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Pont de l'Atlas

Liège, Belgium

The city of Liège is the economic and cultural capital of French-speaking Wallonia, a region of Belgium. Once a heavily industrial city, it is now looking to transform itself into a warmer, more colorful cultural center. As part of the city's beautification project, the Public Service of Wallonia commissioned a new dynamic lighting design for the Pont de l'Atlas, an 820 ft (250 m) bridge spanning across the Meuse River.

Jackson Bulamatari, senior engineer at the Public Service of Wallonia, had the objective of bringing new character to the architecture of the Pont de l'Atlas through the medium of dynamic light. To meet these requirements, electrical contractor Ghislain Broers of Yvan Paque worked with Philips Lighting to create a lighting concept. The team chose LED lighting fixtures, which can be digitally controlled to produce endless color combinations and vibrant light shows.

With design from Johan De Bleser of Philips Lighting, Broers installed Philips Color Kinetics eW Blast Powercore 2700 K LED lighting fixtures in decorative niches in the Pont de l'Atlas' arches. They also lined the bottom of each arch with 4 ft (1.2 m) Philips Color Kinetics eW Accent MX Powercore 2700 K LED luminaires, subtly highlighting the curved shape of the structure with warm white light.

The main lighting focus of the Pont de l'Atlas is the guardrail, which Broers lined with 4 ft (1.2 m) ColorGraze Powercore LED lighting fixtures. Attached to the underside of the handrail, the fixtures downlight the stone rails along the span of the bridge in saturated intelligent color. Each evening, the bridge comes alive with vivid light shows controlled by a Pharos LPC-20 controller that can also be remotely accessed via a GPRS modem. "The new LED lighting solution can be controlled via the Internet, even through my Smartphone, which is very impressive," Bulamatari comments.

Through LED lighting, the Pont de l'Atlas was transformed into a dynamic landmark that brings new color to the city. Of the completed installation, Bulamatari says, "We are extremely pleased with the result and it has really been a pleasure to work with Philips."