CONTEXTUALIZING LIGHT MATTERS.

Here Is a Book that Provides Contextualized Lighting Solutions
In a Changing World.

CONTEXTUALIZING

LIGHT

LIGHTING DESIGN SOLUTIONS IN A CHANGING WORLD
Special Emphasis: Light For Health & Wellness

WHY WRITE THIS BOOK?

This book examines how the context of a project can provide a causative force for creating an appropriate architectural lighting design solution. Some of the questions it addresses are as follows:

- Why should the lighting world be flat, and at the cost of the amazing variety of local nuances and ideas that can be incorporated into the architectural design process and solutions?

- When did darkness become bad?

- Should the dialog not be about embracing the differences in culture, design approach, and other conditions that each region of the world provides, while embracing light as a universal medium?

- Why are we looking to build an illuminated world at night that looks similar to other places?  

- How do the new lighting technologies impact our evolving zeitgeist?

These ideas and concepts are highlighted in the 18 essays written by the author in this book. These are further illustrated with examples from over 80 completed projects spread over 23 countries in the past 18 years of being in practice. Through this treatise, the author also shares ground-breaking research, where he discusses a holistic approach for using lighting to create spaces for health & wellness.

The book is available for purchase now! For more information, please contact our publisher ORO Editions California at info@oroeditions.com

WHAT's INSIDE (Click ON EACH CHAPTER FOR MORE)

OVERVIEW

CHAPTER 01: CULTURAL

IMMERSE

CHAPTER 05: HOSPITALITY

RELAX

CHAPTER 02: INFRASTRUCTURE

GROW

CHAPTER 06: RESIDENTIAL

LIVE

CHAPTER 03: RETAIL

SHOP

CHAPTER 07: COMMERCIAL

WORK

CHAPTER 04: HEALTHCARE

HEART

INTRODUCTION

Dropdown

Why Is Providing Human-Centric, Dramatic & Evocative Experiences Through Light Important for Architecture & Humanity?

How Can We Implement Contextualized Lighting Design Solutions That Respect & Enhance Life Experiences, Especially for Health and Wellness?

18 Thought Provoking Essays

23+ International Project Locations

Showcasing how local contexts
inform design decisions

63 Lighting Design Projects

Showcasing real world examples of
contextualizing light in built environment

1080 Images

That show & explain each project’s processes, technical Drawings, renderings & final results.

Conversations with the Author:
Abhay M Wadhwa

WHAT's INSIDE
(Click each CHAPTER title FOR MORE INFORMATION)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

HOSPITALITY

RELAX

INFRASTRUCTURE

GROW

RESIDENTIAL

LIVE

RETAIL

SHOP

COMMERCIAL

WORK

FIXTURE DESIGN

PLAY

ABOUT

RETAIL

SHOP

RESIDENTIAL

LIVE

COMMERCIAL

WORK

FIXTURE DESIGN

PLAY

ABOUT

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ABHAY M WADHWA

Abhay M Wadhwa, Founder and Design Principal of AWA Lighting Designers seeks innovative solutions that challenge our zeitgeist, and utilizes lighting beyondits conventional purpose. He craftsstories using lighting to create evocative experiences. Evocative lighting design nestles comfortably with artistry. He has also been referred to as the “Poet of Light” by a Canadian journalist and in lighter moments takes this title very seriously.

AWA LIGHTING DESIGNERS

AWA TEAM

Headquartered in New York City, AWA is an international architectural lighting design firm founded by Abhay M Wadhwa. We design and implement lighting solutions for a diverse range of projects internationally—creating solutions that evoke a sense of place instead of mere space. We pride ourselves on our adept application of creative and technical methods, aswe embrace diverse influences, ideas, and design paradigms. The result is lighting design that remains ever-aware of the people who will live, work,communicate, and interact in the buildings and structures we light. Our clients value our design sensibility for the moods and moments it elicits,and the ways it illuminates the materials and structures.

900+

COMPLETED PROJECTS

1B+

SQUARE FT 
BUILT LIGHTING

18+

YEARS IN PRACTICE

TESTIMONIALS

Vectors by Vecteezy.com

Having worked in the fields of light, vision and consciousness over the past 45 years, I was deeply touched by Abhay Wadhwa’s exquisite illustration of the use of light in the field of architecture. If a picture is a thousand words, then CONTEXTUALIZING LIGHT is a view of the universe -- a feast for our eyes – a tapestry of sheer beauty created through the inspiration touching Abhay Wadhwa’s artistry over the last 25 years. This book is gorgeous!

Jacob Liberman
Author of luminous life: how the science of light unlocks the art of living
Vectors by Vecteezy.com

Over the years, AWA Lighting Designers has been an essential part of our creative process, and one of the most unique firms to work with in the industry. Their understanding of light as an art form that can be sculpted through shadow and nuance, rather than simply a utility, is why their collaboration on projects has made such an impact. Their use of technology as part of the design process has helped numerous design teams to both visualize the effects of lighting on space and research the effects on the human psyche.

Shawn Basler
Co-CEO of Perkins Eastman
Vectors by Vecteezy.com

In works that span nearly two decades and several continents, AWA's each project expresses AWA's conviction that light informs and even creates experience, and that light itself is bound inextricably with form, space, volume, culture and human perception - the very stuff of architecture.

Thomas Vonier
President of the International Union of Architects (UIA)
Vectors by Vecteezy.com

His new book demonstrates what I had hoped he would do – continue a lifelong journey of learning and producing.  As the book title implies, the diversity of designs for different cultures and countries in context is extraordinary. Of course, as I expected, the quality of the images accompanied by his statements of philosophy show how deeply Abhay dives into each and every project.  Fundamentally, Abhay hopes that lighting design will never become a cut-and-paste exercise, as is tempting with today’s canned lighting design programs.  Abhay pushes himself for excellence and it is clear he very much wishes his lighting design contemporaries would as well.  This book may not affect them, but perhaps it will inspire the next generation of lighting designers to excel, in context.

Mark Rea, Ph.D.
FORMER DIRECTOR & Professor of Architecture and Cognitive Sciences
at the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

TESTIMONIALS

Vectors by Vecteezy.com

Having worked in the fields of light, vision and consciousness over the past 45 years, I was deeply touched by Abhay Wadhwa’s exquisite illustration of the use of light in the field of architecture. If a picture is a thousand words, then CONTEXTUALIZING LIGHT is a view of the universe -- a feast for our eyes – a tapestry of sheer beauty created through the inspiration touching Abhay Wadhwa’s artistry over the last 25 years. This book is gorgeous!

Jacob Liberman
Author of luminous life: how the science of light unlocks the art of living
Vectors by Vecteezy.com

Over the years, AWA Lighting Designers has been an essential part of our creative process, and one of the most unique firms to work with in the industry. Their understanding of light as an art form that can be sculpted through shadow and nuance, rather than simply a utility, is why their collaboration on projects has made such an impact. Their use of technology as part of the design process has helped numerous design teams to both visualize the effects of lighting on space and research the effects on the human psyche.

Shawn Basler
Co-CEO of Perkins Eastman
Vectors by Vecteezy.com

In works that span nearly two decades and several continents, AWA's each project expresses AWA's conviction that light informs and even creates experience, and that light itself is bound inextricably with form, space, volume, culture and human perception - the very stuff of architecture.

Thomas Vonier
President of the International Union of Architects (UIA)
Vectors by Vecteezy.com

“Such a pleasure to view and read Abhay”s new book, Contextualizing Light!  I remember fondly Abhay as a confident young graduate student at the Lighting Research Center.  His new book demonstrates what I had hoped he would do – continue a lifelong journey of learning and producing.  What strikes me most about this book are the diversity and quality of the work.  As the book title implies, the diversity of designs for different cultures and countries in context is extraordinary. Of course, as I expected, the quality of the images accompanied by his statements of philosophy show how deeply Abhay dives into each and every project.  Fundamentally, Abhay hopes that lighting design will never become a cut-and-paste exercise, as is tempting with today’s canned lighting design programs.  Abhay pushes himself for excellence and it is clear he very much wishes his lighting design contemporaries would as well.  This book may not affect them, but perhaps it will inspire the next generation of lighting designers to excel, in context."

Mark Rea, Ph.D.
FORMER DIRECTOR & Professor of Architecture and Cognitive Sciences
at the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

In works that span nearly two decades and several continents, AWA's each project expresses AWA's conviction that light informs and even creates experience, and that light itself is bound inextricably with form, space, volume, culture and human perception - the very stuff of architecture.

-Thomas Vonier

President of the International Union of Architects (UIA)

Over the years, AWA Lighting Designers has been an essential part of our creative process, and one of the most unique firms to work with in the industry. Their understanding of light as an art form that can be sculpted through shadow and nuance, rather than simply a utility, is why their collaboration on projects has made such an impact. Their use of technology as part of the design process has helped numerous design teams to both visualize the effects of lighting on space and research the effects on the human psyche.

-Shawn Basler

Co-CEO of Perkins Eastman

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