NE—AR in partnership with licht&soehne, Florian Licht have unveiled their collaboration for the submission entry Lichteinfassung for the invited competition for the Staging of the Kapellbrücke and Wasserturm in Lucerne, Switzerland.

The staging of the Chapel Bridge and Water Tower is structured upon its immediate context, based on an inclusive design strategy. This is implemented by highlighting individual elements of the Chapel and expanding its character within its environment.

Even the cross section of the bridge tells the story of Lucerne.

From the side of the Bahnhofstrasse, the bridge railing is 20 cm higher than from the side of Rathausquais. This marks a clear difference, and the portion which was considered Lucerne’s former city limits. On the higher side of the balustrade from the Bahnhofstrasse, the bridge had a protective function towards the city. This was the border – the edge of the city.

Our proposal addresses the staging with a respectful and well contextualized analysis of the construction elements of the Chapel Bridge and Water Tower. By extending a rhythmic series of illuminated wooden columns at the four edges of the urban area surrounding the bridge, the Chapel Bridge and Water Tower are framed and staged. This line of wooden poles creates a new urban border, therefore, redefining the way in the Chapel Bridge and Water Tower are staged. We prefer a permanent and reserved manner of performance, rather than an overwhelming, medial light performance.

Concept based on three integrated lighting scenes:

1: the interior of the Chapel Bridge:

We proposed to replace all existing fixtures against smaller, more energy-efficient and much lower maintenance LED-based luminaires which only illuminate the inside of the roof and the floor concrete, the interior still appears unlit from a distance, since the inner sides of the 56 wood beams pairs of functional lighting remain unaffected. The warm white light has a high brilliance and good colour effects.

2: The Wooden Poles:

The outer surfaces of 56 poles with two different heights are illuminated (0.75m height towards the station side and 0.95 m height in the direction Rathausquai). A series of 63 additional wooden poles are placed strategically along the border of the Water Tower and Chapel Bridge.

3: The Water Tower:

The exterior of the Water Tower is illuminated from the roofs of 3 surrounding buildings

The main design idea is the reinterpretation and staging of the two different gap heights from the bottom of the roof to the upper edge of the parapet of the bridge beam, materializes through the illuminated surfaces of wooden poles. These poles are made of the same wood that was used for the construction of the bridge.

Each pole is made from a single piece of wood, which is digitally cut to accommodate the lamp and the technical components inside. Furthermore, it is engraved on the front of a floral ornament just below the illuminated area.

The natural aging is one of the main components in the design of the wooden columns of light. Since they are made of the same wood as the Chapel Bridge, the idea is that in the long-term, the external surface of the pole reaches a similar appearance of the bridge. In this way, the surface of the pillar on which impinges the artificial light and reflects also suffer from the natural aging process.

In order to make the aging process directly visible, this surface should be polished annually at all poles. In this case, only the top layer of weathered wood, the illuminated surface, eroded and exposed the original state.