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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. Landscape + Parks < Previous Next > Photo: Sasaki Photo: Leni Schwendinger Light Projects Jiading Parks Location Jiading, China Client Shanghai Jiading New City Development Company Ltd Team Sasaki The initial design brief for Jiading Park called for a radical transformation. In its existing state, the site was comprised of factories, warehouses, and fallow agricultural fields. The park is made of five Zones such as the fitness zone, community zone, and lake zone. The Zones are counterpointed by five major paths that interweave and interact with a variety of park elements. The lighting mirrored use and character of the paths, augmenting identity and wayfinding. The lighting design echoed the creative material palette and dynamic forms.

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 > Photos: Michael Grimm Photography Photos: Michael Grimm Photography Times Square Plaza Reconstruction Location New York, New York Client NYC Department of Design and Construction, NYC Department of Transporation Team Snohetta, Matthews Nielsen Landscape Architects, Thornton Tomasetti, Buro Happold, Wesler Cohen The Times Square Plaza Reconstruction is a case study in how integrative, site-specific illumination mirrors and intensifies planning objectives. The international draw of Times Square is due in part to the role of light.) In Times Square light is an event in and of itself. “Found” light from signage, shop windows, and marquees compete in a pulsing cacophony of sparkle and animation. In late May 2009, a pilot to improve traffic and safety in Times Square by blocking traffic and creating a temporary plaza was completed. In 2010 invited teams competed for the permanent design of the plaza. Leni Schwendinger Light Projects joined with a design team led by architecture firm Snohetta. The team’s multi-media show presentation won over the complex set of owners – a municipal and private-public consortium. Multiple sources of lighting contribute to the nighttime environment of Times Square; commercial advertising billboards, municipal lighting, and endless streams of vehicular traffic. The plaza is bathed rhythmically and chromatically with graphics from direct-view LED and bracketed billboard luminaires. In the end, as happens with many public square projects, because of liability, budget, and other agency priorities, the lighting design was simply achieved by a consolidated streetlight layout utilizing the “New” New York City light pole. Additionally, arising from Schwendinger’s early sketch concepts, bright metal disks were embedded into the paving to reflect the colored commercial light typical of Times Square. Construction was completed in 2017.

Light Projects by Leni Schwendinger is the #1 US based professional lighting studio serving global clients. Over 20 years of designing innovative lighting concepts, providing full-service light designs that optimize city, urban, and public spaces. CONTACT We welcome and value opportunities for collaboration! How did you hear about us?* Subject* Send We look forward to learning more about your project! GET IN TOUCH! leni@lslp.net 41 Union Square West, Suite 619 New York, NY 10003

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. Over 20 years of designing innovative lighting concepts, providing full-service light designs that optimize city, urban, and public spaces. SMART LIGHTING CLIENTS Architecture/Engineer/Construction Industry: Planners Municipalities Department of Transportation and Public Works Department of Planning Department of Sustainability Business Improvement Districts Architecture/Engineer/Construction Industry: Planners Municipalities Department of Transportation and Public Works Department of Planning Department of Sustainability Business Improvement Districts Architecture/Engineer/Construction Industry: Planners Municipalities Department of Transportation and Public Works Department of Planning Department of Sustainability Business Improvement Districts Architecture/Engineer/Construction Industry: Planners Municipalities Department of Transportation and Public Works Department of Planning Department of Sustainability Business Improvement Districts Architecture/Engineer/Construction Industry: Planners Municipalities Department of Transportation and Public Works Department of Planning Department of Sustainability Business Improvement Districts To launch the Capital District Smart Lighting Guidebook project, your NightSeeing™ tour was a unique and illuminating experience. As a transportation planner, it was the first time I looked at light and its function as part of the urban form and transportation system. I now think about light as a design and safety tool, and plan to use what I’ve learned in future transportation planning initiatives. –– Client The union of energy saving, responsive technologies, ownership of data and infrastructure is an ongoing debate. Issues of public space equity and social cohesion is in flux. We navigate these challenges with you. City night innovation starts with street lighting conversion to low-wattage, long-life LED which in turn boosts your city’s contribution to sustainability by reducing energy consumption and helps the economy by saving costs for replacements and maintenance. Beyond the basics of energy and cost-saving opportunities to enable streamlined government services, increase community involvement in civic design, and create enhanced nighttime placemaking are activated by our expert – and thoughtful – approach to smart technologies. Leni Schwendinger’s team is galvanized to assist cities to assess and strategize their next move to innovative lighting. DOWNLOAD EXAMPLES: Municipal Smart City Street Light Conversion & Evolving Technology Guidebook Guidebook Extract: Decision-Making Roadmap (high resolution) Learn More

Light Projects by Leni Schwendinger is the #1 US based professional lighting studio serving global clients. Over 20 years of designing innovative lighting concepts, providing full-service light designs that optimize city, urban, and public spaces. PUBLIC SPEAKING Play Video Play Video 03:51 Shades of Night | Cities of Light with Leni Schwendinger Hear from Leni Schwendinger, Creative Director at NightseeingTM to discover how light creates joy, safety and legibility after dark. Discover why planners need to place night time design at the centre of their night time economy strategy. Leni led Cities Leadership Institute's 'Get the Night Right' Masterclasses in Sydney and the Hunter Region on the Night Time Economy. Play Video Play Video 10:52 Burlington 2019 - A New Language Of Lighting | Leni Schwendinger Signify Design and Lighting Academy hosted the 2nd edition of the Burlington Sessions, a CoCreate aimed at bringing together lighting artists & designers that inspire us, push the limits and create a new language of lighting. This is a small group, by invitation only, of international recognized disruptors leading the way into the future of lighting. These sessions are very hands-on, Signify shared some of the solutions we are developing in a very early stage, our guests were able to experiment and explore, and share their ideas on what/ how would these concepts work for them and their customers. Leni Schwendinger is an award-winning authority on city lighting & creator of illuminated environments. This work is shared through her public speaking & envisioning engagements, including NightSeeing™. She directs International Nighttime Design Initiative, establishing an interdisciplinary profession. Leni is a Visiting Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and a Design Trust for Public Space Fellow (NYC) Contact us: Find more about Signify Lighting Academy: https://www.signify.com/global/lighting-academy Follow us on Social media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/SignifyUni LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/signify-lighting-university/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SignifyLightingAcademy/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/PhilipsLighting/playlists?view=50&sort=dd&shelf_id=19 #Signify #LightingAcademy #BurS2 #BurlingtonSessions #Lighting #SignifyDesign #LightingDesign #LightingArtists #PioneersofLight Play Video Play Video 35:03 The Collaborative Night: Where light and cities meet Light for Life - July 27, 2020 A recording of Leni Schwendinger's unique presentation on behalf of Lighting Urban Communities International (LUCI) and hosted by IES (Illuminating Engineering Society). Light for Life was a global two-day online conference. Play Video Play Video 03:34 Architectural Digest: Lighting the Way Join Leni, Architectural Digest and Delta Airlines in a discussion of cities after work hours. Visit the Light Projects studio in the Fashion Center district, Manhattan. Travel through Times Square and New York City, Broadway Pier in San Diego, Liberty Science Center in New Jersey and Coney Island in Brooklyn. "Light is a tool to transform cities at night. The work we do with light is meant to transform neighborhoods, districts, infrastructure and spaces. To me night is a beautiful canvas..." http://cs.condenastdigital.com/cs/promo/delta/travelbetter/ for an additional image gallery. Play Video Play Video 19:07 Leni Schwendinger on Nighttime Design for the 24-Hour City "Nighttime is an existing condition, and that condition engenders different behaviors, different situations, different perceptions at night" Leni Schwendinger discusses the role of lighting design to create a 24-hour city. Schwendinger aims to utilize lighting design to allow the nighttime to be a place of activity in the urban, where people in public feel safe and included. Leni's signature NightSeeing™ program is an eye-opening concept to understand the way lighting impacts our after-hours urban experience. By designing lighting to fit the needs of different neighborhoods rather than trying to curate a specific type of experience on top of an existing neighborhood, Schwendinger sees potential in the development of nightlife in urban areas that do not conflict with local communities. Leni Schwendinger is the founder of NightSeeing™, the International Nighttime Design Initiative, and has formerly worked at Arup, taught at Portland State University, and has been a fellow at the Design Trust for Public Space. Schwendinger’s past projects have included installations at Kingston Bridge, Glasgow, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, New York, and the Seattle Center’s McCaw Hall. She brought her first NightSeeing™ walk to Prague during reSITE's In/visible City conference. -- reSITE is an international platform connecting people and ideas to improve the urban environment. We work at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, politics, culture, and economics. We feature thought leaders whose work pushes the boundaries on how we build, design, regenerate and create life in cities, and frame them through many lenses, convening them in one place. We act as a catalyst for social action and innovative leadership. We encourage an exchange of ideas about making cities more livable, competitive, and resilient. We protect and promote public space, architecture, and sustainable development in cities. All to make our cities more livable, competitive, resilient, inclusive, mobile, and designed with humans in mind. Listen to our podcast Design and the City on the link below or wherever you get your podcasts. ▫️www.reSITE.org/podcast Learn More + Connect with Us! www.reSITE.org ▫️https://www.facebook.com/reSITEfestival/ ▫️https://www.instagram.com/resite_/ ▫️https://twitter.com/reSITE_ ▫️https://www.linkedin.com/company/resite-festival/ Play Video Play Video 06:14 As You Light It: Leni Schwendinger In our second installment of As You Light It we ventured to Manhattan to interview "lighting urbanist" Leni Schwendinger. From the terminals of Port Authority to the brights lights of Time Square and the muted majesty of Bryant Park at night, Schwendinger takes us on an odyssey that explores the unique effects of lighting in the city that doesn't sleep! ONLINE PRESENTATIONS + TRENDING TALKS Luminous Legibility: an online presentation and discussion about the trends and innovative methodologies that are rocking the world of public lighting design. Connecting Communities through Smart and Responsive Lighting: Using the newly released Smart Lighting Guidebook , Leni presents a holistic approach to digital technologies — valuing safety, welcome, walkability, and social capital -- to consider the practical the advantages of connected lighting as a critical tool for around-the-clock placemaking. SCHEDULE TODAY LUCI recently commissioned Leni to compile a report about the state of the field of urban lighting in the U.S. The report submitted by Leni is excellent. It showcases her curiosity and her expertise on the topic. It uncovers interesting differences in nighttime lighting values and governance between European cities and those in America. We are looking forward to continuing our collaborations with Leni on this research." — Mark Burton-Page Director General, Lighting Urban Communities International Association

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.

SEARCH RESULTS All (142) Blog Posts (95) Other Pages (47) 142 items found Blog Posts (95) Light: Power, Inspire, Play Into darkness, the artistry of light proclaims a special power to inspire and play...to encourage the best proclivities of our built environment. Urban Braids in Progress in Flatbush Brooklyn On June 3, 4, and 5 Chris and I spent midnight work shifts so common for urban lighting. This time supervising prepared string and rope -light while the strands were suspended by Friedman Productions. The subway train splits Newkirk Plaza into 2 walkways lined with gritty retail and restaurants. Looking up from Brooklyn’s Newkirk Plaza subway platform, the straphanger will exclaim, I have arrived! Also looking down from the Plaza, Urban Braids presents a carnivalesque sight against the smooth subway platform illumination. A strange juxtaposition. D.I.Y. Lighting is braided, twisted string lighting made by local community. The Evolution of Community Engagement- where are we now? Community Engagement: Beyond the Survey A 2-Way Street What is your view about community participation in public space design? Community design approaches are evolving through best-practice methodologies, including pilots, research, and hands-on co-creation. Lighting designers, learning from outreach program specialists, are transforming the predominant view that involving community or space-users results in mediocre design. We believe that real involvement is a reciprocal knowledge transfer. Designers provide active learning scenarios to elicit local insights. Residents, workers and stakeholders inform designers about place-keeping legacies, priorities, and geographic/socially based genius loci with which designers can develop the best public spaces even after dark! Water above Water, a Sublime Floating Landscape (Glasgow, Scotland) An early, temporal, community-engaged project In 1999 Leni was offered an opportunity to blend environmental artwork and social engagement. Site specificity is an approach that landscape architects and public artists use to make a space into a place. Design factors include the site's histories, the culture, geography, and other threads. Leni's background as a community organizer and lighting designer merged for Water Above Water. "A sea of luminous blue, green and aquamarine floodlighting dissolved and animated the stern, hand-hewn stone of the aqueduct's buttresses and arches." — Architectural Review (UK) View All Other Pages (47) Water Above Water Planning + Community < Previous Next > Photos: Guthrie Photography Photos: Guthrie Photography Water Above Water Location Forth and Clyde Canal, Glasgow, Scotland Client Glasgow 1999, British Waterways Team Leni Schwendinger Light Projects ​ ​ “As part of Glasgow’s 1999 City of Architecture and Design initiative, the Maryhill Locks were the focus of a public art project. Coordinated by American lighting designer, Leni Schwendinger, Water Above Water temporarily transformed the locks and Kelvin Aqueduct into a magical, illuminated landscape. A sea of luminous blue, green and aquamarine floodlighting dissolved and animated the stern, hand-hewn stone of the aqueduct’s buttresses and arches.” Excerpt from “Delight”, Architectural Review, December 1999. The year-long festival reiterated Glasgow's tradition of involving communities in the process of redefining their environment. Leni Schwendinger was commissioned by Independent Public Arts in Edinburgh. She aspired to "go where the people live", with an art installation of local Scottish significance that also resonated on an international scale. Water Above Water, a Sublime Floating Landscape was both a temporal art installation and a community-engaged “happening”. Conceived and designed to draw both local and international audiences to the 1,000-foot configuration of landmarked locks and aqueducts in North Glasgow's Maryhill, Water Above Water 's mixage of art, engineering, and illuminations celebrated the Forth & Clyde Canal's visible landscape and invisible industrial heritage--creating an opportunity to reflect the achievements of Glasgow's industrial past Conceived and designed to draw both local and international audiences to the 1,000-foot configuration of landmarked locks and aqueducts in North Glasgow's Maryhill, Water Above Water 's mixage of art, engineering, and illuminations celebrated the Forth & Clyde Canal's visible landscape and invisible industrial heritage--creating an opportunity to reflect the achievements of Glasgow's industrial past. Water Above Water ‘s three artistic elements were: illumination of the Forth & Clyde Canal's landscape and towpath; locally-made floating constructions scaled from miniature to life-size; and light-suffused colors onto the Kelvin Aqueduct's 400-foot-by-70-foot, rusticated-stone and buttresses in the valley below. Viewers of Water Above Water were invited to stroll through an unforgettable landscape of natural and constructed experience, while British (now Scottish) Waterway’s lockkeepers operated the lock-gates so the canal waters rose and fell in a timed sequence. Artist Leni Schwendinger instigated local involvement, which emanated from the neighborhood center’s community art and kayaking classes. Following the public artist’s design brief, student artists developed an elementary school curriculum that entailed building papier-mâché water-creature floats. An architect and professional artist group also interpreted the design brief with abstract silvery sculptures. The kayakers put the floats in place. Additionally, electric model-ship makers from east Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Park arrived to float their battleships during the installation. Zaryadye Park 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. Jiading Parks Landscape + Parks < Previous Next > Photo: Sasaki Photo: Leni Schwendinger Light Projects Jiading Parks Location Jiading, China Client Shanghai Jiading New City Development Company Ltd Team Sasaki ​ ​ The initial design brief for Jiading Park called for a radical transformation. In its existing state, the site was comprised of factories, warehouses, and fallow agricultural fields. The park is made of five Zones such as the fitness zone, community zone, and lake zone. The Zones are counterpointed by five major paths that interweave and interact with a variety of park elements. The lighting mirrored use and character of the paths, augmenting identity and wayfinding. The lighting design echoed the creative material palette and dynamic forms. ​ View All