Illumination of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition

Abstract

In this paper the author, who was Chief of Illumination for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, describes the system of lighting adopted for the Exposition, which was generally conceded to have initiated a new era in the art of illumination. From a narrow engineering point of view the lighting would have been regarded as inefficient, but the object striven for was to suppress high intrinsic brilliancy, while bringing out the architectural beauties of the Exposition structures in the most effective manner, bathed in a harmony of color. Many beautiful effects were obtained by the various installations which are described, and one of the most original features was the successful effort to preserve the curvature and detail in relief by the use of lights of different strengths and colors thrown from different or opposite directions upon the same object.