Chateau Pau nocturne show. © Xavier Boymond
“The culture of the city and the region has been given new interpretation through this lighting project where the involvement of the city municipality and the cultural minister has brought about a new landmark,” commented city.people.light awards jury president Cathy Johnston. “The mixture of spectacular storytelling illumination and high quality permanent lighting is unusual in a project. It has required skill to create the balance and produce high quality design.”
The Swedish city of Gothenburg had a different mission with its third prize-winning submission to the 2010 city.people.light awards – applying lighting in the transformation of the city’s former shipyard into a residential area. The project set out specifically to link the past with the present, lighting up the Västra Eriksberg yard’s giant crane to provide a visual reference to Gothenburg’s industrial history, while providing new residents to the area with an inspirational urban sculpture to welcome them home at night.
Commenting on the project, Cathy Johnston said: “The use of light has brought out unexpected qualities in the former dockland. The crane has become transformed into a sculpture creating a new landmark.” Lighting designer Lucette de Rugy added that it was: “an original idea to create new places of interest for the population in using a place where they were gathered and transforming it into an attraction for everyone.”
About the international city.people.light awards
The city.people.light awards set out to recognize the efforts cities and towns make to ‘rehumanize’ their environments, applying the medium of light for the well-being of those who live, work, visit or do business in a city or town. Awards are given to cities which best integrate an appreciation of contemporary urban living needs with the notions of ‘city’, ‘people’ and ‘light’ in a consistent lighting strategy.
The awards are presided over by an international and independent six-person jury comprised of leading lighting architects, lighting designers and municipal lighting managers. The jury deliberates on a number of criteria, including how a lighting project adds to the cultural, architectural heritage and commercial life of a city, its night-time identity and its environmental contribution.
Since its 2002 launch, the awards have run the rule over 168 urban lighting projects, including the 2010 entries.
The awards were created by Philips and run in conjunction with LUCI (the Lighting Urban Community International Association). LUCI is a unique international network bringing together 95 cities and lighting professionals engaged in using light as a major tool for urban development, with a concern for sustainability and environmental issues. By rewarding and putting forward cities which share this vision of urban lighting the city.people.light award participates in making cities within LUCI - and beyond – progress towards a better use of light.
