Want to help light up Christchurch’s city centre?

With daylight saving coming to an end, the hunt is on to find fun new ways to light up Christchurch’s city centre.

The public and lighting professionals are being invited to get involved in a new Light Up the City project being run by Christchurch City Council’s Enliven Places Programme.

An interactive lighting display like this one that featured in Vivid Sydney could soon be brightening up Christchurch's city centre.

Lighting professionals are being asked to submit designs for a new interactive lighting display that can brighten up part of the central city over the winter months, while the public are being invited to submit designs that can be used on lighting projectors around the central city.

“We’ve seen through Botanic D’Lights how innovative lighting can transform a space and turn the ordinary into something extraordinary,’’ says Christchurch City Council Head of Urban Design, Regeneration and Heritage Carolyn Ingles.

“We want to tap into the lighting expertise we have in this city to create a fun and engaging interactive lighting display that will bring a touch of wonder and magic to the central city and draw people into the area after dark.

“This is a chance for experts from the lighting industry to use their creativity to help enliven an urban space and to bring something new and different to Christchurch,’’ Ms Ingles says.

Lighting designers have until Friday 12 April to submit their design proposals. A panel will then evaluate the proposals and draw up a short-list.

It will then be up to the public to decide, through a Facebook poll, which lighting proposal they want installed in the central city over the winter.

The winning design will receive a prize of $2000 as well as budget to deliver the project.

“We are really excited to see what ideas our lighting professionals come up with,’’ Ms Ingles says. “We want something eye-catching – something the city hasn’t seen before.’’

How you can get involved

Do you have a simple design that can be used on a lighting projector in the central city?

The Enliven Places Programme is also on the search for new templates that can be used in the lighting projectors located around the central city.

The projectors are used to light up footpaths with drawings or text which everybody can see and enjoy.

“This is an opportunity for people to share with us what they like about Christchurch City. They can submit an original poem, text or drawing and we’ll select the best of them to use in the projectors over the winter months.

“Simple black and white designs will work best in the projectors but if you do want to use colour, you’ll need to limit yourself to three colours. If your design gets chosen to be used, you will receive a $100 central city voucher,’’ Ms Ingles says.

People wanting to submit template designs can email them as a PDF, PNG or JPEG file to lightupthecity@ccc.govt.nz.

The competition closes at 5pm on Friday 12 April.