OCULUS features the work of the OVI team in partnership with architects Thomas Phifer and Partners and Werner Sobek lhgenieure.  The New York City streetlight project featured the use of LED technology in more than 300,000 streetlights across the city. The project led to an OCULUS Summer ’07 Project Merit Award for the team.

 

There are more than 300,000 streetlights in New York City. The ubiquitous light is an essential part of the public realm and street architecture, playing a critical role in the security, economy, and aesthetic of the city. An international design competition, sponsored by the Department of Design and Construction in partnership with the Department of Transportation, drew more than 200 designs for a cost-effective streetlight that responds to the urban landscape while meeting technical performance standards. This winning design and its variations will be used throughout the five boroughs.

“What was most interesting in developing the light fixture was working collaboratively with our lighting and structural engineers. For us, this was not a beauty contest but rather a process to explore the latest lighting technologies and express them in a spirited way.” -Thomas Phifer, AIA, Architect

“Streetlamps are typically forgotten as objects of design. We especially commended this one because the architect took on such an ordinary item and made it into a thing of beauty.” -Jury

Details

Architects: Thomas Phifer and Partners, Office for Visual Interaction, and Werner Sobek lhgenieure
Project: City Lights
Client: NYC Department of Design + Construction

Project Team: Thomas Phifer, AIA, Werner Sobek, Jean Sundin, Enrique Peiniger, REatthias Schuler, Christoph Timm, Joseph Sevene, Michael Fei
Lighting Consultant: Office for Visual Interaction
Structural Engineer: Werner Sobek lngenieure
Environmental Engineer: Thanssolar

See more about the project here: https://www.oviinc.com/project/new-york-city-streetlight/

See the full article here: https://usmodernist.org/AIANY/AIANY-2007-2.pdf

See more about the article here: AIANY-2007-OVI Project Merit Award