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The solar eclipse on April 8, 2024 brought the sun and moon’s powerful relationship to the fore. That day their universal relationship dramatically changed. The moon’s opaque form blocked the Sun’s fiery gases casting a sweeping shadow, not by night, the moon’s perceived temporal home, but by day. During a solar eclipse, the Earth’s water bodies create spring tides. Watch the video to learn about tidal phenomena caused by the dance of these heavenly bodies. Sun...and Moon, a Public Art Proposal Conceptual Design for a Bascule Bridge E. Clay Shaw Jr. Bridge, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida To recap the dynamic lighting described in the video... Envision the glow of sunset and sunrise colors suffusing the bridge surfaces. Imagine shades of blue ebbing and rising on the unique piers synchronized with the moment's tidal states. There are two high and low tides per day: spring and neap. They vary in intensity based on the relative position of the moon & sun. King tides are amplified spring tides. Learn more in the video. Under the crossing, on land, immersive, illuminated environments would attract visitors, residents and local workers to play in massive color swathes or simply to rest on benches. THREE MAIN POINTS Connection: For residents of South Florida, the connection to nature, water, wildlife, plants, and sun is ever-present. The proposed Everyone Under the Sun... and Moon installation seeks to amplify this relationship through large-scale visual representation. Site-Specifc: Luminous color displays will be triggered by tidal states and relevant calendars - real-time and site-specific. People: Light Projects’ standard methodology includes not only award-winning, aesthetic, bridge lighting design but also community and stakeholder engagement.

NightSeeing™ aims to transform cities into welcoming, inspiring, inclusive places...at night Are your planning efforts day-focused? What about the night? Read on for the Myrtle Beach case study. Scroll down to download the report with photos to learn more. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is planning and designing an Arts and Innovation District. Nighttime designer and urban lighting consultant, Leni Schwendinger was commissioned by the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance (MBDA) to conduct her NightSeeing™️ methodology to address nighttime and lighting issues and to set objectives for the future. Through close collaboration with MBDA, a customized program was delivered. This included a LightWalk, an invited workshop, a stakeholder Q&A, and an open public presentation. Stakeholders attended Leni’s talk and LightWalk tour where they experienced a fresh perspective on positive and negatively perceived night spaces, their social and physical conditions, and lighting atmospheres. The purpose was to provide a qualitative experience with a vision of the future in mind. Attendees included the Myrtle Beach Mayor, City Council, and City Operations staff. Small business owners and managers participated. Also in attendance were arts and culture representatives such as Coastal Carolina University. Vocabulary and the language of light were expanded to describe how the after-dusk vitalized district would look and feel. As a baseline, during the Envisioning Workshop, attendees identified three objectives for the District’s nighttime design. Identifiable pathways for walking and bikeways that emphasize connection A canvas of light with focal points designed with historic characteristics and innovative features Transformable fun spaces that welcome An enthusiastic community cohort was created through active learning, collective walking, and workshopping. A launch point has been established for a nighttime masterplan to improve the future Arts & Innovation District in Myrtle Beach.

2023 update from Leni Schwendinger: I just returned from the Barcelona Smart City World Expo Congress. The premier Smart City conference established in 2011. The principles shared in this article, first published by Urban Design Forum March 27, 2019, remains relevant. And now, more than ever, the proposed 'Responsively Lit Outdoor Patch', a pilot that combines connected lighting, community co-design and capacity building is critically needed to test community-based smart lighting outcomes. It is time cities consider a range of criteria – user equity, economic viability, and health – and light for nighttime design and planning initiatives. By Leni Schwendinger, with Daleana Vega Martinez and Fatima Terin As the sun sets, 9-to-5’rs leave their place of work. By 11:00pm clubbers are prowling the city and third shift workers are just starting their “day.” With night activities and flexible working hours increasingly redefining urban experience, greater emphasis should be focused on the after-dark environment. Which transformational public palettes – design, policy, zoning – can successfully enlarge New York City public space inhabitation and work opportunities? Building upon the recently formed NYC Mayor’s Office of Nightlife with its appointed Night Mayor, let’s shine a laser on our “city that never sleeps” to improve the nighttime experience. Methodologies should include: the creation of integrated guidelines for strategic and operational nighttime design, and identification of resources required for this game-altering endeavor. In sum, empower the private and public sectors to consider placemaking methods for vibrant nighttimes. Enhancements to nighttime in cities flow from three main objectives: enhancing economic vitality, improving public health, and increasing safety and welcome. With these pillars in mind, nighttime design must be rooted in community-engagement methodologies while collaborating with municipal agencies and influencing policy. • Economy: Night industries such as dining and entertainment, as well as transportation/transit, medical and sanitation, employ thousands of people and draw tourists and residents to enrich commercial enterprise. Lighting best-practice techniques, such as connective, “smart”, technologies, save city funds. • Public Health: Walkability is a new standard for city streetscape design. Wayfinding increases intuitive navigation. Inspiring pocket parks, plazas and seating optimized for after-dark usage encourage a mix of exercise and social interaction. • Welcome and safety: City-wide strategies such as Vision Zero and increased mobility options establish safer streets. Incorporating social research and enabling tactical approaches such as responsive lighting pilots develop a sense of “ownership” and pride. Temporally-based policy to grapple with alcohol and drug-related violence is another tool for safer nights New York City has joined other global cities such as London, Sydney and Amsterdam with its recently passed Local Law 2017-178, amending the City Charter to establish an office of nightlife and advisory board. Internationally, such programs initially focus on quality of life issues arising from liquor consumption and “noise” and, on the positive side, the value of live music and performance. If the NYC program follows the best practice trajectory in other cities, the next step will be a focus on culture, expanding scope to overall night planning and design opportunities that affect everyday life in our city after-dark. It is time to re-draw city design visions to include the hours of darkness. This is an invitation to urbanists who believe in places that are welcoming, heterogeneous and inclusive from dusk to dawn. Let’s add “nighttime overlay” to the language of city planning. Leni Schwendinger is a published, award-winning authority on issues of city lighting. With over 20 years of worldwide experience, she has created illuminated environments at major infrastructure sites such as subways and bridges. Currently, she is directing a startup, the International Nighttime Design Initiative. This proposal was written in collaboration with Daleana Vega Martinez and Fatima Terin of the International Nighttime Design Initiative.

Landscape + Parks < Previous Next > Photo: Philippe Renault Image: Leni Schwendinger Light Projects Zaryadye Park Location Moscow, Russia Client City of Moscow Team Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Hargreaves, Citymakers, Mobility in Chain, Buro Happold, Arup ​ ​ Leni Schwendinger joined the DS+R team for a highly sought-after, international, design competition for a park adjacent to Red Square with St Basil’s Cathedral and the Kremlin. The team was selected out of 90 submissions from 27 different countries. Russia’s geographical variety is mirrored in the landscape design: Arctic lands, birch, coastal and coniferous forests, the steppe, and a meadow. Buildings and pavilions such as concert halls, museums, restaurants, and an ice cave were envisioned as jewels in the landscape. A 70-meter panoramic observation deck is illuminated to appear as if it were suspended in mid-air. ​ Illumination concepts parallel the landscape and architectural principles. Lighting intends to create webs of starry light to mark destinations and delineate paths in an innovative, loosely structured way. Lighting displays interpretive measures of heat and cold weather by light quality and color temperature.

PUBLIC ART Uptown Flash LOCATION: East Harlem, New York, U.S. CLIENT & Partners: Uptown Grand Central, NYC Department of Transportation and Design Trust for Public Space ​ Continue Tidal Radiance LOCATION: San Diego, California, U.S. CLIENT: Unified Port of San Diego TEAM: Bermello Ajamil & Partners. Paul Basile Fabrication, DCI-Engineering Continue Dreaming in Color LOCATION: Marion O. McCaw Hall, Seattle, Washington, U.S. CLIENT: The City of Seattle, Seattle Center TEAM: LMN Architects, GGN, Ron Fogel Associates Continue Coney Island Parachute Jump LOCATION: Brooklyn, New York, U.S. CLIENT: NYC Economic Development Corporation, New York City Parks Department, Brooklyn Borough Presidents Office TEAM: STV, CAN Continue SpectraScape LOCATION: Dallas, Texas, U.S. CLIENT: City of Dallas TEAM: Thomas Balsley Associates, LUCID Glass, Lighting Science Group Continue Glowing Waterway LOCATION: Unna, Germany CLIENT: The City of Unna TEAM: Leni Schwendinger Light Projects Continue The Great Hall: A Spatial Portrait LOCATION: Liberty Science Center, Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S. CLIENT: Liberty Science Center TEAM: EwingCole, Ed Purver, Ron Fogel Associates Continue

Public Art < Previous Next > Photos: Arch Photo / Eduard Hueber Photos: Arch Photo / Eduard Hueber Coney Island Parachute Jump Location Brooklyn, NY Client NYC Economic Development Corporation, New York City Parks, Department, Brooklyn Borough Presidents Office Team STV, CAN ​ ​ Coney Island’s world-renowned Parachute Jump tower, modeled after paratrooper training towers, was constructed for the 1939 New York World’s Fair as an amusement ride. In 1941, the 260-foot tower was relocated to Coney Island’s Steeplechase Park, where it attracted half-a-million riders per year. In 1969, after the Park’s sale to the late developer Fred Trump, the Jump was closed permanently and abandoned A symbol of Coney Island’s revitalization efforts, in 2005, after the structure was landmarked it was fully refurbished. Leni Schwendinger was commissioned to conceptualize the tower as artwork. She envisioned a meeting of the popular and the mysterious— emanating from the semi-solid figure of the mushroom-shaped tower. Illuminated iconic models and sources of inspiration ranged from the Eiffel Tower, to the Empire State Building, with its shifting colors to mark public celebrations and occasions as well as dividing urban day from night. To emphasize the sense of the parachutes climbing and falling, the tower was illuminated in parts from bottom to top. Additionally, an innovative LED fixture was designed to satisfy the client’s desire for an icon that would be seen from multiple vantage points including the Verrazano Bridge. As a proof of concept, an on-site mock-up was orchestrated to observe the fixture from all directions. The bright sparkling LEDs defined the canopy of the tower. The lighting systems were integrated and programmed to animate sequences of colored light. For optimal audience connection, a calendar of programmed sequences played daily – identifying on-and-off boardwalk season, full-moon cycle, and holidays. During bird migratory season, the lights were programmed to turn off at 11:00 pm, to align with the bird life-saving “Lights Out New York” initiative. Leni Schwendinger’s artistic vision and the client’s mandate were actualized in July 2006 at a public celebration on the boardwalk—when the Parachute Jump’s starry dynamo of light was seen from the ocean, highway, boardwalk, and neighborhoods all around New York City. The award-winning design was dismantled in 2016.