Argyll Road Underpass
Location: Forth & Clyde Canal, Clydebank
Client: Clydebank Rebuilt - West Dunbartonshire Council

This has been a really interesting project initiated by Clydebank Rebuilt and WDC to create both an entrance gateway feature to the town centre and improve actual and perceived safety for all who use the underpass at night. The final design for the illumination was also achieved through collaboration with children from a local primary school.

Through a series of workshops and discussions, Lightfolio assisted the children in examining the challenges faced by people using the underpass after dark and developing design responses that could be translated into a workable lighting design within the available budget.

The final scheme has a series of highly vandal resistant security mirors arranged in a sculptural pattern to assist with surveillance for people approaching the underpass and an LED colour change lighting system that automatically responds to the presence of pedestrians by changing colour to white light at walking pace ahead of anyone approaching.

The lighting system also has a built in microphone that picks up sound and activates a colour change every time a certain decibel range is reached.

Another very important component of the design are the solar light tiles embedded within the towpath. Each tile contains original artwork created by each child. The light tiles are entirely self sufficient and will last in excess of ten years without the need for any maintenance.