PHT Lighting Design

Designated a NYC landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, 100 Barclay's lobby renovation came with strict constraints: no penetrations to the plaster ceilings, limestone walls or floors. Every lighting decision had to be freestanding or hidden within existing infrastructure. In Ralph Walker's original 1927 lobby, all lighting came from incandescent wall sconces that flattened the space into something undifferentiated and dim. We replaced the incandescents with LEDs and layered in new elements for depth and contrast. A new LED grazer hidden above the revolving entrance door makes the decorative gold panel glow, creating a warm visual anchor at the threshold. To address the sheer volume of the 22.5' high lobby, we added glowing elements to new partitions that divide the lobby into intimate zones, with high CRI spotlights concealed at their tops — aimed at the beautiful hand-painted ceiling frescoes, which had gone largely unnoticed in the former dim lighting. Table lamps in the seating areas complete the composition, pulling the eye downward and giving the space a human scale it never had before. On the exterior, we lit the four corners and the crown — so that Walker's tower announces itself on the Manhattan skyline the way it always deserved to. Preservation Architect: @dxastudio Photographer: @peiheng_tsai #nyclandmark #nationalregisterofhistoricplaces #architecturallighting #artdecobuilding #preservationarchitecture

(Continuation of previous post) As @pendleton.adam ’s work shifted — smaller scale, more color — the lighting required a strategic adjustment. A minimal profile track system was integrated to maintain a clean ceiling plane, with controlled spot accents to activate color, texture, and layered text. Cooler color temperatures are still maintained throughout, in keeping with the chromatic intent of the paintings. A long-term dialogue between artist and light — evolving as the work evolves. Architect: @fredericktangarchitecture Photography: @jasonschmidtstudio #gallerylighting #painterstudio #lightandart #minimallighting #architecturallighting

For Adam Pendleton’s 6,000 SF Brooklyn studio, lighting has been an ongoing, evolving collaboration. This mixed-use space — painting studio, library, office, and viewing gallery — functions as a calibrated instrument for his practice. @pendleton.adam wanted no visible tracks and no exposed fixtures, so our original installation relied entirely on concealed, high-CRI tunable white linear sources providing bright, shadow-free, ambient light. This was perfect both for exhibiting the monumental black-and-white paintings he was creating at the time, and for the work spaces. (See next post for the evolution of the work and the lighting.) Architect: @fredericktangarchitecture Photography: @jasonschmidtstudio #gallerylighting #painterstudio #lightandart #minimallighting #architecturallighting

Can you have a skylight on the 17th floor of a 25-story building? Natural light and fresh air regulate mood, sleep and stress in ways we feel before we can name them — which is why a windowless room, however beautifully designed, always carries a quiet unease. For this compact powder room, we created lighting that defies its windowless location. A seamless, tunable white luminous panel becomes a faux skylight — flooding the space with convincing daylight and lifting the eye beyond an 8' ceiling that suddenly feels boundless. Through careful collaboration with the architect @workshopapd , we tucked away the technical complexities—like remote transformers and specialized mounting -- allowing the experience to remain pure: a wood-lined volume defined not by its constraints, but by light. #lightandwellbeing #psychologyoflighting #architecturallighting #circadianrhythm #residentiallighting

At the László Z. Bitó Conservatory Building of Bard College — designed by @tenberke_architects — lighting works in service of sound. In rehearsal rooms and studios, acoustic isolation drove our design. A customized floating ceiling system — engineered for minimal structural contact — required careful coordination so that the light fixtures preserved sound integrity while delivering even, glare-free illumination for musicians working solo or in ensemble. In the 150-seat performance hall, precision wall grazing activates the warm mahogany panels that conceal acoustic fabric, creating depth and texture while maintaining a dramatic backdrop for performers. At night, concealed spotlights quietly illuminate the glass colonnade connecting the old and new buildings. Invisible from the exterior, they create a luminous link while minimizing light pollution in the rural setting. Photography: @chriscooperphotographer #acousticlighting #integrateddesign #soundandlight #architecturallighting #campusdesign

For a century, New Era Cap Company @neweracapstyle has defined sports headwear—and today stands alone as the only brand with exclusive on-field, sideline, and on-court rights across the NFL, MLB, and NBA. That legacy deserves a gorgeous flagship store — and we're in the final stretch of making it happen at 300 Lafayette Street, NYC. This is what the last push looks like. Contractors and electricians are working around the clock to get everything installed during the limited time that lifts and scaffolding are available. Sometimes this means that the lights get installed on their tracks, 12' up, without our supervision, and spotlights get mixed in with floodlights. As you can see in the first photo, they are hard to tell apart --you have to have a really keen eye for the optics to spot the difference. In this case we even went back to the manufacturer @coronetled so they could show us what to look for. Another challenge is having to aim at shelves that haven’t been installed yet. Our geometric visualization skills are invaluable here. Update: just opened! Come pick out some hats for yourself! Architect: @tpgarchitecture #baseballcaps #retaillighting #architecturallighting #womeninlighting #lightingdesigner

SHoP Architects displayed WAVE/CAVE at Milan Design Week 2017. This sculptural enclosure stacks 1,670 modular extruded terra cotta blocks with uniquely shaped profiles to create undulating interior contours that are only visible from the periphery and from the balcony above. We used narrow-angle uplights to graze the rough terra cotta surface, with the light contained within the cavities of each block to draw out texture and depth. Snoots shield the light source from view, so even looking down into the installation there is no glare — just the material itself, lit from within. ✨ One of the biggest challenges was designing the lighting with essentially no budget. We found a manufacturer @llucelight @designplanlighting willing to contribute 100+ fixtures for the temporary installation, with the potential for the lighting and terra cotta assembly to later be sold as a single art piece. Our lighting received an IES Lumen Award Citation. 📍 Milan Design Week 2017 | Ca' Granda, Milano @shoparchitects @nbk_keramik @arup #MilanDesignWeek #FuoriSalone #Terracotta #Terracottafacade #DesignInstallation

This Pennsylvania residence by @tenberke_architects is organized along a strong linear axis—so much so that the photos had to extend across two images to capture its full proportions. Lighting reinforces that structure. The central living, dining, and gathering space carries the brightest light, drawing the household together, while bedrooms and offices on either side are held in calmer continuity where natural materials like wood can quietly take focus. Outside, carefully placed landscape lighting keeps the surrounding nature visible at night—so the glass never becomes a mirror, only a window to the landscape. Photography: @chriscooperphotographer #ResidentialLighting #ArchitecturalLighting #PrivateResidence #HomeDesign #LightingDesign

Today’s office: a few stories up on scaffolding, looking down into a brand-new dance studio that will soon be filled with rehearsals and performances for one of New York City’s most prominent dance companies. We’re punchlisting the lighting installation—checking from the ceiling that every fixture is mounted at the correct height and spaced precisely from the walls and from each other. It’s dusty, a little precarious, and definitely not the glamorous part of the job, but it’s where the details really matter. There’s only a short window to do this. Scaffolding rentals are expensive, so once the electricians finish installing, we inspect quickly to catch any issues before the scaffolding comes down. After that, it’s pencils down. Soon this space will house the Martha Graham School—the oldest dance school in the United States—and the Martha Graham Dance Company, the oldest modern dance company in the world, celebrating its centennial this year! #DesignProcess #LightingDesigner #ArchitecturalLighting #WomeninLighting #DanceTheater @marthagrahamdance @marthagrahamschool @mbbarchitects

Success Academy's new 70,000 sq ft NYC headquarters is anchored by a dramatic "network spine" — warm wood ceilings and columns paired with bold red carpet – that we lit with linear coves and downlights to create compression, to draw people and energy inwards. Surrounding the spine are open office floors that feature ample natural daylight, supplemented by soft, indirect pendant uplights with no visible light source that create a calm, expansive environment. #Corporateinteriors #WorkplaceDesign #LightingDesign #ModernOffice #NYCDesign @mbbarchitects @magdabiernat_photography

An especially challenging installation: This custom chandelier for Birkenstock Miami is designed to evoke floating, layered veils, pattered after the imprint of the Birkenstock sole. To create a sense of lightness, all of the lighting is in the ceiling and external to the chandelier. The challenge was that all of the lighting had to be installed and aimed PRIOR to installation of the actual chandelier, because once the veils were in place, there was no longer access to the ceiling. There was absolutely no room for error! @tpgarchitecture #lightinginstallation #RetailLighting #chandelierinstallation #lightingdesign #womeninlighting

A soaring 20-foot open ceiling and living plant wall evoke the outdoors🌿, in keeping with Birkenstock’s nature-oriented image. The lighting magnifies this open feeling while still offering warm comfort and at night, changes its spectrum for plant growth needs. A custom chandelier, patterned after the imprint of the Birkenstock sole, is lit externally to give the appearance of a floating veil. Light that brings the outside in. ✨ @tpgarchitecture #RetailLighting #ArchitecturalLighting #LightingDesign #BiophilicDesign #MiamiDesignDistrict