This rendering by Malcolm Reading Consultants, Leo Villareal and Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands shows what the Waterloo Bridge will look like.On Dec. 7, London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced that a British-American team—light artist Leo Villareal of New York and British architecture group Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands—has been chosen from 105 teams worldwide to illuminate the 17 bridges that span the River Thames in central London, The New York Times reports.
The 20 million pound ($25 million) project, which will be installed in 2017, will be funded with money from private and philanthropic sources. The proposal, “Currents,” will transform the river bridges into light sculptures, washed in soft shifting pink, orange, and purple lights.
Villareal is known for his creation of the “Bay Lights” installation on the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. According to the news agency, during an interview last month, Villareal said it was important to make a “simple, elegant and sophisticated” ecologically sustainable installation that would not overwhelm the architecture landmarks like Westminster Bridge.” He added that the new project will be “dynamic and ever changing. It needs to stand the test of time.”
