Welcome to the December 2025 issue of designing lighting (dl), a celebration of lighting as storytelling.
On the cover is the world-famous Sphere. We take you inside Sphere for a look at the interior lighting concept, an integrated, pixel-level system that treats architecture as “receivers of light,” shaping emotion, wayfinding, and spectacle across public spaces.
We head to Los Angeles to explore the LAX/Metro Transit Center Station and its signature ribbon of light, a civic-scale lighting strategy built for clarity, comfort, and arrival. We step into the warm-dim poetry of designer Nancy Mah’s hillside sanctuary, where surfaces glow and the color temperature gently shifts to create a serene atmosphere.
We also recognize Emerging Lighting Designer of the Year Ajin Cho and 2025 Rep of the Year SESCO Lighting.
This issue captures what’s next—and what still matters most: using light to shape experience.
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