OCTVIO FRIAS DE OLIVEIRA BRIDGE, SO PAULO, BRAZIL

COLORED ACCENTS
ON THE RIVER
Written by Evelise Grunow

The lighting of the Octvio Frias de Oliveira Bridge in So Paulo, contrasts white
and coloured light in order to emphasise the innovative nature of the curved,
stayed structural system. Paulo Candura and Plinio Godoy, of Luz Urbana,
created the lighting design.

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The lighting of the Octvio Frias de Oliveira Bridge in So Paulo, contrasts

white and coloured light in order to emphasise the innovative nature of the
curved, stayed structural system. Paulo Candura and Plinio Godoy, of Luz
Urbana, created the lighting design.
The bridge aims to improve the traffic conditions in what is one of Brazils
largest metropolises by creating new links between strategic districts and the
commercial pole of the port of Santos. Known as the Estaiada bridge (the
Stayed bridge), and opened in May 2008, the bridge has quickly become an
icon of So Paulos landscape. Its dense mesh of stays and the single elevated
support tower, 138 metres high, stand out between the banks of the Pinheiros
river, which form one of the structural routes for metropolitan road traffic.
The aim of the lighting technology was to emphasise the innovative nature
of the bridges engineering and architecture, designed by the architect Joo
Valente, of Valente Valente Arquitetos. It is designed in such a way as to
create a clear distinction between the daytime and night-time views of the
bridge. Consequently, starting with the assumption that the many yellow stays
(144 of them altogether) take priority over natural light, it was decided that
the artificial lighting would serve the purpose of emphasising the form and
dimensions of the concrete tower.

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LUMINANCE AS A DESIGN RESOURCE

We opted for primary, volumetric lighting of the tower, commented Plinio

Godoy with reference to the decision not to allow the night-time lighting effects
to distort the perception of the real dimensions of the concrete structure.
For this reason, use was made of ArenaVision floodlights, 1,000 W, installed in
the vicinity of the bridge so as to focus in parallel on the main surfaces of the
volume of concrete. We used luminance as a design element, Godoy added.
However, whilst the tower was still being built, it was found that the surrounding
light would interfere negatively with the mesh of stays, due to the constant
presence of an unintentional and undesirable linear beam of light. In order
to ensure that the concept of emphasising the view of the tower remained
intact, additional ArenaVision floodlights were added, for directional focus
on strategic points of the stays. The lighting designers were aware that
public lighting makes a statement, hence the decision to focus each floodlight
individually, so as to cancel out any interference by lighting from the city.
In addition, this equipment was oriented in such a way as to create an area of
shadow on the inner surfaces of the tower, with homogeneous parallel lighting
of the inner surface, in parallel to the Pinheiros River.
The aim was to separate the lit areas from other, dark areas, on which the
coloured light would be projected, as specified by the lighting design.
In this respect Godoy pointed out that the coloured lighting of the bridge
is discreet and homogeneous, in line with the particular relationship which
the residents of So Paulo have with regard to the colour applied to public
monuments. The lighting designer explained: This is a very sensitive
relationship, timid even, and different from the situation in other major cities
in the country, such as in the North West, for example. Use was therefore
made of 146 Colorblast LED floodlights, with varied beam angles so that
surfaces with different heights would be lit homogeneously.
LIGHT ON THE DECK

The lighting of the two traffic lanes was based on two main criteria. Firstly,
since the bridge is located in a relatively dark area of the banks of the Pinheiros,
the aim was to create lighting of approximately 70 lux on the traffic lanes,
compared with 20 lux required in the surrounding environment. Godoy said:
People feel safe in these conditions.
In addition, the interface of the lighting equipment with the line of stays
dictated a maximum height of 6 metres for the lighting posts. These use
Milewide street luminaires with CosmoPolis lamps, and in view of their
limited height they are arranged bilaterally and asymmetrically, in other
words interposed every 15 metres on both sides of the lane. The lighting
of the Octvio Frias de Oliveira Bridge uses efficient, modern technology
which is representative of the state of the art in Brazilian lighting design.

Client
Prefeituw Municipal da Cidade de So Paulo
Construtora OAS
Architect
Joo Valente, Valente Valente Arquitetos,
So Paulo, Brazil
Lighting design
Plinio Godoy, Paulo Candura, So Paulo, Brazil
Lighting solutions
Alexandre Ferrari, Philips Latin America
Light sources
Philips Cosmopolis CPO-TW 140W /728
MHN-LA 1000W /956
Cree LED-HB red, blue and green RGB
Luminaires
Philips Milewide, SRS421, road optic,
ArenaVision, MVF403, Cat A1 to A5 reflectors,
Colorblast 12, BCP470, 8 and 23 beams
Lighting controls
Philips iPlayer
Websites
www.valentearquitetos.com.br
www.luzurbana.com.br

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