He’s created light shows on the sides of skyscrapers. He’s written books that popularized terms like “Generation X.”
Now, Vancouver’s Douglas Coupland has a new artistic goal — using nearly 5,000 white lights to illuminate the Gordie Howe International Bridge.
The bridge authority announced Thursday that Coupland won a competitive bid to light up the $6.4-billion bridge, which will connect Detroit to Windsor, Ont., when it opens next year.
Coupland’s designs have included an installation called “Northern Lights” on Calgary’s Telus Sky Tower, and a War of 1812 memorial in Toronto. But he says the bridge display is his most high-profile public art project to date.
“It’s huge,” he said of the bridge. “When I first looked at it, I was daunted. It’s going to be remarkable. It already is remarkable.”
“Americans are our best friends … it’s nice to see a big infrastructure commitment to keeping things that way.”
Coupland won the project after a competitive bidding process that began in 2018, says Heather Grondin, chief relations officer with the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority. The authority created a short list and interviewed the finalists.
Coupland impressed them because of his experience with public art and major lighting installations, Grondin says. They also wanted a Canadian artist, and Coupland definitely fits that bill.
“He’s very well known and that’s a real coup for us on this project, to have someone with Douglas Coupland’s experience and recognition,” she said.
Coupland says the project requires working with a teams from various cities on the many technical aspects it will take to pull off the design. Creating a sense of movement, he says, requires using mathematics to time the lights just right to create shape and flow.
“My goal in my head is to make it almost feel as if the bridge is alive in some ways, as if it’s its own entity,” he said.
“I live in Vancouver, and this past month, for some reason, we keep on seeing northern lights up in the sky. I’ve been there my whole life and I’ve never seen it like this. When you look at the northern lights, it’s like 100 miles in each direction.”
Here’s a special view of the Gordie Howe International Bridge as construction continues. Bridge officials led media outlets on a tour of the Canadian span on Tuesday.
The bridge will be similar, he said, in that “you can get very vast motions going over several kilometres in a few seconds … That smoothness of lighting allows it to become something other than a big heavy bridge.”
The bridge, he said, “is beyond futuristic. It’s incredibly strong. It just feels like we’re in the 21st century in a really nice way.”
As the completion of the Gordie Howe International Bridge draws nearer, views of the new piece of infrastructure are visible all over the city but will it join the Ambassador Bridge as a landmark of the city and its connection to the U.S.? CBC Windsor spoke with architect and urban designer Dorian Moore and civil engineers Amar Soud and Ahmed Srour to get their thoughts on how prominent of a symbol the future bridge will become.
Coupland’s final concept will be unveiled next year. The bridge is due to open in September 2025.
Grondin says the authority is holding a public consultation session on the lighting design on Nov. 14 with Art Windsor-Essex. Anyone interested should register at gordiehoweinternationalbridge.com.
The authority is also taking input online.
One of the tallest buildings in Calgary now has a colourful light show that runs every night and can be seen across the city. Designed by Douglas Coupland, the installation consists of 2.2 kilometres of LED lighting and is touted as the largest public art exhibit in Calgary.