2026 Howard Brandston Student Lighting Design Education Grant

Submissions Open October 1

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About The Howard Brandston Grant

The Howard Brandston Student Lighting Design Education Grant was established to encourage and recognize students who have demonstrated exceptional professional promise through the presentation of an original and ingenious solution to a supplied design problem.

The Grant Award is a plaque and a grant in the amount of $3,000 USD. Honorable Mention (if awarded) is a certificate and a grant in the amount of $1000 USD. The grant is awarded at the IES Annual Conference each year.

Group entries are acceptable. However, if a group entry is selected, each student will receive a plaque or certificate. The monetary grant will be divided among the recipients.

To be eligible to enter this competition, applicants must be enrolled as full-time students in an approved academic degree program. Approved programs are those offering a substantial core of illumination studies and are either engineering technology programs accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology; architecture programs accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board; interior design programs accredited by the Foundation for Interior Design Research; or theatre programs accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre. If there is a question about accreditation, please query.

The purpose of the Howard Brandston Student Lighting Design Education Grant is to foster good lighting and to advance the appreciation of lighting as an art.

Project Description

The project scope is focused on renovating the lower two stories of a six-story high residence of an art collector living in Washington D.C. The scope set by the client is to renovate the first and second floor to create a more prominent space in their home to showcase their collection to guests. They feel the current space arrangement doesn’t highlight the beauty of the art enough and they see room for improvement. The requested lighting design should make a statement that leaves guests with something to talk about. Project scope consists of vestibule, entry area, pre-function, multipurpose room, collections and meeting space.

The residence is located on the east side of the road with historical buildings surrounding it. Directly across the street from the residence is a three-story mixed-use building with a bookshop. On the lot adjacent to the backside of the building there is a five-story residence. The client has decided to arrange their collection to display the well-known pieces on the first floor while reserving the second floor to display the rare pieces. The glass covered staircase that connects both floors is revealed by a large opening between floors. Through this opening a guest can view up or down to the connected floors keeping the spaces connected to one another, showing the vastness of their collection.

The client wants the walls of each space to be flexible enough to mount various sizes of art pieces as the collection evolves. The first items of prominence that are seen when entering the residence are the full height glass display cases containing sculptures of various sizes. There is a large multipurpose space located at the back of the first floor that can be used for dining, exhibitions or philanthropic events. The second floor containing the rare collection makes use of the front end of the floor by using low-level display cases and by hanging art on the wall. The meeting space in the back of the floor contains the most valuable art pieces displayed in locked cases. A large table is located in the center of the room for the client to have conversations with guests. The client requests that the art is highlighted with the right level of ambiance.

The ceilings in the vestibule, pre-function and collections space will be GYP. The multipurpose room will have a white acoustic ceiling meant to dampen the noise of the large space. Excluding the glass wall that lines the outside of the stairs, all four of these spaces will have white walls. The second floor meeting room has mahogany wood walls and ceiling panels with glass windows looking out to the backside of the building. Understand that ambient lighting levels must vary in different parts of the scope. The first floor spaces are expected to have high ambiance lighting levels while the second floor spaces will have lower ambiance lighting levels to protect the rare items from deterioration.

As lighting designer, you are being asked to design the permanent lighting systems throughout the scope area. Lighting shall be well balanced and appropriate to the function and requirement of the spaces. The first floor spaces should look different from the second floor spaces but still maintain a sense of similarity to the building as a whole. The lighting must have the ability to meet multiple needs for multiple pieces of art without having to adjust and change lights as the collection evolves. But also establishing a unified design approach throughout the building. The lighting should be focused on making sure that the art is shown as the artist had intended.

Any other details necessary for the completion of your lighting design are to be inferred from the drawings and/or developed on your own. Requests for further information will not be honored as this would provide an unfair advantage.

The judges give added weight to your design concepts. While high quality presentations are expected, the judges strongly encourage entrants to clearly demonstrate their design concepts inspired by the space rather than simply producing elaborate computer graphics presentations.

Download Reflected Ceiling Plan [PDF 143 KB]
Download Floor Plan [PDF 154 KB]
Download Reflected Ceiling Plan [ZIP/DWG 497 KB]
Download Floor Plan [ZIP/DWG 357 KB]

Submission Requirements

Submit electronically (1) PDF file with maximum 15MB in size and no more than (5) 11X14 ledge or A3 size pages. PDF file shall include the following:

1. Written statement (maximum 300 words) on project objectives, lighting design approach and concept.
2. Lighting plan (within project scope line indicated) with all light fixtures clearly labelled.
3. Illustrative materials demonstrating the lighting concepts. This may include, but is not limited to renderings, diagrams, sections, elevations, perspectives, and details. Inspirational and reference images are recommended.
4. Lighting fixture schedule. This must include, but is not limited to, fixture designation, description, and specific optic performance.
5. Conceptual lighting control intent (if applicable).

Go to Submission Form