Taj Rishikesh Resort & Spa

Terraced into a hillside above the Ganges, the Taj Rishikesh asked for restraint. GA's lighting design treats the valley's darkness as an amenity: low-mounted, warm, shielded sources trace paths and thresholds while the architecture is allowed to recede into the hill after dusk.

Interiors glow at the intimate end of the spectrum – firelight temperatures, layered shadows, the river heard rather than floodlit.

The scheme received the IES Lumen West Award in 2021, the lighting profession's recognition that the quietest scheme in the room is often the hardest one to make.