West Bund Orbit was recognized with a Lighting Control Innovation Award of Merit in the 2025 Illumination Awards held by the Illuminating Engineering Society. Lighting and control design by Brandston Partnership Inc. Photography by Li Zhou.
The Lighting Control Innovation Award was created in 2011 as part of the Illuminating Engineering Society’s Illumination Awards program, which recognizes professionalism, ingenuity, and originality in lighting design. The Lighting Controls Academy is proud to be a founding and longstanding founding sponsor of the Lighting Control Innovation Award, which recognizes projects that exemplify the effective use of lighting controls.
The architect endowed the West Bund Orbit (Shanghai) with a unique texture of curtain wall material, complemented by a ribbon-like streamlined structure presenting a dynamic visual effect of flow. The lighting design draws inspiration from these interwoven ribbons of architecture, the winding rivers of the Huangpu River, and the planets.
Creating ribbons of light, rivers of light, and flowing night sky galaxies filled with futuristic flowing light, these elements weave together to bring visitors a continuous sense of rotation and flow. The freehand lighting method of precise local projection of light, combined with the characteristics of the building itself, enhances the scene. At the same time, combined with the artistic design concept of the West Bank’s swirling orbit flow, it responds to the changes in time and the purpose of the scene, presenting a variety of cool dynamic lighting effect changes at different times, enhancing the theme and festive atmosphere of the scene, and further strengthening the flow and rhythmic beauty of the space.
This building is not only a cultural symbol of the new financial center, but also one of the landmarks of Shanghai’s waterfront area.
The lighting design in “West Bund Orbit” draws inspiration from interwoven ribbons of architecture, winding rivers of the Huangpu River, & the planets.
Ribbons and rivers of light, along with flowing galaxy lights, interweave, offering visitors a rotating futuristic sense.
The architect gave the West Bund Orbit a unique curtain wall texture, with a ribbon-like structure for a flowing visual effect.
On the exterior, it looks like a series of “flowing” “tracks” and a rhythmic “ribbon.”
The architecture is diverse, with light and shadow playing together.
It adapts to time and scene, shows dynamic lighting changes, enhancing atmosphere and beauty.
Changes in color and dynamics provide more possibilities for different scenes.
The lighting design uses textured stone as light texture, awakening spatial light with soft art light.
