The 500 foot stretch of esplanade between Wall Street and the South Street Seaport begins at the edge of South Street, continues under the elevated FDR highway and extends out to the East River waterfront. Continuous T5 fluorescent sources, concealed under the steel beam, indirectly illuminate the East facing girder. This girder element guides pedestrians to the waterfront site without interrupting sightlines to the Brooklyn skyline and the bridges beyond. Low-brightness induction downlights create an inviting entry to the esplanade with even lighting at the ground plane under the highway structure. The indirect lighting of the custom purple-painted girder offers soft and glare-free illumination while creating an iconic ribbon of light. LED light slots within benches and tree uplights guide pedestrians along the main esplanade thoroughfare. Vertical ribs of deep purple at the exterior face of the handrail add a conceptual "fringe" of light to the girder’s horizontal ribbon and reflect softly in the water below.

The Pier 15 glowing underbelly is indirectly lit with gelled linear fluorescent fixtures that link the upper and lower levels of new public space. A special stadium seating area that drops down to the level of the water is set apart with a field of LED point lights above. In grade, lensed LED fixtures define the edge of each step. The glow from the first level ceiling lighting extends out to the end of the pier, providing a low level of illumination while maintaining the views back towards the cityscape.

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