LD+A February 2019: U.S. Montrose Bridges

Out of all the cities in the U.S., only a few are punctuated by broadly recognizable landmarks. The Empire State Building decorates countless New York postcards, the Space Needle looms above Seattle, Washington D.C. has the Capitol Building and the Liberty Bell is often one of the few things non-Philadelphians can name about the city.

Landmarks can stir up a sense of hometown pride and as host of Super Bowl LI in 2017, Houston found itself in the fortunate position of having a new landmark ready to be unveiled … almost. “We had to bump up our finish date six months ahead of schedule,” says Lance Gandy of Gandy2 Lighting Design, whose Houston-based firm had been in the process of lighting six 230-ft-long bridges in the area since 2013.

“Houston is a city with wonderful attributes, yet few recognizable landmarks. The neighborhood, which the bridges span, wanted to change that and turned to lighting to create a bold signature statement across 10 city blocks,” says Gandy, who served as the principal lighting designer on the project, which won a 2018 IES Illumination Award of Merit. “The illuminated bridges have been a major draw for locals, visitors, media and photographers.” Due to the bridges’ location over U.S. Route 59, Gandy had to work with the Department of Transportation to overcome the challenges that came with such a large-scale project.

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