LIGHTFAIR International (LFI), the world’s largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference, set new records in the newly expanded Pennsylvania Convention Center—its 2011 show location. On Tuesday, opening day, thousands of attendees spread throughout the exhibit hall ready to discover the most innovative products on LFI’s largest trade show floor.

LFI once again broke its record, welcoming the 2011 attendees to an impressive show floor with more than 200,000 net  square feet of space—the largest in its history—showcasing nearly 500 exhibitors. The energy and excitement were evident and expected to continue through the close of the show on Thursday.

Preceding the opening of the trade show floor, the prestigious LFI Innovation Awards (LIAs)—which took place earlier that morning—provided an overview of the latest lighting-related products and designs introduced over the last 12 months. The awards program encompassed over 200 products making their debut on the 2011 LFI trade show floor.

This year, LFI received 239 submissions for the 14 designated categories, and each product was judged by an independent panel of renowned lighting professionals. The winners were awarded for product entries that exemplify the
best in innovative design and thinking. The 2011 key award winners are:

Revel by Acuity Brands: Most Innovative Product of the Year—the program’s highest award, recognizing the most innovative new product;
Low-Voltage LED Wall Wash/Flood by Tech Lighting-Generation Brands: Design Excellence Award—recognizing outstanding achievement in design;
LUXEON A by Philips Lumileds: Technical Innovation Award—recognizing the most forward-thinking advancement in lighting technology;
IES Lighting Handbook 10th Edition by the IES: Judges’ Citation Award—special recognition of an innovative product at the judges’ discretion.

LFI has also awarded nine exhibitors that excelled in visual booth display and product presentation. New this year, LFI created an award for each of the four unique pavilions on the show floor in addition to the traditional size of booth categories. The 2011 Best Booth winners are:

Crestron in the Building Integration Pavilion
Solatube International in the Daylighting Pavilion
Sensitile Systems in the Design Pavilion
Contrast Lighting, Inc. in the Global Light + Design Pavilion
Lux Dynamics in 100 square feet
Structura, Inc. in 200 to 300 square feet
Visual Lighting Technologies in 400 to 500 square feet
Xicato in 600 to 800 square feet
Philips Color Kinetics in 900 square feet and larger

The LIGHTFAIR International show and conference continues in its new location at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia through Thursday, May 19.