Visual Lighting Expert Leni Schwendinger Joins Arup to Redefine the Role of Nighttime Lighting for Urban Spaces

NEW YORK, Nov. 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Arup, a multidisciplinary engineering and consulting firm with a reputation for delivering innovative and sustainable designs, announced today that Leni Schwendinger has joined the company as an associate principal to lead the firm's urban lighting design network. Leni is a lighting designer with expertise illuminating architectural and public spaces around the world. Balancing artistic talent and firm project management, Leni aims to expand the use and application of light to incorporate economic vitality, social interaction, and public health and safety into the fabric of city and urban environments, with a specific focus on nightscapes.

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During her 20-year career, Leni has focused on the artistic application of light as a medium in the urban environment. She has worked on significant projects throughout the world for clients from Glasgow, Scotland to Seattle, Washington, winning numerous awards for her work, including a 2010 Lumen citation for the Triple Bridge Gateway project at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan; a 2008 award of merit for Chroma Streams: Tide and Traffic project in Glasgow, Scotland; and a 2007 award of merit for the Coney Island Parachute Jump Illumination in New York.  In addition, Leni has worked on other prominent lighting projects that were designed to connect public space, communities and visitors, including, award-winning Dreaming in Color at Seattle Center, and "The Heart of Doha in Qatar."

"Arup is thrilled that Leni has joined the firm to lead its global urban lighting efforts," said Brian Stacy, principal and Arup Americas lighting leader. "Through her vast network and years of experience, she will broaden Arup's capabilities to include landscape, infrastructure, and atmospheres for both day and nighttime environments, worldwide."

Arup's lighting design team has created expressive and sustainable concepts in light worldwide and include the Yas Hotel in Abu Dhabi, the Sacramento Airport in California, and the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, Colorado.

"Innovation and creativity for bringing light to public spaces all over the world energizes architecture, landscape and urban infrastructure with the ultimate goal of connecting people to each other and their surroundings," said Schwendinger. "I am excited to be on the Arup team and to expand my experience and influence to light city and urban environments everywhere."

Leni has lectured and taught widely throughout the US, Europe and Japan. As an internationally-known lighting designer and speaker in high demand, she is considered an innovator and authority on urban lighting and infrastructure.

About Arup
Arup is the creative force at the heart of many of the world's most prominent projects in the built environment and across industry. Its engineers and consultants deliver innovative projects across the world. Arup opened its first US office 25 years ago, and now employs 1,000 in the Americas. The firm was founded in 1946 with an enduring set of values that fosters a distinctive culture, intellectual independence and collaborative approach. The people at Arup are driven to find a better way to deliver better solutions for their clients. (www.arup.com)

SOURCE Arup