GE Lighting announced three finalists in its 31st annual international GE Edison Award competition from the GE Lighting Institute, a teaching facility at the heart of GE Lighting’s Nela Park world headquarters in East Cleveland, Ohio. This year’s finalists represent an arts performing center, the headquarters for a global investment firm, and an event and conference addition to a cultural center.

“It was challenging to select just three finalists from this year’s exceptional project entries,” said Mary Beth Gotti, manager of the GE Lighting Institute. “The overall quality of submissions we received is among the highest ever. The designs incorporate a combination of LED and traditional light source solutions, indicative of the timing of the completion of these projects. They showcase the efforts of some of the world’s most talented lighting design teams and demonstrate how energy-efficient solutions can also excite, impress and inspire.”

The GE Edison Award competition is open internationally to lighting professionals who creatively employ significant use of GE Lighting products in a lighting design project completed during the previous two years.

The finalists for the 31st annual GE Edison Award include:

A finalist in the GE Edison Award Competition, City Performance Hall in Dallas, Texas, provides an inspiring entry to the renowned Dallas Arts District with GE Lighting products. (Photo credit: Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs.)

City Performance Hall in Dallas, Texas, USA

Lighting Design Firm: Schuler Shook, Chicago, Illinois, USA

City Performance Hall, a building of the community for the community, glows from within and provides an inspiring entry to the renowned Dallas Arts District. Designed before LEDs became truly viable as a general lighting solution, the project features GE 39-watt ConstantColor CMH® lamps for interior downlights, and wallwash fixtures in the lobby and exterior soffit. Throughout the multilevel lobby, coves lit with GE 54-watt T5 3000K fluorescent lamps are integrated into lower ceilings. A similar detail using the same lamps in dimmable fixtures is repeated under the balcony in the performance space. In the theater, general lighting is provided by dimmable GE 500-watt halogen downlights, accessible from the catwalks above. LED color-changing features allow user groups to dramatically change the dynamic of the space.

A finalist in the GE Edison Award Competition, City Performance Hall in Dallas, Texas, provides an inspiring entry to the renowned Dallas Arts District with GE Lighting products. (Photo credit: Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs.)

Global Investment Firm in San Francisco, California, USA

 Lighting Design Firm: BANKS|RAMOS Architectural Lighting Design, San Francisco, California, USA

Sitting atop a 52-story landmark skyscraper in San Francisco is the renovated and expanded headquarters of a prestigious global investment firm. The lighting respects the geometrical aspects of the architecture and reinforces the minimalist design approach. In the lobby and reception area, GE 7-watt LED MR16 lamps in slot fixtures provide the general lighting. Linear LED strip lighting creates halo effects around wood ceiling details in the lobby and dining area, enhancing the dramatic qualities of these spaces. In conference rooms and the boardroom, fluorescent fixtures with dimmable GE T5 Watt-Miser® lamps are integrated within acoustic ceilings to provide the required ambient light levels. Recessed LED fixtures with 7-watt LED MR16 lamps provide accent lighting and secondary layering for required scenes. In the challenging two-story trading room, narrow beam LED lights within continuous slots provide general lighting while controlling glare on the 50 flat-screen monitors installed in the space.

The lighting design at a prestigious global investement firm in San Francisco, Calif., respects the geometrical aspects of the architecture and reinforces a minimalist design approach. (Photo credit: Banks|Ramos, Matthew Millman Photography.)

The lighting design at a prestigious global investement firm in San Francisco, Calif., respects the geometrical aspects of the architecture and reinforces a minimalist design approach. (Photo credit: Banks|Ramos, Matthew Millman Photography.)

GE Lighting products allow the lighting system at Herscher Hall at Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, Calif., to meet the complex demands of a multitude of event types while complying with California’s strict energy codes. (Photo credit: Douglas A. Salin.)

Herscher Hall at Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, California, USA

 Lighting Design Firm: Lam Partners, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Herscher Hall adds event and conference space to the Skirball Cultural Center campus that is both grand and dramatic. The lighting system meets the complex demands of a multitude of event types and complies with the strict energy codes of California. GE 20-watt MR16 and 39-watt PAR30 ConstantColor CMH® lamps animate the plush landscaping and discreetly highlight the artwork framing the building entry.  The Pavilion’s structural wood arches frame curving ribbon skylights. Metal-skinned clouds baffle the skylights and contain all of the lighting, audio-visual, and fire-protection systems. Custom fluorescent strips with GE 32-watt T8 High Lumen lamps on 1 percent dimming ballasts cast a warm, even glow across the full height of the wood beams while remaining completely concealed from view. Three different angles of sloped-ceiling cones with GE 83-watt HIR™ Plus halogen PAR38 lamps conform to the arching clouds.

GE Lighting products allow the lighting system at Herscher Hall at Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, Calif., to meet the complex demands of a multitude of event types while complying with California’s strict energy codes. (Photo credit: Douglas A. Salin.)

GE Lighting products allow the lighting system at Herscher Hall at Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, Calif., to meet the complex demands of a multitude of event types while complying with California’s strict energy codes. (Photo credit: Douglas A. Salin.)

All designers for project entries are invited to an awards ceremony held Monday, June 2, 2014, in Las Vegas, Nev., the evening before the start of LIGHTFAIR® International 2014. During this ceremony, designers who have been designated as winners of Awards of Excellence, Awards of Merit, Awards for Environmental Design, the Award for Residential Design, and Special Citations will be recognized with personalized plaques acknowledging their lighting design achievements. The identity of the 31st annual GE Edison Award Winner will remain confidential until announced at the awards ceremony. The winner will receive a personalized Steuben crystal trophy and continued publicity throughout the following year. A distinctive plaque will also be presented to the owner of the winning installation.

All lighting projects submitted for award consideration must have been completed between Jan. 1, 2012, and Dec. 31, 2013. For more information about the GE Edison Awards, visit www.gelighting.com, and click on the Resource tab.