Lighting up London’s bridges
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Over one hundred design teams from 20 countries entered a competition run by the Illuminated River Foundation and the Mayor of London. Six teams were shortlisted including Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands (LDS) who approached Sarah for specialist advice on the possible impacts of lighting the bridges on the Thames’s marine ecology. LDS went on to win the competition.
LDS has teamed up with a renowned American artist, Leo Villareal, who is famous for his project The Bay Lights which lit San Francisco Bay Bridge for two years. Due to its popularity this project has been revived and is now a permanent feature of the bridge.
Talking about her involvement, Sarah says, “This has been a really exciting project to work on so far and I am delighted that the Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands team were picked by the Illuminated River Foundation and Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, as the winners.
“It is proposed that the movement of the lights will mimic the movement of the wind and water, and the colours will reflect those of the sky. My role so far has been to give the team overarching advice on the impacts of light on fish and marine mammals, as well as bats and birds. The advice was then used during the team’s competition interview to demonstrate that the lighting would be designed with ecology in mind in order to have as little negative impact as possible on ecology. I hope to continue to be involved as the project moves on.”
The team will now start to develop the design concepts in collaboration with stakeholders and partners along the river, and in consultation with the public. It is expected that the project will be live in 2018.
(Jim Evans)
