Interior Lighting Design Award, 2026 Illuminating Engineering Society Seattle
May 2026
We’re thrilled to announce that our lighting design for the Washington County Center for Addiction, Triage, and Treatment (CATT) Hillsboro Recovery Center (HRC) received recognition at this year’s IES Seattle Illumination Awards!
Our team understands that great lighting design does more than meet code—it shapes how the end users experience a space. Comfort, safety, and dignity influence the overall design, creating spaces that support the successful recovery of patients and promote a thriving work environment for staff.
About the Project
Located in Hillsboro, Oregon, the CATT HRC is a 42,000 SF walk-in facility designed to support individuals with substance use disorders and behavioral health challenges through dignity, compassion, and care. We incorporated small details that make a meaningful difference to someone walking through the door at a vulnerable moment.
The lighting design artfully balances competing demands: varied clinical and code requirements, patient safety, budget constraints, integrated controls, and a cohesive aesthetic that doesn’t feel institutional.
Patient areas feature recessed and tightly suspended direct lighting to foster a calm, unobtrusive atmosphere. Staff and support spaces use suspended direct/indirect luminaires to enhance visual comfort and reduce fatigue during long shifts. Where patient safety required it, ligature- and tamper-resistant luminaires were specified without sacrificing design quality. In waiting and lounge areas, decorative lighting with subtle sparkle was introduced to soften the clinical environment and provide warmth.
Daylight serves as both a healing element and a primary source of illumination. A feature skylight anchors the facility’s circulation spine and functions as a focal architectural moment — glowing warmly at night and flooding the space with balanced natural light during the day.
Learn more about this project HERE.
About the IES Illumination Awards
The IES Illumination Awards program, administered by the Illuminating Engineering Society, recognizes lighting designers for professionalism, ingenuity, and originality. Each entry is evaluated entirely on its own merit against program criteria, judged by a panel drawn from across the lighting and design profession.
Congratulations to our Lead Lighting Designer on the project, Lorena Ruiz!
This recognition from the IES Seattle Section reflects the caliber of thought and care that goes into every project our lighting design studio takes on. Lorena’s award is a testament to her skill, her empathy for the people who will occupy these spaces, and her ability to solve complex, layered design problems with elegance.
