NEWS
The City of Jyväskylä wins Philips/LUCI city.people.light awards 2009!
Congratulations to the City of Jyväskylä (Finland) for winning the first prize of the Philips/LUCI city.people.light awards 2009. A big well done also goes to joint second prize winners, Hangzhou (China) and Lachen (Switzerland) and to the special mentions, Copenhagen (Denmark) and Moers (Germany).
The winners were announced at an award ceremony held on 20th October in Gwangju (South Korea) in the frame of the LUCI Annual General Meeting 2009. The winning lighting projects were selected from twenty entries by an independent international jury according to a number of criteria, including how the lighting project adds to the cultural and architectural heritage of a city, its night-time identity and environmental contribution.
First prize and a cheque for 10 000 euros was awarded to Mr. Kari Stroem and Mr. Pauly Partanen, representing the City of Jyväskylä, for the City’s integrated approach to lighting. This initiative set out to position the city as a forerunner in outdoor lighting, investing in the latest lighting technology to enhance its architecture.
Located in central Finland and spending most of the winter months in darkness, Jyväskylä also needed to ensure that lighting provided a strong sense of security for its vibrant and fast-growing population, while ensuring that the extensive use of artificial light is as energy efficient and as environmentally sustainable as possible.
“We appreciated Jyväskylä’s great involvement in using all the potential lighting can offer to stimulate sustainable urban development”, says Iris Dijkstra, an independent lighting designer and president of the multinational city.people.light awards jury. “The City of Light project aims to build high-quality outdoor lighting in a purposeful fashion to highlight architectural gems, as well as to create optical guidance with light. At the same time Jyväskylä will also be able to reduce the energy consumption of its public lighting”.
Now in its seventh year, the city.people.light awards process has run the rule over 141 cities since its inception. With entrants initially being concentrated in Europe, the awards have now become a truly global competition, with an increasing number of entries coming from cities in emerging economies such as China, Brazil and Russia, as well as elsewhere in Asia and Latin America.
The city.people.light awards which was created by Philips and is run in conjunction with LUCI, recompenses the city that best integrates an appreciation of the needs of contemporary urban living and the concepts of ‘city’, ‘people’ and ‘light’ in a coherent lighting strategy. The award aims to raise awareness amongst city authorities and urban architects of the advantages that sustainable urban lighting brings to a city.
About this year’s city.people.light award winners:
Jyväskylä
Jyväskylä constitutes an example of what an integrated approach of lighting can be. An approach where lighting is a major component of the city’s urban identity, and where concerns for energy efficiency, reducing light pollution and safety, build a lighting respectful of the quality of life of the city’s inhabitants. In Jyvaskyla, light is used to its full potential and the jury particularly appreciated the subtle use of lighting not only for major urban projects but also for smaller public spaces and parks where light is in direct touch with the people.
Hangzhou
The jury was impressed to see how strongly this project creates a landmark for Hangzhou, and reinforces the City’s natural and harmonious link with water.
A delicate and yet powerful project which gives a new dimension to the grand canal and reinforces the city’s identity as a whole, in its most romantic and natural aspects
This lighting project which will certainly increase the quality of life of the inhabitants while stimulating touristic and economic development for the city as a whole.
Lachen
This project was particularly appreciated by the jury for the way it was thought in harmony with its urban and natural environment. In this lighting of the port of Lachen, the designers have used light in a sensible and moderate way, creating a gentle landmark and reinforcing the charm and identity of this tourist destination.
Photo: city.people.light 2009 winners, left to right: Mr. Jean-Michel Daclin (LUCI) – Mr. Xubiao Yang (Hangzhou, PR China) – Mr. Shu Chen(Hangzhou, PR China) - Mr. Pauli Partanen (Jyväskylä, Finland) – Mr. Kari Ström (Jyväskylä, Finland) – Mr. Thomas Mika (Lachen, Switzerland) – Mr. Olivier Piccolin (Philips)