The Cielos modular lighting system designed by Billings Jackson Design for Zumtobel has won a coveted GOOD DESIGN Award 2008, conferred by the Chicago Athenaeum.

The following is from the designer’s website:

‘Cielos, manufactured by Zumtobel, provides a uniquely simple method of designing, installing and maintaining luminous surfaces. The shallow profile ‘plug and play’ units are elegant and sophisticated and with colored light and video-compatible LED models now available, the creative scope is limitless.

Cielos can be used in a range of applications from harmonious backdrop to dynamic light show. Particularly suited to the high-quality retail market, it replaces expensive bespoke installations and enables designers and end-users to customize an environment with ease.

Cielos won the prestigious ‘Design Plus’ and the ‘Lights of the Future’ awards at its launch at Light + Building Frankfurt in April 2007 and the Industrial Design Forum’s iF Award – an internationally renowned benchmark of design excellence.

Billings Jackson Design won a GOOD DESIGN  Award 2007 for its coordinated street furniture franchise for New York City, manufactured and operated by Cemusa.

IDEA Award for Billings Jackson Design

The New York City bus shelter, designed by Billings Jackson Design for Cemusa and Grimshaw, has won a Bronze Award at the International Design Excellence Awards, announced in BusinessWeek.
The bus shelter is one element of the Coordinated Street Furniture Franchise to be installed and operated by Cemusa throughout New York City for the next twenty years. Grimshaw commissioned Billings Jackson to design the exclusive range for Cemusa, following the success of previous street furniture collaborations in Spain and South America.
Billings Jackson worked closely with key stakeholders in New York including the NYC Department of Transportation and, notably, the Art Commission, to design furniture that is at once elegant and fit for purpose. Also involved was the Newsstand Operators Association, in order to understand its members’ varied and idiosyncratic needs.
The consultation process was both highly complex and very rewarding, in that the dialogue between the designers and City representatives resulted in street furniture that is already a source of great pride for the City. The New York City Art Commission Award for Excellence in Design, awarded to the range in 2007, is the clearest expression of this success.
There will be 3300 bus shelters ultimately, across the five boroughs of New York, together with newsstands and automatic public toilets. The latter is a first for the City and another symbol of the successful collaboration with stakeholders. The intention is to extend the range to include a waste bin, news rack and public information kiosk.
The designs are all highly sensitive to context, in recognition of the importance of making minimal visual or spatial intervention in the urban landscape. As such, the bus shelter has only two ground fixings. The fully glazed rear panel does not obstruct the street facades and the simple cantilevered roof panels are translucent, providing solar shading and soft light.
Robustness and durability were also key drivers. Components include high-resistance tempered and laminated glass and stainless steel:
high quality, self-finishing materials that will withstand heavy use and ensure that the furniture to built to last.
The various elements of the range form a ‘family’ of objects, bringing coherence to the New York transit system.
Billings Jackson has successfully drawn from New York’s established vernacular for utility objects, where architectural interest takes the place of superfluous decoration, to evolve a design language that is highly distinctive while sitting lightly in its environment.

CIELOS WINS PRIZE

Zumtobel commissioned Billings Jackson Design to design and develop a new light [Cielos] for the retail market. Billings Jackson’s approach to this project was to deconstruct the market opportunity and organize a series of talent diverse workshops. The workshops allowed for a very detailed dialog and exploration of the retail market, product development and technical opportunities, and product sales criteria that resulted in a successful design brief. Taking the design brief created by the workshopcollective and Billings Jackson’s design expertise in the built environment, Zumtobel were able to bring a successful, awarding-winning product quickly to the market.
Cielos has won both the Design Plus and Lights of the Future Awards for 2008.

AEROGENERATOR

The Aerogenerator Project wins Shell springboard award 2008.
Shell Springboard is proving that there is considerable expertise and innovation within the UK small business community.

BIKERACKS

Cemusa adds bicycle shelter racks and cycle route information to the streets of New York City.
BillingsJacksonDesign have added a new design for identifying and sheltering bicycle racks to the Grimshaw Street Furniture Line for New York City Department of Transport. This is part of a wider initiative by the City to encourage the use of bicycles.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR DESIGN INTERVENTION

Times Square is one of the most visually interesting places in the world.
In addressing some of the clutter and chaos, it is important to keep and enhance what is authentic, including density, spontaneity, and the vernacular.
The design should allow for the expression of the individual and [the] unique as well as the mass-produced. Design innovation will articulate Times Square’s identity as a place where art, life, and commerce collide.

Raised viewing deck becomes a tourist destination, and a performance stage.’

More pictures: www.billingsjackson.com.