach facility. The lighting design is efficient with dimming lighting controls and two preset light levels so users can adjust lighting to suit their needs. The lighting design concept also incorporates linear fluorescent luminaires, providing ambient light and illumination of vertical surfaces, keeping contrast ratios low, and contributing to a sense of openness.

When the original headquarters for an international children’s medical charity organization could no longer accommodate the growing number of employees, Clark Nexsen was selected to provide design services for a new Operation Smile World Headquarters in Virginia Beach. The modern, 60,000-square-foot headquarters received both a national and section Guth Award for interior lighting. Since nearly 90% of the occupied spaces have available daylight, the daylight harvesting strategy included extensive dimming to meet energy goals. The ceilings have parallel rows of indirect and direct linear pendants that evenly distribute light throughout the open spaces.

Transient Wounded Warrior Lodge was recognized with a section Guth Award for interior lighting.  This LEED Silver certified facility provides comfortable housing for wounded warriors in their last stages of transitioning from physical injuries to life at home. The design called for precise visual and physical recovery needs for the patient, which included elevated light levels, floor luminaires, and increasing luminance on lighter surfaces. Wood ceiling and wall planes are lined with regular downlighting patterns to organize the visual environment. Occupant rooms provide ample light for many different visual tasks and room configurations through the use of overhead lighting and table luminaires.

For more information on the IES Illumination Awards program, click here: http://www.ies.org/ia/