Bridges at Night

Bridge design aims to capture the spirit of its site, and to create an appropriate structure that matches its surroundings.

But what happens as darkness falls?

The day and the night images of a bridge are closely related to one another - in both a positive and a negative sense.

In the positive scenario, the built structure maintains its identity, atmosphere, and potential, integrating into its surroundings by day and night, when light accentuates or even enhances its characteristics in a distinctive way.

In negative scenarios the quality of the place is no longer recognizable at night. A lack of light allows the structure to disappear, while too much illumination causes the place to stand out awkwardly; in either case randomly arranged lighting produces unstructured areas that make orientation difficult and do not feel safe.

Selectively and purposefully employed lighting creates understandable hierarchies.

How can designers create a successful mise-en-scène? What is high quality bridge lighting? What are the essential requirements? The objective of this paper/presentation is to address these questions. The presentation is not strictly scientific or too theoretical; it covers practical considerations and the most significant “hard” and “soft” factors of lighting.

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