For Valentine’s Day, Thursday, February 14th, the Center City District (CCD) will re-program the lighting on the University of the Arts’ Terra Hall with shades of red and pink traditionally associated with the holiday. The light-emitting diode (LED) fixtures will be programmed for a one-hour cycle that begins at five minutes after the hour with a 30-minute display of red light, fading into 15 minutes of pink, then a slow buildup of animated color changes to rose, purple and aqua for 10 minutes, accelerating into a five-minute winter “aurora borealis” every hour on the hour.
The romantically themed lights will be on for Valentine’s Day from 5:30 p.m. until midnight.
“In addition to changing seasonal color palettes, the building will celebrate special occasions like Valentine’s Day, the Fourth of July and Halloween” said CCD President Paul R. Levy. “On Friday, February 15th, we will revert to our winter palette of white, blues and purple with the next major color change scheduled for the spring.”
The LED lights can illuminate a building façade in a virtually infinite array of colors and patterns, ranging from white and muted colors to the type of vibrant, multi-colored and festive presentation seen on opening night, November 7, 2007. What may be appropriate on one building may not work on another building, given its use or architectural style. In the future, color changing shows will be programmed for special events and timed for curtain call at various theaters.
Terra Hall is the harbinger of nearly a dozen more South Broad Street buildings that CCD plans to illuminate with LED fixtures this year, making Philadelphia the first American city to light multiple buildings this way in a coordinated manner.
The trade press recently featured the CCD’s lighting on South Broad Street in an extensive article in Architectural Lighting. http://www.archlighting.com/industry-news.asp?articleID=647823§ionID=1306 <http://www.archlighting.com/industry-news.asp?articleID=647823&sectionID=1306>
The lighting at Terra Hall was designed by The Lighting Practice, a Philadelphia-based firm, using a product known as LED Linear, which was launched by Philips Lighting last May. LED Linear can be dimmed and dynamically controlled to produce 16 million color options while using minimal energy. Keeping Terra Hall illuminated for one hour consumes the same amount of energy as running a home clothes dryer for an hour.
The Broad Street lighting is funded by: Center City District, The Pew Charitable Trusts, The William Penn Foundation, The Lenfest Group, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community and Economic Development, Avenue of the Arts, Inc. and Broad Street property owners.
