Infinity Bridge

Surely something as nice as the recently illuminated Infinity Bridge can’t be in Stockton-on-Tees? Designed by Expedition Engineering, the slender bowstring bridge cuts a distinctive silhouette across the River Tees. A 230m-long concrete walkway is supported by a pair of asymmetric steel arches that appear to skip across the river like a pebble skimming water.

Speirs and Major Associates designed the lighting in such a way that the iconic twin arches reflect in the water at night to form the mathematical symbol for infinity (∞) – hence the name. We’re told the unusual bit about the project is the way the lights respond to the movement of pedestrians, of which there is a video here.

Claesson Koivisto Rune

You know, I have no idea which pieces of work to showcase from Claesson Koivisto Rune as there is so much good stuff to look at. There’s a pool of dribble on the desk, I have been salivating that much at their work. From full house design to interiors to product design, the Stockholm-based agency have one of the very best portfolios of work around. Thanks to Mårten, Eero & Ola for the email.

Speirs and Major Associates

We often get interesting submissions to Dirty Mouse, and this one for lighting architects Speirs and Major Associates is terrific. They sent us a few shots of the new mosque in Abu Dhabi. The mosque is named after Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nayhan, and is a building of extraordinary dimensions: it is the largest mosque in the Emirates and the third largest worldwide, featuring the biggest dome of a mosque in the world

In keeping with other religious buildings, the mosque attaches special symbolic importance to light. Within the interior, light appears woven into the fabric of the building, with all equipment hidden from view. Most striking of all is the exterior lighting which appears to ebb and flow according to the lunar-cyclical Islamic calendar. Director Jonathan Speirs explains: “In the same way as the moon has an impact on the tides, we wanted the moon to have an impact on the building. Our idea was to have a building that, by full moon, is lit pristinely with white light, but with a textural quality evocative of clouds slowly drifting in front of a full white moon. As the moon wanes over its 28 day cycle, the lighting grows gradually bluer to signify darkness. On the fourteenth evening the mosque is lit in deepest blue.”