Mighty Lights, a privately-funded dynamic LED installation on Big River Crossing that launched in 2016, is dramatically expanding Memphis’ downtown revitalization by adding a connected LED lighting system on the iconic Hernando de Soto Bridge. The installation debuted on Oct. 27 and features Interact Landmark, a lighting system provided by Signify (formerly Philips Lighting). This is the first connected LED lighting system of its kind which can remotely monitor both the Big River Crossing and Hernando de Soto Bridges from a single dashboard, creating a citywide immersive experience.
The Mighty Lights on the Hernando de Soto Bridge include nearly 10,000 individually controllable Color Kinetics light points. These durable lighting fixtures are specifically designed to withstand harsh weather, excess vibration due to automobiles, and extreme heat. The LED technology featured in the Mighty Lights installation can produce over a billion intensely saturated colors in a variety of beam angles, ensuring that every truss and cable on both bridges is defined and vibrant. The LEDs can also create hundreds of possible light distribution patterns and configurations to create static displays or fluid and animated color shows which commence every hour on the hour after sundown on Big River Crossing and the Hernando de Soto Bridge.
“The Mighty Lights is reinvigorating one of the region’s most vital centers of activity and contributing directly to the social and economic prosperity of the community,” commented Roger Karner, US President of Signify. “By integrating the Big River Crossing and Hernando De Soto Bridge, Mighty Lights reimagines how residents and visitors will experience the iconic Memphis riverfront while also capturing the attention and imagination of millions of people and thousands of cities around the world.”
Revitalizing Memphis
The Mighty Lights on the Hernando de Soto Bridge will enhance the Memphis waterfront by illuminating over four miles of riverside parklands. There will be expansive viewpoints ranging from Harbor Town and Greenbelt Park in the north to Tom Lee Park and Big River Trail through the Arkansas floodplains in the south.
Just this year, the Mighty Lights on Big River Crossing have been dedicated to Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Mid-South Pride, and the reveal of Memphis’s first United Soccer League team, the Memphis 901 FC. Since its unveiling in 2016, the connected lighting system on Big River Crossing has received international recognition by the Athens, Greece-juried American Architecture Awards and the Waterfront Center Design Excellence Award.
Quantifying Impact and ROI
The Mighty Lights was also selected as a pilot market for the Social Impact Analysis app, a software service within the Interact Landmark platform designed to help the City of Memphis and Memphis Bridge Lighting Inc. collect accurate feedback on the social and media impact of the Mighty Lights. Along with the Big River Crossing’s eco-counter, information from the app will help the city to facilitate better engagement with citizens, improve strategies to boost tourism, and enhance value for the local economy.
For more information, visit https://www.mightylights.com/.
