Pont Schuman, Lyon (FRA)

Lyon is known as the “City of Light”: every year on December 8, its approximately 500,000 residents celebrate the “Fête des Lumières” (Festival of Lights), and a comprehensive “Plan Lumière” continuously controls the design of the city's nighttime landscape.

The Pont Schuman bridge, which opened on November 5, 2014, is one of a series of ambitious urban development projects for Greater Lyon. The bridge connects the Croix-Rousse and Vaise districts. In order not to disturb the flow of the light, floating architecture over the Saône, the traffic bridge had to be illuminated in accordance with standards without the usual tall poles.

Together with lighting designer Joseph Frey, LEA (Les Eclairagistes Associes), ewo developed a new lens that is integrated into a specially shaped luminaire body. The luminaires can be recessed almost invisibly into the side of the bridge. From a height of only 28 centimeters above the sidewalk, they provide lighting for the roadway that is comparable to that of pole-mounted luminaires.

The distribution characteristics of the lens overcome further challenges associated with this type of solution: it prevents glare for pedestrians and drivers and is designed so precisely for the four-meter spacing between the individual light points that the light is evenly distributed from the edge to the depths of the bridge. We have equipped the luminaire with an adjustment feature. This allows irregularities in the steel structure to be accurately compensated for by adjusting the lighting angle.

ewo developed a special lens for the Schuman Bridge project. What particular challenges had to be met?

The main challenge was to achieve a maximum evenness in both illuminance and luminance. Another was to ensure that no annoying glare would emanate from the bridge. It was also important to keep maintenance as easy as possible.In that, we succeeded.

What was your experience of this development process? Why did the lighting concept come so late?

I am very satisfied with the development process. Our collaboration with ewo worked very well; it was much more difficult with the client, and everything had to move really very quickly. There were several reasons that the lighting concept was developed as late as it was.The initial concept provided for a mounting height of 70 cm, as calculated from the street.Later on, engineers made the decision that the recesses would be built at a height of about 40 cm. That was the beginning of our problems (April 2013). Then we did some tests, but no lights existed on the market that could reach the depth required (going back to the 2010 competition). We then turned to ewo, and began working with them in September 2013.

What do you think of the end result?

From my point of view, the project is a success. But I also hope that the result is convincing for everyone, and that they feel the lights of the bridge are attractive.