SAN FRANCISCO — The Bay Lights, an $8 million, two-year dynamic LED light installation created by artist Leo Villareal, sprang to life March 5 on a 1.8-mile span of the San Francisco side of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
Incorporating nearly 4.5 miles of Philips Color Kinetics’ eW Flex SLX LED Node lighting system and Philips’ PDS (power-data supply) units, the project includes 25,000 4200K white light LED nodes in all. Each node is individually controllable via a light system manager, an Ethernet-based communications network and a fiber optic backbone.
Legend Theatrical was tasked with the assembly-line process of turning pallets of high-tech gear into a tested and waterproof finished product that could be handed off to CalTrans workers for installation along the bridge’s vertical suspension cables.
Villareal used custom software and algorithms to take advantage of the 255 different intensity level options available for each node.
The result for viewers from afar: a seemingly endless variety of choreographed patterns, suitable for gazing and contemplation. (The view for motorists atop the span is, by design, less mesmerizing — and less distracting.)
The project, also the brainchild of Ben Davis, chairman of Illuminate the Arts (ITA), was privately funded and, as of early March, ITA was still seeking to bridge a $2 million funding gap with donations made via the group’s website, thebaylights.org.
One factor keeping costs down for the long term (Villareal and Davis hope that the installation will be able to continue beyond its current two-year permit) is the 85 percent reduction in energy usage afforded by LED technology, offset further with a supplemental boost from solar energy sources.
Over the course of the year, it will cost approximately $11,000 in energy to light the installation, which translates into $30 per day, or $4.25 per hour, notes Philips.
Along with the millions who have a clear line of site to the installation itself, others can watch via a live webstream at http://www.thebaylights.org.
More details at www.plsn.me/17fx5eN
For more information about Legend Theatrical, go to:
