Aurora pedestrian bridge, RIL 1. prize 2012

Aurora bridge is a pedestrian bridge near the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki. Aurora Bridge is over 160 meters long and about five metes wide. The design of the bridge is dominated by two steel arches spanning Nordenskiöldenkatu street. These arches which stretch to a height of 20 metres carry the load of the concrete deck. The lighting of the pathway is designed with integrated led-luminaires in handrails. Handrail lighting creates a nice, even and safe lighting. Istalled luminaires where manufactured and commissioned by Meltron. Led lights are covered with opaque polycarbonate to prevent the glare and hide away the dot shape of leds. The lighting fulfills the requirements of horizontal illuminance and evenness, and the face recognition capability defined by the semi-cylindrical illuminance. Finding the right way to illuminate the steel arches without causing glare to drivers or the people around or on the bridge was a challenge. We choosed Opticalight projectors. The gobos in projectors where made by taking pictures of the bridge from specific points. This way we managed to crop the light precisely to the steel arches and bring out the three-dimensional shapes. This technique was the best solution to minimize light pollution and glare.