Abandoned Underpass Rejuvenated With Colourful LED Lights
Posted by Amit Soni on 6th Aug 2013
No-one enjoys walking through scary subways after dark, and that goes double for abandoned and derelict ones.
Revitalising Neglected Spaces With LEDs
Indeed, until light artist Bill Fitzgibbon was commissioned to fill the 18th Street Underpass with a vibrant glowing spectrum of LED light and colour, it had been neglected for decades, making it something of a no-go area for residents and visitors to the city, and a haven for vagrants.
REV Birmingham, the organisation charged, aptly enough, with the revitalisation of the city, commissioned the installation entitled LightRails as a way to re-establish a link between the Parks District and the city centre, thereby encouraging downtown development, including restaurants, entertainment venues and allowing people to easily reach Regions Field, the city’s brand new baseball stadium.
A Stunning LED Light Display
People began to feel safe using the underpass once more, thanks to FitzGibbons’ computer-controlled LED lighting system, comprising 250 LED modules and capable of producing an astonishing 16 million different colours and patterns on the formerly featureless subterranean walls.
FitzGibbons himself was particularly enamoured of his blank canvas, stating, "If I were to design an underpass for an LED art installation, this is the type of design I would implement."
Utilising what amounted to industrial grade RGBW LED strip light, affixed with suitably sturdy Aluminium LED profiles and controlled using a hi-tech DMX system.
The system played a 17-minute program that looped all night long, and provided sufficient white light during the day. Especially in the smaller pedestrian tunnel, a single fixture generated a reflective beam angle of 360° around the tunnel. FitzGibbons added that, specifically in the pedestrian tunnel, "The beams and arches provide additional opportunities to show the spectrum."
But LightRails has done far more. Atticus Rominger, Chief Public and Investor Relations Officer at the REV Birmingham organization stated that the situation had changed from one of “trying to get people to walk through the underpass” to one in which “people come downtown just to see the lights."
When asked about the electrical cost of such an elaborate and intricate installation, FitzGibbons stated that the colour LED lighting was designed to use just 1/3rd of the energy of the previous, high-maintenance white lights, and it was added that added that energy-efficient LED lights of much smaller wattages are regularly used to replace more power-thirsty white lights.
You Too Can Achieve This!
If you’d like to emulate the light art of Bill FitzGibbons’ wonderful LightRails installation, either for your home or in a commercial setting, check out the huge range of LED strip lights on offer. Incredibly convenient to install, it’s available in a variety of LED strip light kits, which will allow you to create similarly stunning RGBW colour-changing effects.
For more information about how to purchase an amazing array of LED light-related products, go to our website.
And, if you’d like to see some more of Bill FitzGibbons’ inspiring LED light installations, why not check out his official website?
Photography: REV Birmingham, Hal Yaeger and Bill FitzGibbons
