The architectural lighting of the Acropolis in Athens has won the prestigious LIT Design Award 2021 for the work completed in 2020.
Previously an Emmy Award winner, lighting designer Eleftheria Deko and her team at Eleftheria Deko & Associates, won the LIT Lighting Design of the Year Award for 2021 for complimenting one of the world’s landmarks in the most beautiful and useful way possible.
The Acropolis lighting she created was unveiled in September 2020 during a ceremony that was live-streamed worldwide while the award was announced back in December 2021.
Ms Deko, accepted the challenge thanks to an invitation and sponsorship by the Onassis Foundation. The lighting uses different means, intensity and gradients to highlight the architecture of the monument and enhance the perception of its shape and meaning from every angle. The designer and her team implemented new lamps that minimise light pollution and do not affect the vitality and quality of the marbles.
“The image of the Acropolis, our foremost monument, reflects and transmits the image of the country,” said Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni on Tuesday 31 May.
“The Onassis Foundation has kindly offered to undertake the significant sponsorship of a series of projects at the Acropolis. Acropolis’ light travels the world. It shows our cultural heritage. It promotes Greece,” the Minister added.
The award also recognised the contributions of Tony Lawrence (Lighting Product Director at Concord Lighting part of the Feilo Sylvania), and Craig A. Bernecker (Professor of Lighting Design at Parsons School of Design and Founder of the Lighting Education Institute) with the LIT Lifetime Achievement Award, and presented the 2021 Spotlight Prize to the LUCI Association, a non-profit organisation bringing together over 70 member towns and cities worldwide that use light as a tool for social, cultural, and economic development.
“We are thrilled that the audiovisual presentation of the new lighting of the Acropolis, received a PLATINUM award in the international MUSE creative awards in the events category,” said Ms Deko.
“We wanted maximum visual impact with minimum footprint on the environment.”
“Just as in music, pauses play an essential role, so too in lighting, shade and darkness are very important. The balance between the variations is a basic component of good lighting, in theatre as well as in architecture.”
The LIT Design Awards was created to recognise the efforts of talented international lighting product designers and lighting implementers. The organisation believes that lighting is both an art and a science, and it is one of the most important elements of design.
Watch the video from the Acropolis Lights | Audiovisual Launch Event by the Onassis Foundation here: