Abhay Wadhwa, founder and design principal of AWA Lighting Designers, sees lighting beyond its conventional purpose. Here, he crafts a story using lighting design and technology to create moments of experience, which factor into the psyche and emotions of those who work, live, or visit the spaces designed by AWA. While doing so, he is seeking innovative solutions that challenge convention while augmenting the integrity of the architects’ vision. In doing so, pragmatic lighting design nestles comfortably with artistry. He has also served as an adjunct professor for the Graduate Lighting Design Program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s (RPI) esteemed Lighting Research Center (LRC) from 2003 to 2020. He is also the author of the recently released book “Contextualizing Light.”
Abhay founded AWA Lighting Designers in 2002. Abhay has been quietly focused on questioning the lighting zeitgeist ever since. Based in Hudson Yards, NY, he works extensively with the world’s leading architecture and design firms in the fields of commercial and mixed-use developments, urban planning, transportation, infrastructure, hospitality, and healthcare. He is an internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, educator, and author of numerous advanced light engineering and cultural lighting articles. He has worked with the United Nations Foundation on projects that address issues that marginalize many of the world’s population. Recently, he was invited to work with the Rural Haiti Project and Ethiopia’s Mary Joy Aid Through Development to improve the infrastructure, and in turn, the lives of its residents. He has also been referred to as the “Poet of Light” by a Canadian journalist and in lighter moments takes this title very seriously.