DSI Hires Labyrinth for $400,000 #LightMySTL Pilot Project
135 Custom Designed SMART Lights to Be Installed on Market Street As Demonstration
Downtown St. Louis Inc. has engaged Labyrinth Technologies to deploy a state-of-the-art SMART lighting system on Market Street in Downtown St. Louis as part of $400,000 demonstration project as part of Project #LightMyStL.
“We are excited to demonstrate the new technology we developed to help our community,” said Ted Stegeman, CEO of Labyrinth Technologies. “This will be a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase this amazing technology and learn how it performs in the urban environment for the next year or so.”
Stegeman said they have spent a great deal of time talking with the civic volunteers who have been leading Project #LightMySTL to understand what they hope to achieve and continue to refine the technology to meet the community’s needs.
Project #LightMyStL has been a volunteer, community driven initiative to make downtown St. Louis safer through smart infrastructure. The idea for upgrading the lighting system was first raised by a Cardinals’ executive at a meeting St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay organized in early January 2015 to discuss practical solutions to address crime in downtown St. Louis.
During the fall of 2015, a group of downtown stakeholders met at the Cardinals front offices at Busch Stadium to formulate a plan to move forward with upgrading the streetlights downtown as part of project #LightMySTL.
Thanks to an inclusive process that involved input from downtown resident and businesses, law enforcement, city officials and lighting experts, the group identified the need to develop a customized lighting solution to address the needs that emerged as part of the input process.
In late 2015 and early 2016, Downtown STL Inc. and the city of St. Louis sponsored an open design competition to find a lighting solution that achieved the objectives they identified. Five teams of companies participated in the #LightMySTL Show Me Design Challenge and RFI (request for information), including some of the biggest names in lighting.
The team led by Labyrinth Technologies won the design competition thanks to an innovative system they developed. Civic leaders raised $400,000 to fund the deployment of the SMART infrastructure. The goal of demonstration project is to show proof of concept. If the project is successful, civic leaders intend to raise private donations to complete downtown.
