Multiple layers of white light--through fill, wash, and focus light--illuminate the Corvettes that are suspended above the reception area, creating a sense of drama.
Benny Chan/Fotoworks Multiple layers of white light--through fill, wash, and focus light--illuminate the Corvettes that are suspended above the reception area, creating a sense of drama.
The U-shaped floating stair features a concealed LED cove to evoke the idea of a car's racing stripes and nighttime striplighting on highways.
Benny Chan/Fotoworks The U-shaped floating stair features a concealed LED cove to evoke the idea of a car's racing stripes and nighttime striplighting on highways.
The reception area is treated with a mirror-polish stainless finish and uses LED strips and concealed uplights and sidelights to illuminate the classic Corvette mounted on a slow-moving turntable above.
Benny Chan/Fotoworks The reception area is treated with a mirror-polish stainless finish and uses LED strips and concealed uplights and sidelights to illuminate the classic Corvette mounted on a slow-moving turntable above.

When Edmunds.com, a car-data company, first approached the design team, the company knew exactly what it was looking for: a sleek, open, contemporary workspace for its 600-person mobile workforce based at the company’s two-level, 133,000-square-foot Santa Monica, Calif., headquarters. The brief challenged the team to design a scheme for an inclusive, easy-to-maintain, energy-efficient workspace that enjoys a gentle bright interior.

Capping the Corvettes is a ceiling circled by 4000K and 5700K backlit LED coves and accented by LED spotlights.
Benny Chan/Fotoworks Capping the Corvettes is a ceiling circled by 4000K and 5700K backlit LED coves and accented by LED spotlights.
The twisting slide is set off by a curved cove in contrast to the side light from the glass front of the conference rooms.
Benny Chan/Fotoworks The twisting slide is set off by a curved cove in contrast to the side light from the glass front of the conference rooms.

Lighting firm Architecture & Light met the challenge by implementing a scheme with multiple layers of light. To start, direct/indirect LED pendants provide 40 to 50 footcandles for the open office space. LED wall slots and downlights create an ambient lighting layer. A curved cove, fitted with LED lamps, serves as the illuminating “glue” that connects different spaces to one another and acts as a wayfinding device.

The "stoplight red" conference rooms are illuminated by backlit ceilings, focused downlights, and washes at white boards, while outlined at the perimeter with covelighting.
Benny Chan/Fotoworks The "stoplight red" conference rooms are illuminated by backlit ceilings, focused downlights, and washes at white boards, while outlined at the perimeter with covelighting.
Throughout the space, concealed coves highlight vertical surfaces and create additional visual impact.
Benny Chan/Fotoworks Throughout the space, concealed coves highlight vertical surfaces and create additional visual impact.

All of the luminaries, with the exception of a few specialty fixtures, use LED sources with a color temperature range of 3000K to 5700K, and with a CRI of 90-plus. Achieving a contrast ratio of less than 2:1 in the open workspaces and conference rooms not only enabled the project to achieve a glare-free design but also created a power density of just 0.72 watts per square foot, successfully surpassing the project’s energy goals.

Collaborative work areas are illuminated using ambient coves to provide visual comfort.
Benny Chan/Fotoworks Collaborative work areas are illuminated using ambient coves to provide visual comfort.
Circular coves and direct/indirect pendants are used to define the break areas. Discreetly located downlights add a third layer of illumination.
Benny Chan/Fotoworks Circular coves and direct/indirect pendants are used to define the break areas. Discreetly located downlights add a third layer of illumination.

Jury Comments
Lighting is integrated with the architecture. • Clear use of light to define public and private spaces.

Details
Project: Edmunds.com, Santa Monica, Calif. • Client: Edmunds.com • Architect: M + M Creative Studio, Las Vegas • Lighting Designer: Architecture & Light, San Francisco • Lighting Team Members: Darrell Hawthorne, Ling Li • Photographer: Benny Chan/Fotoworks • Project Size: 133,000 square feet • Project and Lighting Costs: Withheld • Watts per Square Foot: 0.72 • Code Compliance: Title 24 • Manufacturers: ACDC, Acuity Brands/Lithonia Lighting and Peerless, Axis Lighting, Bega, Beta-Calco, B-K Lighting, Cooledge, Delray, EcoSense, Edge Lighting, Flos, Fluxwerx, iGuzzini, Intense, LF Illumination, Lindsley Lighting, LiteLab, LED Linear, Lighting Services Inc, Lucifer, Lutron, Metalux, Soraa, Tech Lighting, Tom Dixon