Winners Light Up the Night at Light Middle East Awards 2023

The lighting industry came together to celebrate its brightest stars last night at the Light Middle East Awards 2023 at the Ritz Carlton DIFC. From lighting design and innovative products through hotel and hospitality projects and rising stars, and an incredible 18 winners were recognised by a panel of industry experts for their achievements.

Among the project winners were the Dubai Mall Enhancements by Light Touch pld, chosen as Mall Lighting Design Project of the Year for the creation of a sense of space in a renovation of the lighting in the world’s largest mall in May last year. It was closely followed by Nulty for its Midtown Mall, Riyadh project, which received and honourable mention in the category, while the prize for Retail Lighting Design of the Year went to Studio Lumen for Clé d’Or.

Terra, the Sustainability Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai was selected by a judging panel of industry specialists as the Project of the Year, as well as receiving the trophy for Public Space Lighting Design of the Year. Speaking at the ceremony, Chris Coulter, lighting designer at Buro Happold, said “It means such an honour, especially for this project. The Sustainability Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai was a monumental project for our team and myself, and it shows how we can do beautiful lighting but also be sustainable within the public realm.” He added, “We are very honoured by the recognition.”

Among the 18 categories acknowledged at the event were Façade Lighting Design Project of the Year, which went to Behinlighting for the

Central Library Of Esfahan Municipality and Hotel Lighting Design Project of the Year, awarded to the Radisson Blu Deira Creek by Studio Mark. The coveted International Project of the Year award went to Copper Light Crystal by mtelectro. 

The Light Middle East Awards also recognised individual products that offered innovative ideas and new solutions to challenges, in categories such as Outdoor Lighting (Funivia Outdoor by Artemide Middle East), Indoor Lighting (Parscan by ERCO Lighting), Decorative Lighting (Zumtobel AMBITUS by Zumtobel Group) and Intelligent Lighting (INTEGRALIS® by Artemide Middle East).

The Peer award, decided by public voting earlier this week at Light | Intelligent Building Middle East, MENA’s leading event for the lighting and building services industry, went to Thorn Carat by Zumtobel Group. Manan Gupta, Head of Outdoor Lighting, Middle East, India and Africa at Zumtobel Group, said that winning “Shows recognition from the industry and the fraternity.” He added, “It’s definitely special to be awarded by the people. To me personally, it means there is recognition of people caring about the environment, about nature, and it’s the people speaking.”

Dishan Issac, Show Director at event organisers Messe Frankfurt Middle East, said, “The Light Middle East Awards have been recognising the achievements and talents of the industry for nine years, and every year the innovations and products are incredible.” He continued, “The Middle East region in particular, with its ambitious building projects and smart city plans, is a fantastic opportunity for talented lighting designers to shine – just look at examples among the winners tonight, such as Terra – the Sustainability Pavilion and Dubai Mall Enhancements.”

The Light Middle East Awards 2023 took place on the final evening of. A full list of winners across all 18 categories is available on the website.