The standard of this year's entries reflected the remarkable pace of development and scale of new commercial projects in the region.
The difficult task of adjudication fell to a panel of top lighting professionals, including Barry Hannaford of the IALD, and director, dpa Lighting Consultants; Yahya Jan AIA, vice president, design director, Norr Group Consultants; Riad Saraiji, associate professor of architectural engineering at UAE University, and Paul James, Editor, Mondo*arc magazine.
Paying tribute, James said: "There is a general feeling in the design community that lighting, particularly in Dubai, is becoming increasingly 'Las Vegas' in style in order for public buildings to get noticed in the crowd. Having reviewed the entries to this year's awards I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of quality schemes throughout the region."
He added: "I am all too aware of the temptation to use 'point and shoot' colour changing techniques. This was something we were keen to avoid, instead opting for intelligent schemes with clever solutions. I'm glad to say that this was the case for most of the entries considered this year."
Since light levels in the Middle East tend to be higher than in Europe he was also pleased to see that energy efficiency was at the forefront of many of the designs.
The ballroom of the five-star Al Murooj Hotel was transformed for the evening by the company, 3D Deco. Renowned international lighting designer Jonathan Speirs (of Speirs and Major Associates) undertook the lighting design, working in conjunction with the production company, and it was he who delivered the opening address to the capacity audience, echoing Paul James' comments about the high standard of entry.
The Middle East Lighting Design Awards were divided into a number of categories with the main Middle East Project of the Year award going to Lighting Design Partnership International for The Barr Al Jissah Resort in Oman. This was singled out by the judges, who wanted to acknowledge an outstanding project and the team involved, rather than an individual. This project exhibited, in the judges' opinion, exceptional lighting design skills, innovation and vision.
Claire Brookes, event manager for MELDA on behalf of IIR Exhibitions, was delighted with the huge amount of interest generated by the inaugural Lighting Design Awards. "It is clear that this initiative has had a major impact in boosting lighting creativity in the region," she said.
The winners included Kevan Shaw Lighting Design, Delta Lighting Solution, Lighting Design Partnership International, dpa lighting consultants, and David Atkinson Lighting Design.
(Jim Evans)
