Energy Flow by Andrea Polli

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Sixteen wind turbines are integrated into this design to generate the power for thousands of LED lights. This eco-friendly, technology driven public art is here temporarily, making the Rachel Carson Bridge sparkle for the Christmas season. Yeah, I know, we're supposed to call it Sparkle Season or some other euphemism, but whatever you call it, the non-denominational artwork is scheduled to be here from Light Up Night until New Year's Eve (18 Nov - 31 Dec 2016).

A computer system controls every strip of lights and can be programmed remotely. During the Light Up Night festivities we watched the light patterns changing in color and rhythm. Definitely a festive addition to the city lights.

Randy Pausch Bridge by multiple artists

About Pgh Murals
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The late Professor Randy Pausch was an inspiration to the world. After viewing his Last Lecture video, or reading his book you can’t help looking at things a bit differently. What a tremendous loss for his family, friends, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and the world when he passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2008.

This professor had a profound impact on us all. CMU chose to build a memorial to him on their campus, and we couldn’t imagine a nicer one than the Randy Pausch Bridge.

During the day is doesn’t appear to be exceptional. It’s a nice enough looking pedestrian walkway, but you wouldn’t really think twice about it as you crossed between the Purnell Center and Gates and Hillman Center buildings. At night though... well that’s a different story. At night the bridge comes alive in ever changing colors. Using more than 7000 LEDs, the computer generated patterns were designed to represent the metaphors that Professor Pausch used in The Last Lecture. There’s a description of each of them on a CMU web page. It is a beautiful tribute to a beautiful human being. We hope the students that use it never forget the man that inspired it.