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Chihuly Bridge of Glass

Tacoma, Washington

HLB collaborated with Andersson • Wise Architects on the Chihuly Bridge of Glass, a 600 foot pedestrian bridge for the City of Tacoma. This new public landmark crosses a major freeway and connects a public park and the new Museum of Glass. Design goals were to provide a safe nighttime public environment where pedestrians could experience the art installations without intrusive light fixtures or an overwhelming ambient light level. As a result, poles and bollards were eliminated as possible means of lighting the path. Instead the design relies on fixtures mounted unobtrusively in the poured concrete seating benches and the contribution of light from the three pavilions which house Chihuly's creations. Computer models approximating the integrally illuminated pavilions were inserted as light sources into HLB's overall computer model of the bridge. This design exercise was effective in demonstrating to the design team and public agencies that sufficient, predictable horizontal and vertical illumination could be produced on the pedestrian path by the art installations themselves and a limited quantity of unobtrusive, integrated fixtures. This approach to the public pathway lighting eliminated the need for poles or other expressed fixtures that would visually detract from the daytime as well as the nighttime experience.

Since the bridge is over 600 feet long with exits at the two ends only and the bridge is open to the public 24 hours a day, the nighttime environment needed to feel safe, preventing the feeling of "entrapment" while passing over the freeway. Although the light levels in the pedestrian zones between pavilions are relatively low, maintaining uniformity and creating "opportunities of refuge and recognition" were an important part of the concept. Horizontal illumination was maintained the length of the bridge, but along the way there were several locations where additional vertical illumination was added. This additional vertical illumination allows for improved facial recognition and the opportunity to better assess other pedestrians. Places of refuge include the pavilions and the covered seating areas located between pavilions. At the covered seating areas, uplights in the bench provide feature lighting of the architectural canopy and provide indirect illumination for a greatly illuminated area with higher vertical light levels.

This project's lighting design has received an Illuminating Engineering Society IIDA Award of Merit.