Where Shadow Meets Light

This project, Phase 3 of The Urban Promenade large-scale initiative detailed in a dedicated article, unfolds beneath the elevated viaduct of Paris Metro Line 2. Along the pedestrian pathway, the monumental columns guide a journey through time and space, revealing sculpted historical crests that carry the memory of Paris’s past. These symbols, engraved in stone and long overlooked, are reinterpreted through the project’s overarching concept developed by Atelier dada. Inspired by the winged serpents of Hermes’ caduceus, visible on the columns of RATP stations, the lighting design brings these figures back to life through the complementary principles of YIN and YANG, offering a renewed reading of heritage and urban space. Light and shadow sculpt each column into a balanced dialogue. On one side, the light of shadow. On the other, the shadow of light. This duality transforms the promenade into an immersive experience, where each step reveals fragments of Parisian heritage, far beyond the notion of a simple pedestrian path. The subtle interplay between darkness and illumination evokes a choreography of appearances, where each presence exists through its counterpart, in a timeless symbiosis. Body and perception move together, engaging passersby in a sensory and poetic exploration of architecture, symbolism and memory. The sequence of images illustrates this transformation: a column in its original, unlit state; the same column illuminated through conventional heritage lighting, flooded with light yet losing its finer details; the column interpreted in its YIN form using a unique projection-based technique for long-term urban illumination, known as the wash of light, validated by the city and local residents in December 2017, accompanied by a monochrome wash sketch defining the gobo concept; the column in its YIN version during the on-site trial of February 20, 2020; and finally, the column in its YANG version from the same trial. Extending from Barbès square to the Colonel Fabien roundabout and encompassing 24 pillars along the Line 2 viaduct, this project by Atelier dada lumière is currently underway. Its luminous inauguration, where past and present converge within the urban fabric, is planned in connection with the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.