The Argyll Road underpass in Clydebank made for an excellent opportunity to both educate local school children in the difference that lighting can make to our environment and to deliver a lighting scheme for this rather forlorn public space.
After teaching them about what was possible with lighting the kids worked up their colourful ideas which were then translated into a workable scheme.
The lighting scheme addresses subjects such as security through the use of safety mirrors that affords a view of the entire underpass and around the corners at the end, the decorative layout takes away the sense that these are there purely as a safety measure.
In addition the colour change lighting, housed in a bespoke trunking, also incorporates motion detection, so as you approach the underpass, the lights change sequentially to white ahead of you, or if they change to white from the opposite direction then you can tell that someone is approaching from the other side.
As another layer of interactivity, sound receptors were built in to the old light housings that mean if you clap your hands or shout out on the way through, the lights change colour. When nobody is present the underpass defaults to a preset sequence designed to minimise energy use. The same approach was also taken to a similar underpass at the far end of the city centre canal route at Kilbowie Road.
The children also designed artwork for solar light tiles that were set into the towpath as a permanent record of their involvement in the project. They loved the whole process and so did we.
