River Lights, South Bend

The city of South Bend, Indiana, celebrated its 150th birthday on June 22nd 2015. Over 15,000 spectators turned out along the banks of the St. Joseph river to enjoy the turning on of the River Lights; a new permanent lighting installation.

• Three LPCs control the system (one on either side of the river and one at the bridge), wirelessly coordinated from a master program
• Environmentally sensitive installation of 242 LED luminaires
• Interactive lighting design covering five areas: the Jefferson St. bridge, the Keepers of the Fire sculpture, the downstream crescent that lights up the river cascades, and two new aluminium truss sculptures that flank the river; Trio and Forest
• Trio and Forest sculptures have motion-detecting sensors built in that register specific movements of people nearby and trigger a variety of subsequent lighting colours or patterns
• LPC’s inbuilt astronomical clock turns on the River Lights 30 minutes before sunset and keeps them on until sunrise
• Five minute special lighting show at sunset, and at every half hour
• Interactive features stop at midnight, taken over by more neutral lighting
• Read more about the River Lights on our blog

Lighting design: Rob Shakespeare of Shakespeare Lighting Design LLC
Control system design and installation: Mike Brubaker from Associated Control + Design
Photos: Mike Brubaker © Associated Controls + Design