Winner: Architectural lighting design of the year. Light Origin Studio and NC Design & Architecture (NCDA) have designed the Artifact Bar and its lighting.

The Artifact Bar is a speakeasy bar hidden within the basement of BaseHall Central Hong Kong.

In line with NCDA's interior design theme of rhythmic patterns of underground cisterns, the lighting inspiration is drawn from the underground cisterns' tranquil yet theatrical atmosphere and ethereal ambience.

The speakeasy bar's design prioritised inclusivity, ensuring that all guests could responsibly and comfortably enjoy the lighting, ambience, and environment.

Combining architectural mastery and creative illumination, the bar offers an extraordinary and ethereal experience – the ideology of the paradoxical presence of sunlight in an underground space, juxtaposed with the dimly lit surroundings, imparts a new sense of surrealism.

Judges comments: “Otherworldly. The lighting scheme gives this bar interior a painterly quality yet was also born out of the physical restraints on the site. The light sources are hidden and the result projects a futuristic sense of escapism in the space.”

Studio: Light Origin Studio and NC Design & Architecture (NCDA)
Project: Artifact Bar
Credits: Hongkong Land and Artifact Bar