Brest chooses LEC innovation for the Recouvrance bridge!

By Batipole Edition Published on Thursday, May 3, 2012 at 02:00 AM

Brest's Recouvrance Bridge is bathed in soft light... LEC was chosen to install two types of LED lighting on this bridge, where trams and pedestrians share the space. On the one hand, pedestrian spaces are delineated by integrating LED spotlights into the handrail. On the other, the architecture is enhanced by colorful, dynamic lighting of the bridge piers.
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Pedestrian lighting integrated into the handrail.
Tri-chromic lighting of the pillars.
Brest chooses LEC innovation for the Recouvrance bridge!

The Recouvrance lifting bridge, one of the longest and highest in Europe, had to be modernized to accommodate the tramway. LEC was able to provide a solution adapted to the urban community of Brest, for the lighting of the pedestrian path using LED projectors integrated into the handrail, and to highlight four 4 m high pillars, illuminated over a 70 m span.

Very strict integration constraints, as well as photometric and aesthetic requirements, required high-quality lighting for these two installations. LEC deployed two innovations implemented for the first time on this project.

School 5640* - A handrail equipped with LEDs: a way to rethink lighting

To illuminate this new pedestrian zone, the community wanted to integrate a lighting system into the handrail of this new space. The LED allows for a very low safety voltage (24 volts), a power consumption divided by 5 and the lighting complies with PMR standards requiring an average illumination level of 20 lux.

Continuous and precise light

Elliptical LED spotlights arranged every 3,75 m provide a harmonious and uniform light output without loss of flow.

Discreet and harmonious lighting

The small size of LEDs is a major advantage, allowing for previously impossible lighting solutions. Integrated lighting in the handrail becomes an alternative to traditional solutions. This innovation developed by LEC allows for very discreet and imperceptible integration, suitable for diameters from 42 mm, up to 76 mm for this project.

* French product made in France

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Ligny 5635* - Power and color to illuminate 4 pylons!

In order to offer the people of Brest a renovated, modernized, and unique bridge, the Brest urban community chose a solution that provides dynamic, colored lighting across the entire height of the external faces of the bridge piers. The technical innovation proposed by LEC delivers a result that meets aesthetic expectations, combined with very high lighting efficiency and perfect integration into the bridge's architecture.

A high-performance LED solution

Meeting such specifications with traditional sources would not have been easy; only LEDs could provide satisfaction, both qualitatively and economically. The use of red, green and blue LEDs makes it possible to obtain trichromatic sources with very high efficiency, unlike colored filters which drastically reduce the luminous flux. In addition, a choice of high-performance optics to focus the LEDs ensures precise “licking” of the bridge piers, over a height of 44 m! This result is accompanied by a low energy consumption of 300 watts per pillar.

…and successful architectural integration

LEDs allow the design of linear projectors providing continuous lighting, right from the base of the beam. The coloring of the piers of the Recouvrance bridge is provided by 4,60 m bars, whose “compact” design limits the visual impact of the installation. In addition, the design of the LEC projectors integrates a connection part for the cable passage (without intervention on the waterproof area housing the LEDs), making it possible to eliminate any visible cables and provide a discreet solution.

* French product made in France

A major project

The tramway's passage over the bridge required adaptations to the structure. The lifting deck, which could not support the weight of the new traffic flow, was replaced and the "fixed spans" rehabilitated. This project requires specialized trades: divers and climbers have worked daily for several months on this bridge, which will become a walking area shared by different modes of transport.

The new Recouvrance Bridge will be inaugurated on June 23, ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Brest maritime festivals, dubbed "Les Tonnerres de Brest!", which will take place from July 13 to 19.