Visual Terrain, a leading lighting design company, has been honoured with three awards from the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), including the prestigious Award of Distinction for Interior Lighting Design, sponsored by Guth Charitable Trust.
This recognises the company's work at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater, and was presented to Visual Terrain and lighting provider Bandit Lites, Inc. at the 53rd Illumination Awards ceremony on Friday, 14 August, in Denver.
The awards gala was attended by representatives from Visual Terrain and lighting provider Bandit Lites Image courtesy of Visual Terrain
Per the IES: "The Award of Distinction is the highest level of recognition honoring extraordinary achievement in lighting design. We are thrilled to recognize your firm for this exemplary work."
The company was also awarded two 2026 IES Illumination Awards of Merit for Experiential Lighting Design for its work on Netflix House locations in Dallas and Philadelphia.
All three projects will feature in the September 2026 issue of LD+A: the magazine of the IES.
The latest in a string of awards this year, these accolades follow two Thea Awards and two Lumen West Awards of Merit.
See also: Lighting the way: Visual Terrain’s 30 years of creativity & innovation
Continued awards success
Michael Mahlum, Visual Terrain's principal lighting designer, was honoured as the lead designer on the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre project.
Senior lighting designer Nicole Eng was recognised as the lead designer on the two Netflix House projects, which also won Lumen West Awards of Merit.
The ceremony in Denver was attended by Mahlum, together with Visual Terrain lighting designer Madeline Miller and Lisa Passamonte Green, CEO and principal-in-charge.
Bandit Lites was represented by Chris Barbee, VP of integration; Caleb Werkmeister, integration project manager; and Alex Becker, system integrator.
Also recognised by the Award of Distinction but not in attendance were Visual Terrain's senior lighting designer, Jacqueline Grey, associate principal production designer, Steeve Vajk, and Bandit Lites director of integration, John Jenkinson.
This marks Visual Terrain's first IES Award of Distinction. The company's previous IES Awards of Excellence include a 2000 Edwin F. Guth Memorial Award for Interior Lighting Design for the Museum of the Cherokee People.
"We are grateful to our clients on Brooklyn Paramount — Bandit Lites and Live Nation — for the opportunity to work on this beautiful historic building restoration. We are also grateful to Netflix for entrusting us with opening its first two Netflix House locations," says Passamonte Green.
"It was a privilege and an honor to be recognized alongside so much beautiful work by our colleagues in the international lighting design community."
Earlier this year, Visual Terrain launched a new sustainability initiative, cementing sustainability as a central focus of its design efforts.
