My proposal for a new railing along the pedestrian and bicycle walkway of the Williamsburg Bridge employs illuminated poles as part of the supporting structure. The poles light up when one passes by, providing an alternative lighting source for the walkway. The pole is illuminated to roughly one third of its height—the lit segment, which starts out at the bottom of the pole, gradually travels upward until it vanishes above the structure. Visible from afar, the lighting system is a reassuring indication of activity on the walkway. In a city defined by the relationship of the architecture to the people, Cascading Columns self-consciously inverts this relationship, placing the human being in the foreground.
| |  The Williamsburg Bridge with walkway lighting
 Pedestrian & bicycle walkway with illuminated railing segments
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