Museum grove canopy lighting

Studioteka was retained as the lead design consultant and project manager for L’Observatoire International, the firm of acclaimed lighting designer Herve Descottes, on a lighting design masterplan for the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. The overall project team also included Field Operations Landscape Architects, Skidmore Owens and Merril, Ove Arup and Tor Ferrer Architects to complete a phased, 25 year multi-faceted approach to campus wide improvements.

The Masterplan’s scope creates conditions for restricting the vehicular circulation in the core area of the campus while remedying pedestrian and vehicular circulation conflicts, to create new parking places, and to give the campus and the surrounding Rio Pedras neighborhood a new and dynamic residential character, spearheading growth throughout the immediate region, and linking the University to its neighbors. With this goal in mind, this Plan also considers how to enhance cultural programs on campus and throughout Rio Piedras to further supplement residential development in these areas and to engage the surrounding neighborhoods through direct development and the creation of several public/private partnerships.

Facade lighting library

The lighting aspect of the project consists of four main components: the three quarter mile long Campus Walk, or main pedestrian artery, the Loop; a new vehicular ring surrounding the campus; the Historic and New Gateways, which are the two main approaches; and the Edges–outlying areas at the periphery. Nighttime illumination intensifies the properties, textures, and colors of the campus as an environment, while vertical and horizontal massing of primary architectural elements and landscape features create icons in the nightscape. The Campus Walk serves as a major axis and pedestrian walkway, a place of chance meetings, socializing and informal learning. The lighting design of the Walk is a layered approach. Direct and indirect lighting of the tree canopies emphasizes the long axis of the walk, with a bright middle at the central Student Plaza and anchored on either end with areas of lesser brightness.

Facade lighting museum

Facade lighting museum

Facade lighting historic quad

Canopy walk and facade lighting diagram

Canopy lighting_direct and indirect

Campus walk lighting plan

Centenario park lighting plan

Centenario park plan enlarged

Centenario park_quad and pond views

Loop_lighting plan

Loop sections

Historic and new gateways

Historic gateway plan

New gateway plan

Edges_parking plan

Edges parking plan enlarged