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Light Projects by Leni Schwendinger is the #1 US based professional lighting studio serving global clients. For over 20 years Light Projects has been designing innovative lighting concepts and providing full-service lighting designs that optimize city, urban, and public spaces. Experts in both day and nighttime light experiences, resulting in spectacular creative visions with light offering safety, beauty, and sustainability. Planning + Community < Previous Next > Photo: Leni Schwendinger Light Projects Photo: Leni Schwendinger Light Projects 82nd Street Partnership Lighting Strategy Location Quees, NY Client 82nd Street Partnership (Business Improvement District) Team NightSeeing The 82nd Street Partnership (BID), located in a Queens New York City commercial core, required strategic lighting advice and three distinct creative designs. A lighting task-force was assembled and a NightSeeing™ program was initiated to educate the public and stakeholders before workshopping an approach for the district’s nighttime environment. Leni Schwendinger and her team worked closely with the Partnership and their constituency to envision a lighting strategy to connect and unify district-wide assets, establish a unique discernible identity and reinforce the Partnership’s effective stewardship on behalf of property owners, merchants, residents, workers, and visitors. Site-specific lighting programs were developed during the community meetings and workshop to enhance the after-dark experience of residents, workers, and visitors through legibility, safety, and city enjoyment. All night technical measurements and observations were undertaken throughout the study area. Through the NightSeeing™ analysis, darkened gaps and on–the- ground observations identified opportunities for light to unlock potentials and strengthen area assets (subway transit nodes, building facades, public art, etc), with an eye on creating an enhanced district signature. Three model project designs were presented for funding. The “Living Lanterns” to activate public spaces with a Festival of Light, the “One Light at Night” is a storefront program, and the “Underpass Light” which illuminates the traffic corridor intersections, marks overground subway stops and enhances place identity. A set of core principles were established. - Quality of Life - Economic Development - Enhance Community Building - Placemaking - Public Health & Safety - Public-Private Partnership Guidelines were assembled in book form for future consideration.

Light Projects by Leni Schwendinger is the #1 US based professional lighting studio serving global clients. For over 20 years Light Projects has been designing innovative lighting concepts and providing full-service lighting designs that optimize city, urban, and public spaces. Experts in both day and nighttime light experiences, resulting in spectacular creative visions with light offering safety, beauty, and sustainability. Public Art < Previous Next > Uptown Flash Location East Harlem, New York Client Uptown Grand Central, NYC Department of Transportation and Design Trust for Public Space Team Design support: Hamilton Guillén Fabrication and installation: Craig Friedman Productions On-site braiding: Local volunteers Artist Leni Schwendinger has transformed a once bleak underpass into a cozy, bright and friendly plaza. In the recent past, pedestrians and commuters walked around the Department of Transportation-designated space at night rather than crossing through it. Residents and visitors now exclaim upon the luminous color and lights overhead with surprise and pleasure. The art installation is composed of simple materials made by locals and professionals. D.I.Y. string lights and community engagement work hand-in-hand. The artist’s concept is based on the design and history of hair braiding. Plaited light strands suspended below the Park Avenue Viaduct transform a desolate plaza into a luminous place to meet. To produce the artwork 150’ bulbed strands were laid out on the pavement. Neighbors and transit riders stopped by to try their hand and apply their imaginations to create the spatial and perception altering marquee. A grand opening event welcomed the neighborhood during the darkened hours of the winter solstice. Leni conducted a mini NightSeeingTM walk along the linear, raised Metro North Railway Harlem station. Guests experienced the qualities of local electrical light. Uptown Flash switched on after the observational exercise. Celebratory marching bands and free hot chocolate highlighted the event. The plaza now hosts art, theater and a market.

Light Projects by Leni Schwendinger is the #1 US based professional lighting studio serving global clients. For over 20 years Light Projects has been designing innovative lighting concepts and providing full-service lighting designs that optimize city, urban, and public spaces. Experts in both day and nighttime light experiences, resulting in spectacular creative visions with light offering safety, beauty, and sustainability. Landscape + Parks < Previous Next > Photos: Mark Johnson / Civitas NORTH EMBARCADERO VISION PROJECT (NEVP) Location San Diego, CA Client Port of San Diego Team Project Design Consultants, Civitas, Spurlock Poirier For the San Diego Esplanade, Leni Schwendinger Light Projects’ team designed illumination for the waterfront, gardens, and the Broadway approach. A multi-year project, the Embarcadero’s asphalt surfaces, sad kiosks, and lack of trees set against the magnificent San Diego Bay waters provided bones for revitalization. The project envisioned a gateway to San Diego’s downtown creating a regenerated destination. The consultant team worked with multiple clients, including the business improvement district, Civic San Diego, Port of San Diego, and the City of San Diego. A welcoming urban park interwoven with a working waterfront was the result of the redeveloped masterplan. Following a highly collaborative, public engagement process, Phase 1 of NEVP reclaimed a 1,000-foot long vehicular-oriented throughway and returns the Bay’s water’s edge to thousands of visitors enjoying the many cultural activities found along the water’s edge. The Light Projects’ team collaborated closely with two landscape architects, urban designer, engineers, and public artist. Amid the lush landscape of trees, paths, and plazas, visitors encounter architecturally bold ticket kiosks, artist-designed shade pavilions, and a café. The lighting, graphics, and furnishings recall the craft and heft of the maritime industries. A series of formal garden rooms are defined by the redesigned landscape with seating areas and a complement of custom light poles. An 8-foot-wide water quality band provides visible conveyance and treatment of stormwater to the harbor’s edge. Parallel to the walkway a runnel creates an incised, illuminated line at night. A grand hallway along West Broadway is created by Medjool Date Palm trees planted along the median and sidewalks. The tall, linear palms alternate with Schwendinger’s spiral light-poles, which are 30-feet high and perform both street lighting and up-light the palm tree canopies. At the end of Broadway, the Port Pavilion features Schwendinger’s Tidal Radiance a dynamic, exterior glass, metals, and public-art light wall. All elements of the project, including plant materials, ground surfaces, and furnishing designs, were based on the appropriate scale and durability for the coastal environment.

Light Projects by Leni Schwendinger is the #1 US based professional lighting studio serving global clients. For over 20 years Light Projects has been designing innovative lighting concepts and providing full-service lighting designs that optimize city, urban, and public spaces. Experts in both day and nighttime light experiences, resulting in spectacular creative visions with light offering safety, beauty, and sustainability. Infrastructure + Bridges < Previous Next > Photos: Ted Tarquino George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge Location Louisville, Kentucky Client Kentucky Department of Transportation, Louisville, Downtown Partnership Team Carman Architects The historic cantilevered truss bridge, locally known as Second Street Bridge, crosses the Ohio River. The approach road was transformed into a plaza with plantings, seats and, pedestrian spaces to host festivals and celebrations, shaded by the dynamically illuminated overpass. The objective was to transform the off-ramp into a vibrant promenade. The underside of the bridge is enhanced with a floating effect of cast light; outlining and illuminating the I-beam surfaces and textures. The duo-tone lighting color scheme – red and gold – is projected upon a buttercream paint color coating “canvas”. These selections are based on a celebration of amber liquid bourbon and the colors of sunset. Street lighting, also designed by Light Projects is enhanced at night for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers on Whisky Row, where the brightened bridge fascia appears as a visual destination. On the face of the bridge pointing toward Washington and Witherspoon, a line of bright beacons is programmed in dynamic and rhythmic sequences which chase up and down Second Street each hour to count-down the hour – from sunset to midnight on weekdays, and sunset to 2:00 AM on Friday and Saturday. The hourly sequences bring the old I-beam structure to life, as if the bridge itself is breathing, when looking up and toward the Ohio River.) To keep costs down, this design is notable for the use of standard fluorescent lights – most often found in offices and industrial locations. An ambiance of warmth and animation is created by combining color filters controlled by an advanced programming system. The beacons can also be seen on Paris’ Eiffel Tower.

Light Projects by Leni Schwendinger is the #1 US based professional lighting studio serving global clients. For over 20 years Light Projects has been designing innovative lighting concepts and providing full-service lighting designs that optimize city, urban, and public spaces. Experts in both day and nighttime light experiences, resulting in spectacular creative visions with light offering safety, beauty, and sustainability. Public Spaces + Streets < Previous Next > Photo: Sam Oberter Photography Photo: Leni Schwendinger Queens Plaza Streetscape & Park Location New York City, NY Client NYC Economic Development Corp Team Margie Ruddick, Wallace Roberts &Todd (WRT), Marpillero Pollak Architects, Michael Singer The Queens Plaza project spans 1.3 miles in the Long Island City Business District. The project revitalizes JFK Park and connects it to the dramatic water’s edge below the Queensboro Bridge. The installation opened in Spring 2012 and has transformed this primary entry point into Long Island City and Queens into a dynamic and appealing gateway. Results included improved traffic flow and enhanced the pedestrian environment with new sidewalks, curbs, plantings, landscaped traffic medians, bikeways, and enhanced lighting. A former parking lot was transformed into the inviting 1.5-acre Dutch Kills Green park with an array of benches, plantings, and landmark trees that are illuminated. The public space features non-invasive, drought-tolerant native plantings and artist-designed interlocking, permeable pavers that direct storm-water to the plantings. Schwendinger’s Light Projects designed the roadway, bikeway, and amenity lighting.

Light Projects by Leni Schwendinger is the #1 US based professional lighting studio serving global clients. For over 20 years Light Projects has been designing innovative lighting concepts and providing full-service lighting designs that optimize city, urban, and public spaces. Experts in both day and nighttime light experiences, resulting in spectacular creative visions with light offering safety, beauty, and sustainability. Public Art < Previous Next > Photos: Bryan Amann SpectraScape Location Dallas, Texas Client City of Dallas Team Thomas Balsley Associates, LUCID Glass, Lighting Science Group At the heart of downtown Dallas’s revitalization is the Main Street Garden Park–a contemporary public space of lawns, gardens, fountains, dog run, open-air shelters, and other family and visitor-friendly features such as an outdoor café. Architect-designed, inverted “L” shaped green-glass shade-structures standing along the edge of Main Street are set off by a long triangle of seasonally planted, colorful striated gardens. For the Park, artist Leni Schwendinger created site-specific interactive artwork. The artwork utilizes the narrow edge of four new study shelters designed by Thomas Balsley. When a passing visitor enters the shelter, the exterior edges of the L-shaped structure glow with vertical bands of luminous color. Connecting the artwork to the garden itself, four seasonal color palettes were derived from the nearby field of striated plantings—rusts and golds for fall, pinks, yellows, and greens for summer, and so on—striving to differentiate each combination of hues. Winter, spring, summer, and fall are announced through rhythmic sequences of colors and tones. To achieve this effect, innovative LED technologies and computer electronics were employed along with custom fabricated art-glass panels. The artwork invites participation and calls attention to the often-forgotten periphery of an everyday structure. The art installation transforms a park shelter into a compelling nighttime urban experience. SpectraScape’s light-play transforms Main Street Garden Park into an urban oasis visible day and night.

Light Projects by Leni Schwendinger is the #1 US based professional lighting studio serving global clients. For over 20 years Light Projects has been designing innovative lighting concepts and providing full-service lighting designs that optimize city, urban, and public spaces. Experts in both day and nighttime light experiences, resulting in spectacular creative visions with light offering safety, beauty, and sustainability. Planning + Community < Previous Next > Video Production by Plane-Site Photo: Don Slater/Configuring Light Smart Everyday Nighttime Design, Cartagena Location Cartagena, Colombia (Latin America) Client Team Arup, Despacio, Plane-Site, London School of Economics' Configuring Light, Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, iGuzzini, Findeter Smart Everyday Nighttime Design, an international, collaborative, research project led by Leni Schwendinger, with Arup, focused on innovative ways to improve the nighttime experience in Getsemaní, a UNESCO world-heritage district in Cartagena, Colombia, undergoing rapid gentrification. The gentrification relies on the colorful and edgy authenticity of the area. Yet at the same time, threatens to obliterate that uniqueness. This project was a research-based after-dark design project, created with and for the local community. Urban design often neglects the nocturnal city, when the streets show another side to their character. The practice of nighttime design asks questions about the after-dark experience — for transportation and mobility, urban spatial elements, public acoustics, or digital amenities. Nighttime design proposes that lighting should play a more active role in shaping cities that feel safer, more legible, enjoyable, and more sociable for the user. Lighting enhances public health by extending the hours of walkability and social encounters. Additionally, it augments economic vitality through retail and cultural offerings after dark. The Smart Everyday Nighttime Design project focused on light and lighting, to develop a new lantern design for the area’s streets. The sketches developed by the community during the workshop showed how a modern, universal object could be localized according to a specific urban environment. With its blend of old and new components, the new lantern accentuated the character of Getsemaní, and its collaborative component brought together the interests of residents and commercial activity. The project had two overall ambitions: the first was to conduct research and develop a new and sustainable Nighttime Design concept; the second was to improve community connections and galvanize local stakeholders through the use of private property for public lighting. In July 2016, a community workshop and a "pop-up" pilot installation took place on a commercial street in Getsemani, Cartagena. This one-day workshop and one-night pilot were a point of departure for addressing critical issues of social/urban policy. The workshop included community stakeholders including politicians, artists, designers, cultural organizations, and most importantly, the local residents. Historical preservation, infrastructure, heritage, tourism, and mobility were discussed and debated. The project’s findings were captured on video by Plane—Site, a global agency specializing in full-cycle content strategy.

Light Projects by Leni Schwendinger is the #1 US based professional lighting studio serving global clients. For over 20 years Light Projects has been designing innovative lighting concepts and providing full-service lighting designs that optimize city, urban, and public spaces. Experts in both day and nighttime light experiences, resulting in spectacular creative visions with light offering safety, beauty, and sustainability. Infrastructure + Bridges < Previous Next > Photo: Steve Hosey Diagrams: Leni Schwendinger Light Projects Kingston Bridge Location Glasgow, Scotland Client Glasgow City Council Department of Development and Regeneration Services Team McKeown Alexander Architects, Mott MacDonald A public art commission to re-envision the most highly trafficked bridge in Europe at night. Chroma Streams; Tide and Traffic is a site-specific, integrated lighting installation for the Kingston Bridge in Glasgow, Scotland is part of the city’s lighting strategy and regeneration of the river banks. Artist Leni Schwendinger with her Light Projects team collaborated with architects McKeown Alexander. The Kingston Bridge comprises five traffic lanes in each direction, supported by two monumental concrete arcs connecting the city masses over the River Clyde. The underside of the vast concrete slabs provides a canvas for the artwork. Two great flows, seemingly antithetical, tidal, and vehicular traffic, are triggers for the illumination, color, and sequencing concepts. Glaswegian physicist Lord Kelvin's tidal graphs prompted the consideration of how these flows could be measured and illustrated through color on the bridge itself. Two great flows, seemingly antithetical, tidal, and vehicular traffic, are triggers for the illumination, color, and sequencing concepts. Glaswegian physicist Lord Kelvin's tidal graphs prompted the consideration of how these flows could be measured and illustrated through color on the bridge itself. This installation uses light in various ways: to illuminate and give resonance to the bridge's overlooked surfaces; to heighten its rapport with the flow of the river below it; and to, through a series of shifting and evolving real-time patterns, explore the relationship between the flow of traffic on the bridge itself and the slow change of the tides on the river below. Providing a daytime element to the artwork’s nighttime presence is crucial to outdoor works in the medium of light. Four 20-foot-tall stainless-steel sculptural armatures, inspired by Lord Kelvin's curvy nineteenth-century graphs, are installed in sculptural pairs on each side of the river.

Light Projects by Leni Schwendinger is the #1 US based professional lighting studio serving global clients. For over 20 years Light Projects has been designing innovative lighting concepts and providing full-service lighting designs that optimize city, urban, and public spaces. Experts in both day and nighttime light experiences, resulting in spectacular creative visions with light offering safety, beauty, and sustainability. 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.

Light Projects by Leni Schwendinger is the #1 US based professional lighting studio serving global clients. For over 20 years Light Projects has been designing innovative lighting concepts and providing full-service lighting designs that optimize city, urban, and public spaces. Experts in both day and nighttime light experiences, resulting in spectacular creative visions with light offering safety, beauty, and sustainability. Public Spaces + Streets < Previous Next > Photo: Charley Lhasa Photo: Charley Lhasa 2nd Ave Subway Location New York City, NY Client New York City Transit, The MTA Team Arup for AECOM=Arup New York City’s Second Avenue Subway took nearly 70 years to build. The political, logistics, and funding coalesced in 2007 and was observed by a ceremonial groundbreaking at 96th Street Station. Two months before the New Year’s Eve 2017 grand opening, MTA Capital Construction specifically requested Leni Schwendinger, of Arup, to “add colored light” into the monumental, glass head-houses. At that point, the arched canopies were in the final stages of construction. Arup, as part of a joint venture, was the design leader, providing full design and engineering services for the first phase of the project. Schwendinger took on the design concept and implementation challenges, a near-impossible task to fit lighting fixtures into a fully extant structure. The design had to be installed in a record 6-weeks. A special team was convened on the construction side to expedite mock-ups, attachment designs, procurement, and final install. Approvals had to be obtained from MTA executives in record time. Schwendinger’s team set about locating a flexible, LED linear fixture to fit into a precise, inches-wide extrusion. She held a mock-up for decision-makers to examine fixture choices, brightness levels, and color. A crucial decision had to be made on hue – should the head-house change color over time? Should it be the official MTA colors of blue and gold? Or simply a solitary color? A singular, vibrant blue won out. Set in a wide plaza, visible from adjacent streets and sidewalks, the 96th Street station features a blue glow marking the station’s location. Visible day and night, the spectacular entryway is an often-photographed feature of the system. Frequently, news announcers stand in front of the massive glowing structure to report the evening newscast. Schwendinger also orchestrated mock-ups for VIP MTA-architects in the stations’ underground areas.