Prix Concours Lumières 2023: City of Lyon wins 3rd Prize

As part of its 3rd Lighting Plan, the city of Lyon wants to provide solutions that are adapted to the diversity of its neighbourhoods, taking into account the way they are used. “Traverser la lumière” is an artistic project that forms part of the redevelopment of the Bas Ports in the Confluence district, on the Quai Rambaud, located under the Kitchener-Marchand and Pont-sur-la-Saône bridges and the Quarantaine railway viaduct, in Lyon’s 2nd arrondissement. This rather austere site is dedicated to soft mobility.

Controlling the impact of the lighting project on the environment was the priority for the project, which was designed in accordance with the Eco conception Lumière and Haute Qualité Environnementale / HQE® standards (Environmental High Quality). It meets the city’s energy-saving objectives, while lighting soft mobility and respecting the black grid along the Saône river, by lighting neither towards the sky nor towards the water. The public lighting installed on the upper deck is very powerful and, by reflection, indirectly illuminates the lower quay, so that neither the bridges nor the riverbanks require dedicated lighting.

This interactive, dynamic lighting scheme is based on the movements and speed of passers-by. The abutments of the three bridges carry a line of luminaires, each equipped with 4 warm white LEDs, which illuminate only the vertical surfaces of the bridge abutments. Each luminaire is controlled by an ultrasonic movement detector, and a complex control and programming system creates an intense (100%) but fleeting (4 to 25 seconds) curtain of light that makes movement safer. Three sequences have been programmed, during which light levels vary by 20% from dusk until 11pm, then by 10% from 11pm to dawn.  During the “waves of light”, triggered by the passage of a pedestrian, cyclist or runner, the intensity rises to 100%.

Lighting designer: Les Eclairagistes associés, Joseph Frey – Installers: Colas – Aximum

Equipment: Luminaires Inconel Technologies; Integrator Soliled

Download the 3rd Lighting Plan of City of Lyon>>

Photo credits: ©Joseph Frey; Michel Djaoui