A Luminary Vision

Lighting the Way in Modern Residential Design

By RANDY REID

Photographer: Austin Ashline, Future Home Photo

When one envisions a masterpiece of contemporary residential design, the play of light—both natural and artificial—often stands out as the crowning touch. Here, Todd Walling, Principal, LIGHTWORKS, sheds light on the nuances of lighting design, its challenges, and the beauty it brings to a La Jolla waterfront residence.

The House with a Vision

It's not just any home, but a creation by Blue Heron, a significant player in the Las Vegas housing market. Breaking into the California domain, they crafted a home built on spec, infused with their characteristic grandeur. Although built to sell to an unknown buyer, the house carries the unique hallmark of Blue Heron's design and standards.

Integrating Smart Systems

One of the distinctive elements of this projects is that it was designed with a full Savant smart house system, including Savant Lighting and audio-video control. While the natural light control and shading solution was courtesy of Lutron, Savant held the reins for lighting control.

A noteworthy aspect of the project was its shift towards Savant lighting control commissioning. While Lutron is more familiar territory for Todd's team, they found Savant's approach to be quite user friendly. The main distinction lies in the programming angle and how different loads are assigned. While this might seem nuanced and intricate to the uninitiated, from a homeowner's perspective, the controls are intuitive, with touchscreens offering an interface reminiscent of Lutron's palladium keypads. Todd explained, “It was a bit unusual to commission for an unknown buyer as the client is usually there to tell us their preferences. In this case, we just made common-sense assumptions.”

As the conversation moved outdoors, Todd described the minimalist yet impactful landscape lighting. The floating fire features, a recessed exterior sofa set with underlighting, and a distant bar with knee space lighting are some of the prominent elements. The underlighting for the fire pit and the couch was supplied by Q-Tran. On the landscape lighting front, FX Luminaire was the chosen brand, with a particular emphasis on uplights.

The house’s location on a cliff overlooking the ocean with direct exposure to the elements presented another challenge. USAI's three-inch bevels were chosen because of their natatorium finish which is resistant to the salty air constantly blowing through the open house. All their trims are lensed and sealed, which was an important consideration.

The deck was graced with square lights, also from USAI. The wine bar, on the other hand, was adorned with tape light from the top, uniformly lighting up the area, courtesy of Q-Tran.

Todd indicated that the project encountered minimal supply chain disruptions. What were once three-to-four-week lead times extended to six to eight weeks, but these delays were still within manageable limits.

One of the biggest challenges on this job was working with a remote developer a state away. The project involved many parties, including Blue Heron and their design team, their project management team, the investors, and the builder. Each party had different opinions, so it was crucial to be solutions-driven and find the best outcome to please everyone.

You have to be wondering what does a house like this cost?

It sold last year for $22,500,000!

FIXTURE SCHEDULE

BLUE HERON: Chelsea - Architectural Lighting Materials

R3D: 3" SQUARE FLANGELESS BEVEL DOWN LIGHT-FIXED DOWN

USAI: B3SDL-15X1-30KH-45-NCIC-120V-D19 / FIXED DOWN HOUSING / FLANGELESS - Phase Dimming

USAI: B3SDL-S-WH TRIM / FIXED DOWN TRIMLESS TRIM W/ NATARORIUM FINISH

R3DW: SQUARE FLANGED BEVEL DOWN LIGHT -FIXED DOWN W/ NATARORIUM FINISH

USAI: B3SDF-15X1-30KH-45-NCIC-120V-D19 / FIXED DOWN HOUSING / FLANGED - Phase Dimming

USAI: B3SDL-S-WH TRIM / FIXED DOWN TRIMLESS TRIM W/ NATARORIUM FINISH

R3A: 3" SQUARE FLANGELESS BEVEL DOWN LIGHT-ADJUSTABLE

USAI: B3SAL-15X1-30KH-20-NCIC-120V-D19 / ADJUSTABLE HOUSING / FLANGELESS - Phase Dimming

USAI: B3SAL-25-S-WH TRIM / ADJUSTABLE TRIMLESS TRIM

S3D: 3" SQUARE FLANGELESS BEVEL SURFACE MOUNT DOWN LIGHT - FIXED DOWN

USAI: BLSD5-16C3-30KS-50-S-WH-RB-120V-DIML19

IGU: IN GRADE UPLIGHT

MP LIGHTING: L01 2W W302H 30° FROST HB 0° NO BOX BT0 BACK BOX/STANDARD MOUNTING FLANGE

MP LIGHTING: EBX-OCT1-CSMA

MP LIGHTING: LED12W700IB 120V INPUT. PHASE

DIMMABLE

LED1-8: LINEAR STATIC WHITE TAPE LIGHT

Q-Tran: SW24 Series Static White LED Tape

Q-Tran: QZ Series LED Drivers

EW1: EXTERIOR WALL / DOWN

WE-EF: 131-9503-RAL9004 / LED Wall Fixture -3/6w 3000k Medium Beam down only

EW1: EXTERIOR WALL / UP - DOWN

WE-EF: 131-9515 (N/N) RAL9004 / LED Wall Fixture2x3/12w 3000k Narrow Beam Up / Down

LSU1: EXTERIOR LANDSCAPE UP LIGHTING - LOW LEVEL

FXL: C-UL-NL-AS-AB / FXLUMI C LINE BRASS UP LIGHT NO LAMP ANTQ BRONZ

LSU1.5: EXTERIOR LANDSCAPE UP LIGHTING - MID LEVEL

FXL: C-IN-LED35WFL-AB / FXLUMI C LINE BRASS IN GROUND 5W LED ANTQ BRONZ

LSU2: EXTERIOR LANDSCAPE UP LIGHTING - WALL WASH

FXL: C-WWL-NL-AB / FXLUMI C LINE