Adjaye Associates, Diller Scofidio + Renfro and AL_A are among the six architecture practices in the running to illuminate 17 of central London’s bridges with permanent light installations.

Les Éclairagistes Associés, Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, and a team led by Sam Jacob Studio and artist Simon Heijdens are also in contention for the ambitious £20m (US$26.6m, €23.8m) project.

Over 340 firms, grouped into 104 teams, entered the competition to breathe new life into the River Thames and showcase London as a leader in art, design and innovation.

With 47 per cent of the teams based overseas, competition organiser the Illuminated River Foundation said that London “remains a top destination for international designers, artists, engineers and technologists” even after the national vote for the UK to leave the European Union – a result that sent shockwaves around the architecture industry.

“The competition shows that London is open to talent from all around the globe,” said London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who is backing the foundation’s project. “This scheme will create a dazzling outdoor gallery for Londoners to enjoy each night, showing that our capital remains a leader in innovation, sustainability and artistic creativity.”

Competing teams had to make their case to the foundation and competition organiser Malcolm Reading Consultants by presenting their experience and by partnering with pioneering figures from the art world.

Artists who feature in the shortlisted teams include Chris Ofili, a Turner Prize-winning painter; film director Asif Kapadia, who made the documentaries Amy and Senna; acclaimed theatre and lighting designer Jennifer Tipton; and American installation artist Leo Villareal, responsible for The Bay Lights on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

The six shortlisted teams will now develop concept lighting schemes for four bridges – Westminster, Waterloo, London and Chelsea – along with a design masterplan for all the 17 bridges between Albert and Tower. The schemes should be “forward-thinking, elegant and charismatic” as well as free and permanent.

The finalists’ concept designs will be revealed in November. A jury including artists James Turrell and Sir Michael Craig-Martin and former Serpentine Gallery director Dame Julia Peyton-Jones will then announce the winner in December.

Funding for the project will come largely from private sources. The Illuminated River Foundation, supported by the Rothschild Foundation, is tasked with raising the money.

A broad coalition of stakeholders, including the Mayor of London, the City of London, Westminster City Council, Transport for London, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Network Rail, are supporting the project.

The six finalist teams are:

• Adjaye Associates with Chris Ofili, Thukral & Tagra, Doug Aitken, AKTII, HPF (Hurley Palmer Flatt), Four Communications, DP9, Plan A and DHA Designs

• AL_A with Asif Kapadia, Simon Stephens, SEAM Design and GROSS.MAX

• Diller Scofidio + Renfro with L’Observatoire International, Arup, Transsolar, Jennifer Tipton and Oliver Beer

• Les Éclairagistes Associés with ecqi, ewo, Federico Pietrella, and GVA Lighting Europe Limited

• Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands with FuturePace, Leo Villareal, Pentagram, Price & Myers, Atelier Ten, Beckett Rankine and Core Five

• Sam Jacob Studio and Simon Heijdens with Electrolight, Daisy Froud and Elliott Wood

The 17 bridges within the scope of the project are: Albert Bridge, Chelsea Bridge, Grosvenor Railway Bridge, Nine Elms (planned), Vauxhall Bridge, Lambeth Bridge, Westminster Bridge, Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Footbridges, Waterloo Bridge, Garden Bridge (planned), Blackfriars Bridge, Blackfriars Railway Bridge, Millennium Footbridge, Southwark Bridge, Cannon Street Railway Bridge, London Bridge and Tower Bridge.

Design competition launched for light installations to illuminate London's bridges