Experiencing Community Lights

South of our corporate headquarters in nearby San Jose, I recently drove through a freeway underpass and noticed large blue circular shapes that looked like fluid tires along the walls.  And on top of these shapes were circular light fixtures.  While waiting at the stop light before exiting the underpass, I was overwhelmed (in a good way!) by the unexpected pop of color on this massive concrete structure.  And then to my surprise, I noticed some of the fixtures started to light up.

When I got home and dug around online, I learned that San Jose has a new program called Illuminating Downtown, which “combines art and high-tech strategies to physically manifest San Jose’s goals for creating a more engaging Downtown."  The project is described as using sensors to determine activity in the underpass and present the lights based on that activity.

Although it may seem distracting at first, this art project incorporating light not only serves to enhance an area like a freeway underpass that is typically dark and dreary, but it also seems to provide functional benefits such as safety for those in the area.

At Bridgelux, we know that LEDs have better performance and offer better light quality to make outdoor spaces safer and more secure.  Fixtures and luminaires designed with our Vero® Series arrays can help outdoor areas like underpasses, parks or parking lots serve better performance and efficacy.

As someone newer to the LED lighting industry, I’m fascinated to really stop and examine how light truly affects our lives.  Rather than going to a big box store and staring at high bay fixtures, or looking at how light washes across a building exterior, it was a very pleasant surprise to not only look at light, but experience light as well in this unexpected location.

A project that encourages thought and discussion at the intersection of arts and sciences is ideal for an area like ours that thrives on being cutting-edge.  Similar to San Jose, I was excited to learn that San Francisco has Illuminate SF, currently in its third year.  Here at Bridgelux, we have the unique opportunity to discuss lighting, and specifically LED lighting, to many new audiences through projects like these.

For more information about how our LED lighting solutions can help you delight your customers, check out some of our recent case studies.