Illuminate SF Festival of Light

The Illuminate SF Festival of Light features 60+ installations, in 17 neighborhoods, by 40+ artists, and will take place November 9, 2022, through the end of January 2013. San Francisco Travel launched the festival in 2013, with inspiration sourced from the debut of artist Leo Villareal's The Bay Lights. Since its inception, Illuminate SF has grown from six to 62 temporary and permanent eco-friendly light art installations created by international and local artists.

The sculptural work, The Wind-Baffles, is part of Illumiate SF and anchors Brookfield Properties' The Parks at 5M, a new, vibrant community connected to the surrounding fabric of San Francisco’s SOMA District by a cohesive network of public spaces, are the brainchild of !melk, an award-winning urban design and landscape architecture firm. Built to mitigate wind, the baffles or “wind breakers” are artfully illuminated from the outside and complemented with a soft glow that radiates through the perforations in the upper zones. Though made from steel, a material associated with heaviness and industry, the baffles are often referred to as “flowers” for their stem and leaf-like design elements. Come nightfall, they transform into breathtaking sculptures and suddenly seem to float.