North Shore Times (New Zealand)
Show ‘sustainable and cool’
The Waitemata¯ harbour became a dazzling, multimedia stage for Auckland Anniversary weekend and viewers packed Little Shoal Bay on the night of January 27 to watch.
Ninety thousand LED lights and 100 floodlights beamed and flashed from the Harbour Bridge in time with original music, delighting Aucklanders who packed viewing points all around the city.
The celebration, entitled Vector Lights, was billed as a salute to Auckland’s diverse cultures and featured Polynesian drumming and te reo Ma¯ ori lyrics.
North Shore ward councillor Richard Hills joined Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Mayor Phil Goff and ‘‘a couple thousand others’’ at Little Shoal Bay.
‘‘The whole park was full of people,’’ Hills said.
The bridge lights were switched on from Little Shoal Bay by the three young winners of the Design the Bridge competition.
Design the Future was a competition open to young people to draw, make, or film their vision for the bridge’s design.
Three children from the North Shore were placed, with Ava Tillick, 10, from Willow Park School in Hillcrest one of three winners for her design ‘‘Friction Tubing’’ and Cohen Logue, 10, from Takapuna Primary and Nikita Lee, 11, from Devonport Primary both among three runners up.
Prime Minister Ardern presented the certificates to the competition winners at the event, after having spent some time at Northcote Tavern talking to locals.
Hills said the bridge has had a unanimously ‘‘positive’’ response from Auckland. ‘‘The solarpowered LED lights make it a very sustainable way to do something cool.’’
The bridge is believed to be the first major one in the world to be lit entirely by solar power, with 600 solar panels feeding into fridge-sized Tesla batteries.
‘‘A really cool addition to a unique asset of Auckland,’’ Hills said.
Vector has committed $10 million to the project for installation and maintenance costs over the next 10 years.
There are confirmed designs for Waitangi Day, Auckland Pride Festival and the Lantern Festival, with more designs to come. The light show was repeated on January 28 and 29.