The Pikisaari Bridge

The Pikisaari Bridge is a horizontal line that crosses the Oulujoki river delta to reach the island of Oulu, in Northern Finland. It is one of four bridges that have been designed and built across the river to connect the islands to the mainland with a circular pedestrian trail.

The VALOA studio who won the competition launched by the Municipality of Oulu for illuminating the bridge, supervised the project in collaboration with Oulun Energy and chose to install iGuzzini luminaires.
The aim of the project was to create a solution that would blend with the landscape during all four seasons and adapt to the various natural light conditions. In Finnish culture, light has both a practical function and an important symbolic and aesthetic value and exists in close relationship with the environment it is installed in.
Accordingly, the lighting system designed by Roope Siiroinen plays with a range of different shades of white, created by a combination of warm tones from Led Tube luminaires and the cold light of Underscore InOut devices.

Linear Led Tube luminaires, in fact, have been installed at the base of the bridge to evenly illuminate the entire length of its strip-like concrete structure, while Underscore InOut devices highlight the vertical elements with cold tones, reminiscent of ice. These two contrasting colour temperatures create a dynamic sense of tension and mutual strength.

The lighting design for this project was awarded “highly commended” in the Community and Public Realm Projects 2017 category prize at the 2017 Lighting Design Awards for being a simple, but highly appealing scheme whose white light suits the architecture and landscape perfectly.