Three Artists Teams Selected as Finalists for San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge Artistic Lighting Project

Monday, 11 August 2008
Contact: Marguerite Elicone (619) 686-6222

The selection panel for the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge Lighting project has recommended three teams as finalists to design a signature artwork on San Diego Bay. The three teams are the Bideau Company of Ballan-Mire, France; the Peter Fink team of London, UK; and the team of Ned Kahn/ Patrick McInerney Associates/ Jason Edling of California. Two alternate teams were selected. These are Leni Schwendinger of New York City, and Grenald Waldron & Associates with Ray King of Narberth, Pennsylvania.

This phase of the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge Lighting project is sponsored by the Port of San Diego and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). The overall intent of the project is to create an artistic lighting design to illuminate the bridge which connects Coronado and San Diego. The project is geared to be a green project with energy-conserving elements and sustainable materials.

A Call for Artists to submit proposals was issued in April and the deadline to participate was June 6, 2008. The selection panel who recommended the three teams and two alternates consists of architects, arts and lighting professionals, and green energy experts.

The Bideau Company, led by Bertrand Chiron, has worked throughout Europe and has designed lighting elements for theatres and cathedrals in Arras, France. Other lighting projects from this team include the City Hall and park of St. Cyr sur Loire, France; the concert hall in Tours, France; the botanical garden of Tours, the San Telmo Palace in Sevilla, Spain and the Waddesdon Manor in Great Britain.

The Peter Fink team is based in London and has created lighting projects for the Burj Al Arab Tower in Dubai; the Zollverein Kokerei Steelworks building, which is considered an industrial landmark, in Essen, Germany and the Canary Wharf Tower in London. The tower is seen on television world-wide on New Year's Eve as hundreds of thousands of people witness the digital countdown to the New Year on its western face.

The design team of Ned Kahn/ Patrick McInerney Associates/ Jason Edling have individually been responsible for projects on the Ushibuka Bridge in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan; the De Young Museum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park and the Pittsburgh Children's Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Design teams will be paid a stipend of $15,000 to cover design fees, research, accommodations and travel during public presentations at the end of the year. The entire project is anticipated to cost between $2 million to $3 million for design, fabrication and installation. The project will be funded by private funding and/or grants.