The Illuminated River International Design Competition has announced 6 creative proposals competing for Lighting London’s Bridges, which includes Sam Jacob Studio, Adjaye Associates, AL_A, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Leo Villareal and Les Éclairagistes Associés (L.E.A.). Proposals by six international teams, representing seventy-three artists, architects, designers, planners and engineers from Asia, Europe, North America and South America will be unveiled on Wednesday 9 November in the Illuminated River Exhibition, a free exhibition running for three weeks at the Royal Festival Hall (RFH) until Tuesday 29 November. 

The Illuminated River is a design commission on an unprecedented scale: a scheme conceived to light central London’s bridges along the River Thames. The Illuminated River International Design Competition, organised by Malcolm Reading Consultants, with a brief for designs that include new technologies and display outstanding aesthetic quality, attracted entries from 105 teams working in the fields of art, technology and design from all over the world. 

The shortlist of six teams has been selected by an independent panel. The winner will be chosen by a jury- composed of Hannah Rothschild, Chair, The Illuminated River Foundation, Lord Rothschild, OM GBE, Chairman of RIT Capital Partners plc, Chairman of the Rothschild Foundation, Rohan Silva, Director, Second Home, Malcolm Reading, Architect and Competition Director, (Professional Chair), Professor Ricky Burdett, Professor of Urban Studies and Director of LSE Cities and the Urban Age Programme, Dame Julia Peyton-Jones, DBE, Director, Serpentine Galleries (1991 – 2016), James Turrell, Space and Light Artist (Honorary Jury Member), Ralph Rugoff, Director, Hayward Gallery, Michael Craig-Martin, Conceptual Artist, Lucy Musgrave, Director, Publica, and Justine Simons, OBE, Deputy Mayor, Culture and Creative Industries-supported by a technical advisory panel. 

The winning team will be announced on Thursday 8 December. The exhibition at the RFH showcases the shortlisted proposals by six international teams, which are also available to view online. The public is being invited to share its views on the project via a survey at the exhibition. 

With the first phase of the fundraising campaign already underway, it was announced today that £10 million has been pledged towards the Illuminated River project: £5 million by Peter Baldwin and Lisbet Rausing through the Arcadia Fund, and a further £5 million is being donated by the Rothschild Foundation. 

Speaking at the launch of the Illuminated River Exhibition, Hannah Rothschild, Chair of the Illuminated River Foundation, said today: ''Since the founding of London, the mighty Thames has been the city’s main artery, linking north and south, east and west, encouraging business, activity and recreation. But at night, the river becomes a ribbon of darkness, a place that few enjoy and at odds with the ambition to make London a 24-hour city. This project will bring light, energy, beauty and recreation to the river and at the flick of a switch, transform the city at night.''

''I am delighted that the Illuminated River Foundation has put these ideas on show. We believe that the Illuminated River will not only be a wonderful celebration of the River Thames, London’s vital artery, but will make a major contribution to the growing importance of London’s night-time economy, underlining London as a world class city, and a centre for creative industries,'' said Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London.

The shortlisted proposals on show are: 

Blurring Boundaries: Adjaye Associates with Cai Guo-Qiang, Chris Ofili, Larry Bell, Jeremy Deller, Philippe Parreno, Richard Woods, Mariko Mori, Lorna Simpson, Teresita Fernández, Joana Vasconcelos, Angela Bulloch, Thukral & Tagra, Katharina Grosse, Glenn Ligon, Doug Aitken, Tomás Saraceno, onedotzero digital consultants, Plan A Consultants, DHA, Hurley Palmer Flatt, AKT II, AECOM, Arup, Sir Robert McAlpine, Tavernor Consultancy, DP9, Four Communications, Hayes Davidson digital visualisers, Bosch and iGuzzini.

Adjaye Associates’ proposal seeks, through a series of distinctive installations that unfold and spotlight the unique histories and qualities of the 17 bridges, to reimagine the bridges not as connectors, but as the heart of London itself. The studio assembled a diverse team of international artists, each of whom have been charged with bringing to life the unique qualities of a single bridge.

Individually, each bespoke installation reveals a distinctive nuance about its host. When considered holistically, they join to form a cohesive stitching for London’s heart, a vibrant new epicentre anchoring the two banks. The installations are supplemented by a series of urban pavilions – including lookout towers, loggias and a new auditorium -running alongside both banks. These pavilions increase cohesion and clarify Adjaye Associate’s broad curatorial vision, while providing new infrastructure capable of supporting a new pedestrian-accessible cultural hub.

Thames Nocturne: Sam Jacob Studio and Simon Heijdens with Studio Dekka, Daisy Froud, Elliott Wood, Jackson Coles and Professor John Tyrer

The Thames Nocturne forms a ribbon of light connecting Chelsea to Wapping. Light itself is used as a medium to create weaves of light forming a volume in space. This volume is choreographed by live data read from the Thames itself creating an ethereal display that ebbs and flows in register with the river. 

Within the river’s dark space, the Nocturne’s purity of light and geometry contrasts with the city’s endless variation. The Nocturne is a simple gesture showing us the richness and complexity of London’s relationship to the River Thames.

Thames Nocturne: Sam Jacob Studio and Simon Heijdens with Studio Dekka, Daisy Froud, Elliott Wood, Jackson Coles and Professor John Tyrer

The Nocturne registers the natural and manmade flows that have been the constant characteristic of London and the Thames since its first settlement. 

The bridges are revealed as diverse figures in the urban landscape, their individual character revealed though monochromatic light that subtly shifts, their architectural form seeming to wax and wane as the tide rises and falls.

The Eternal Story of the River Thames: AL_A, Asif Kapadia, Simon Stephens, SEAM Design, Arup, GROSS. MAX., Mark Filip, Soundings and DP9

The tides of the Thames, its depths and its currents, are a direct force of nature. They have been this way for hundreds of thousands of years. Ever since the construction of the city, London has been an attempt to move away from the natural forces that have defined the place. 

The team wants to reveal the river as a breathing, pulsing organism and so illuminate the age and the tides of this ancient estuary.

The Eternal Story of the River Thames: AL_A, Asif Kapadia, Simon Stephens, SEAM Design, Arup, GROSS. MAX., Mark Filip, Soundings and DP9

The team wants to illuminate the river walls as a constant thread of light through the city that gently illumines the expanses of foreshore exposed at low tide. When the tide is low, the underbellies of the bridges are revealed by lighting. 

At high tide, the lighting shifts to illuminate the elevations of the bridges. The river and its tidal changes remind us that our lives play out not in the urgent context of minutes or hours, but in the slower, deeper context of thousands of centuries. It feels a good time to illuminate exactly that.

Synchronizing the City: Its Natural and Urban Rhythms: Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Oliver Beer, Arup, Copper Consultancy, L'Observatoire International, Penoyre & Prasad, Jennifer Tipton and Transsolar

As urban dwellers in a 24/7 global economy, the team is desensitised to natural cycles, like the setting of the sun and the ebb and flow of the tides. Synchronising the City aims to align the metabolism of the city and its inhabitants with the lost pulses of nature at a time of day that nature and culture intertwine and daylight submits to electric light. 

To mark the Magic Hour when the sun has crossed the horizon and the sky starts to dim, the bridges along the Thames will slowly fill with light like a vessel with liquid until they are full at the end of ‘civil twilight,’ which will be punctuated by a Night Kiss – a beam of light momentarily directed to the sky.

Synchronizing the City: Its Natural and Urban Rhythms: Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Oliver Beer, Arup, Copper Consultancy, L'Observatoire International, Penoyre & Prasad, Jennifer Tipton and Transsolar

The precise timing of each bridge will mark its geographical position and render the rotation of the earth visible while drawing the meandering form of the river virtually in the sky. As the chiming of church bells once served to gather villagers, the civic-scale lighting ceremony will celebrate a new form of urban collectivity.

Current: Leo Villareal with Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands and Future\Pace, Atelier Ten, Beckett Rankine, Bradley Hemmings, Core Five, Futurecity, Greenwich+Docklands International Festival, MBNA Thames Clippers, Montagu Evans, Pentagram, Price & Myers

Leo Villareal, the artist who created The Bay Lights (a monumental public art installation on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge), architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands and curators Future\Pace present a transformational artwork, in three stages, designed to enliven the Thames using dynamic light. 

First, Villareal’s ambitious composition integrates light and colour on the 17 bridges, from Tower Bridge to Albert Bridge, creating a sensitive, interactive and site-specific interplay with the river. Second, a strategic scheme along both banks will control commercial lighting and introduce the setting for future cultural projects. 

Current: Leo Villareal with Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands and Future\Pace, Atelier Ten, Beckett Rankine, Bradley Hemmings, Core Five, Futurecity, Greenwich+Docklands International Festival, MBNA Thames Clippers, Montagu Evans, Pentagram, Price & Myers

Third, additional proposals include a ground-breaking partnership between the MBNA Thames Clippers and artists Random International, immersive installations by Japanese technologists teamLab and other opportunities that foster community and diversity.

This project applies contemporary artist-created software to provide a kinetic programme harnessing the universal power of light and inviting meaningful and accessible public engagement at the heart of London.

A River Ain't Too Much To Light: Les Éclairagistes Associés (L.E.A.), ecqi ltd. and Federico Pietrella in association with GVA Lighting Europe Limited and ewo srl

Why will the bridges be illuminated progressively?
The switching on of the lights on the bridges is regulated to follow the ideal line of demarcation between light and shadow (twilight).

Why will there be lampposts ‘planted’ in the waters of the Thames?
The lampposts are the symbol of artificial lighting designed for the great cities of the world. Their reproductions create a second pathway that plots the course of the river.

A River Ain't Too Much To Light: Les Éclairagistes Associés (L.E.A.), ecqi ltd. and Federico Pietrella in association with GVA Lighting Europe Limited and ewo srl

Why do the lampposts ‘emerge’ from the water?
The river is a mass of living water whose depth varies according to the tides. This vertical mobility of water sees the lampposts visible to a greater or lesser degree.

Why are the lampposts all different?
Because each lamppost is a faithful reproduction of original lampposts from around the world. This collection of lampposts realises a project which characterises the city of London as the capital of exchanges between different cultures.

In a related competition, developed in collaboration with Thames Festival Trust, pupils’ ideas were selected from four London secondary schools in the Boroughs of Ealing, Enfield, Sutton and Westminster, and the London Design and Engineering UTC in Newham, responding to a similar brief to that given to the shortlisted teams. These will also be shown in the Illuminated River Exhibition. 

Seed funding of £100,000 was granted for The Illuminated River from the Olympic Reserve, to support the process for the design competition, alongside funding of £250,000 from the Rothschild Foundation, and a contribution of £500,000 from the City of London Corporation (via the Bridge House Estates) towards the delivery of the first phase. The Illuminated River Foundation will seek the balance of the costs of the project from private and philanthropic sources rather than the public purse.

All images © Malcolm Reading Consultants/individual teams 

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