San Francisco Bridge To Become World’s Largest Light Sculpture
In honor of its own 75th anniversary, one San Francisco bridge will soon become the world’s largest light sculpture when more than 25,000 LED lights begin to light the Oakland Bay Bridge March 5. The light display, “Gift of Light” designed by artist Leo Villareal, will light the bridge from dusk until midnight for the next two years, and the individually-programmed lights will create fantastic designs across the bridge’s 1.8 miles.
The Bay Lights – Artist Rendering 2 from Words Pictures Ideas on Vimeo.
Electricians began installing the 100,000 feet of fiberoptics, power and Ethernet cables in October, carefully attaching strings of lights to the bridge’s cables. The installation is expected to cost $8 million, although the energy-efficient bulbs will be inexpensive to power with daily power charges of only about $30—or $11,000 per year. Still, the light sculpture is expected to draw spectators and generate about $97 million of business into the local economy over the next two years.
Not only will the bridge bring in millions of dollars to San Francisco’s communities, but the entire project is being funded by donations. So far $5.7 million has been funded, and the remaining $2.3 million must still be generated to fund the project through its 2015 end date. Parties interesting in donating to the project will not only receive a tax deduction for supporting the art project, but they will also be invited to customize one or more of the lights in the display.
