Located on the Korea Strait, Busan Metropolitan City is South Korea's largest port city and a hub for tourism and commerce. The Busan North Harbor Bridge, which connects the Nam District in south-central Busan to Youngdo Island, was completed in April 2014. The three-lane bridge spans 5,700 m (18,000 ft) and is intended to relieve traffic in downtown Busan.
The Busan North Harbor Bridge features beautiful diagonal suspension cables. Its design is both aesthetically pleasing and cost-effective, as the cables support the bridge's weight, minimizing construction costs.
The city of Busan partnered with Color Kinetics to transform the Busan North Harbor Bridge into a prominent national landmark. While traditional metal halide lamps were initially considered, they were ultimately rejected in favor of an LED lighting solution. With a typical useful life of 50,000 hours or more, LED luminaires are more energy efficient than metal halide lamps, which have a lifetime of up to 15,000 hours. As an added benefit, LED luminaires can natively produce a wide range of saturated, dynamic colors and can be programmed to create different effects and light shows.
760 ColorGraze MX Powercore (now specified with
ColorGraze IntelliHue Powercore) luminaires were installed along the bridge at the base of cable stays, highlighting the suspension cables with colored light. The bridge's two pylons are illuminated using 160 ColorReach Powercore gen2 luminaires (now specified with
ReachElite), installed at the top and the base of the pylons. Finally, 370 ArchiPoint iColor Powercore light points were affixed linearly down the upper section of each pylon, giving the bridge an extra sparkle. The entire installation is controlled with a single Light System Manager Ethernet lighting controller.
Lighting designer Jeong Seob Ahn, of H Avenue Company, illuminated the bridge in a staggered array of saturated colors and programmed them to shift every 20 seconds, providing a dream-like experience for travelers crossing the bridge.
