Lysstien

A strategic lighting installation designed to explore future illumination solutions for parks and natural areas in Aarhus, while tackling a severe lack of a sense of safety, in the area. The project was completed on 21st October 2024.

Established along Lysengvej, this innovative yet very familiar and standardised project seeks to establish the best balance possible, between minimal light volume and enhanced safety. The system controlling the lighting dynamically adapts to pedestrians, enveloping them in a protective light cocoon before dimming again.

Developed in collaboration with design studio Kollision, Lysstien presents solutions to a long-standing desire within Lys På Aarhus, to explore refinements of popular ideas for future lighting in parks and natural areas.
Standard street lighting equipment and sensors installed along the path are connected through a flexible and small footprint control system. Via Lumina, as Kollision has named the system, customizes lighting for individuals traveling along the route in real-time, creating a safe space of that ensures a safe atmosphere, before dimming again. Additionally, the system establishes good visibility conditions for approaching vehicles, making it very clear if someone is walking further ahead, not only via the light itself, but also its dynamics. When the path is unused, the light glows at low intensity, ensuring an optimal balance between darkness and sense of safety-enhancing illumination along this stretch of Nature.

The lighting system tackles evident issues of a lacking sense of safety, voiced by local residents during a pre-project dialogue period. The primary focus in the end, was ensuring minimal light volume over time while simultaneously creating a safe atmosphere for pedestrians and cyclists, which was achieved to a high degree, with a relatively small budget.

Experience:
Lysstien was a well balanced experience for me as a project manager and idea developer, which included a fair amount of pre-project dialogue and analysis. I was also very involved in the design development process, of the control system.
Highlighted circumstances, that I dealt with in this project:

Handling political desires of smart adaptive city lighting testing and refining modern ideas and solutions to eco-centric design, while maintaining a high level of usability for the public.
Advising on technical parts to make sure that fixtures and auxiliary components chosen, were right for the framework of upkeep, for the future.
Drafting and finalizing contracts with designers and contractors
Project management of installation with several contractors delivering overlapping and interdependent services
Developing and executing press package consisting of photography, descriptions, publication etc.
Defining focus in and arranging of independent analysis to measure effectiveness of the light volume and expression, in heightening the sense of safety, for users of the stretch of road.