Design creates “living bridge” in Mandurah

About an hour’s journey south of Perth, located on the West Australian coast, Mandurah is known for the Peel-Harvey Estuary with its abundant wildlife and migratory waterbirds. Providing a major link across the estuary, the Mandurah Traffic Bridge is a cultural icon, as well as a fishing platform and a place to meet. The City of Mandurah, faced with this ageing part of infrastructure, recognised the importance of providing a replacement for this important piece of Mandurah’s history.

Landscape architects Gresley Abas were engaged to assist in the initial designing of the new traffic bridge. The design retains some of the elements of the bridge for the use of fishermen and on-water activities. A lowered 5 metre-wide shared path creates activity zones across the estuary while also separating vehicles from pedestrians and cyclists. The project, which won the 2019 IESANZ Award of Excellence in the lighting design category, engaged WE-EF sales partner H.I. Lighting to provide a lighting solution for the traffic bridge and pedestrian walkway. The primary consideration for illuminating the bridge was to achieve V3 Roadway Category and P2 Pathway standards as per AS/NZS1158, in keeping with the structural visual design element of the bridge.

Ms Kim Bianchini (MIES Aust and NZ), Exterior/Industrial Specification Manager at H.I. Lighting said “the main considerations were to provide the correct lighting requirements to aid in the facilitation of safe movement along the new roadway and pathway, while also considering the threshold increments and glare for drivers and pedestrians. All the parameters were discussed with the electrical engineer (BCA), H.I. Lighting and the various categories decided by the City of Mandurah. All information was forwarded to WE-EF to provide a lighting design that would comply with the relevant standards.”

Taking into consideration the structural visual design element of the bridge and the shared pathway illuminance, WE-EF’s lighting designer Andrew Richardson suggested a pole spacing of 21 metres. The relevant standard could have been achieved with 46-metre spacing but this would have required a high wattage luminaire. A combination of VFL540, VFL530 and VFL520 street and area luminaires was used for the lighting scheme, together with QRI354 recessed wall luminaires and FLA730 floodlights. “The recessed wall lights are used to illuminate steps, while the floodlights are used to highlight artwork in this precinct,” Ms Bianchini said. WE-EF products were chosen due to their high-performance level, quality and 10-year warranty.

There were a number of challenges to be overcome in lighting this project. To begin with, the luminaire had to be built into an extrusion in the poles in order to streamline the visual element. “H.I. Lighting held discussions with pole manufacturers together with WE-EF’s technical team in regard to this possibility,” Ms Bianchini noted. “To support the integrity of the thermal management within the luminaire it was decided to provide the products with a side entry connection and install them onto the outreach of the decorative pole to keep within a streamline aspect of the entire unit. This means that the pole and luminaire appear as one.”

The bridge was completed in 2018 and has been embraced by the community. According to landscape architects Gresley Abas, the crossing has become a “living bridge, full of life and activity, not just a functional method of crossing the water”. The project achieved all the aspects of the technical design, and the visual elements have performed as expected. “The client and users are extremely happy with the results,” Ms Bianchini noted.

Completed: 2018
Client: City of Mandurah⁠⠀
Sales Partner: H.I. Lighting⁠⠀
Lighting Design: WE-EF LIGHTING and H.I. Lighting⁠⠀
Electrical Engineer: BCA⁠⠀
Landscape Design: Gresley Abas⁠⠀
Builder: Georgiou⁠⠀
Photographer: Jackie Chan⁠