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Lighting up Downtown


Rizzo

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If you could light up any building downtown which one would it be and how would you light it? Would it be the tallests of the buildings or the most architectually significant?

I would start with McKay using a lighting scheme at the bottom five stories to emphasize the shadows created by the facade. The soft shadows would really bring out the structures detail. I don't want to light up the whole tower, but use the lights to attenuate slightly until the crown is just ever so slightly lit. I wouldn't want to light it with a strong flood light all the way up so that it would not take away from the globe atop.

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I think this shot in 2008 will indeed make for some VERY bueatiful mid summer sunset reflection shots :thumbsup: es[ecially with the lighting scheme. I bet you my dollar that this will be next shot everyone will want to get...

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Aside from the mckay tower, I don't there are any buildings downtown, at least taller ones, that would be attractive if lighting were placed on them. Althogh I"m not a design expert, I'm sure someone in the know could take just about anything and make it pretty with lights. I am a big fan of the convention center when the put the words on the side, I think that's a great lighting scheme. also the GVSU campus on the west side of the 131 freeway could look great if lit up. I like the courthouse, I think it looks good with it's lighting scheme. Although I think it kind of looks like brutalist achitecture meets M.C. Escher in the day time.

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I have to throw my 2.5 cents in here. Sorry to be the downer but uplighting buildings = bad.

Uplighting of buildings and most current site lighting schemes in general are the major cause of light pollution. By not controlling the direction of the light we send far too much of it up into the sky. We can all tell when we're getting close to Grand Rapids from out in the country by the glow in the sky above the city.

On all of our projects we install special site lighting that makes the light shine down where it is intended to go and not up or into the neighbor

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I have to throw my 2.5 cents in here. Sorry to be the downer but uplighting buildings = bad.

Not to mention it is a ridiculous waste of energy that accomplishes nothing other then making the skyline more interesting at nighttime.

I know you guys think its cool but it really is a big problem.

Here Here! :tough: I've been reading this and getting kind of disgusted, if it were my choice I'd much rather see stars in the sky, then buildings lit up like christmas trees. I guess I'd be ok with if it was downlighting, but pointing lights up can really make the sky look boring. I don't do much astronomy, really no more then go outside on a good night, and look up with a pair of binoculars, or when im at my parents house in the country I turn out all exterior lights and just stare up, but its an experience I really love.

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Here Here! :tough: I've been reading this and getting kind of disgusted, if it were my choice I'd much rather see stars in the sky, then buildings lit up like christmas trees. I guess I'd be ok with if it was downlighting, but pointing lights up can really make the sky look boring. I don't do much astronomy, really no more then go outside on a good night, and look up with a pair of binoculars, or when im at my parents house in the country I turn out all exterior lights and just stare up, but its an experience I really love.

Gotta agree with Nitro & Snoogit here. Light pollution is a major irritation to me. It's probably something one should simply expect in a larger city like Grand Rapids. Perhaps it's even too late to do much about it. But in outlying areas and small towns, planning commissions and city councils are working hard to control light pollution. Buildings can be effectively lighted without polluting the sky. Check out this group: http://www.darksky.org/

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LEDs are quickly becoming a cool thing... Ridiculously easy to toy with and becoming cheap. I hear that their light attenuation isn't so far as normal bulb lighting and the diodes use considerable lower amounts of power.

Notice that I intended the Mckay to be lit properly, I'm not talking about over exuberant super search light schemes that you see lighting some company's HQ. Really, what I'm saying maybe one or two buildings, not the whole skyline.

Last time I was downtown at night, it wasn't lit and I still couldn't see much of anything. Its a regional issue and downtown, yet adding to the probelm is hardly going to make a dent in the issue if it continues to be dark. I bet you more then anything the greatest cause of light pollution isn't downtown, but the useless lighting from individual homes... IE: pathway lighting, flood lighting, - it all adds up, especially if you play The Jones' game.

I was an amatuer astronomer; it pains me to be on the side of lighting, but I'd rather side with asthetics (if done properly.) There's a time and place.

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My opinion has always been that there is more than enough open space in this country to go to if you want to see stars at night (on the rare occasion, in Michigan, that the sky isn't cloudly). Compared to other pollution, light pollution is one of the least of our worries.

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The new art museum is to have some great lighting effects. The building will have three short towers that are topped with skylight "caps", if you will. The skylight turns into beacons, of sorts, at night with the interior light radiating out.

On light pollution: the amount of light pollution that would be generated by highlighting a few downtown buildings is meager compared how much is generated by streetlights and acres of parking lots being lit like football fields. If you want to reduce light pollution, let kill the street lights and replace them with lower level pedestrian lighting. Why do we need to light the streets anyway? As I recall most cars have lights on them.

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At this point the only building I think could use some lighting is Mc Kay and 77 Monroe center Those 2 historic building would both look a lot better with improved rooftop crowns and being lit up at night to accent it. I would also like to see different lighting on the 131 bridge over the Grand

Overall light pollution does not bother me here, it is an urban area and that is what it should be like if it was dim it would seem like a gloomy dead downtown. The problem is more the sprall of the subburbs spreading the lighting over a large area. But compared to other cities I have always though GR is no very light at all espeacially the roads.

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The new art museum is to have some great lighting effects. The building will have three short towers that are topped with skylight "caps", if you will. The skylight turns into beacons, of sorts, at night with the interior light radiating out.

On light pollution: the amount of light pollution that would be generated by highlighting a few downtown buildings is meager compared how much is generated by streetlights and acres of parking lots being lit like football fields. If you want to reduce light pollution, let kill the street lights and replace them with lower level pedestrian lighting. Why do we need to light the streets anyway? As I recall most cars have lights on them.

I don't think I've saw a nightime rendering of the GRAM, but man that will kill in my book. I used to dislike the GRAM until about last fall I feel in love with the design and having a lighting scheme as you so described would be kick.

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I don't think I've saw a nightime rendering of the GRAM, but man that will kill in my book. I used to dislike the GRAM until about last fall I feel in love with the design and having a lighting scheme as you so described would be kick.

This is kind of a night shot of the Art Museum Rizzo:

mm_projects_grand_03.jpg

(from the old architect's site)

I agree that McKay, 77 Monroe Center, and maybe even the Pantlind Hotel would be cool to highlight the cornice work, without having huge floodlights shooting up into the sky. Even the Exhibitors Building (North side of the Amway Grand) might be cool too. Other than that, I can't think of any others worth lighting. They could show movies on the sidewalls of the State of Michigan Building on Ottawa. :rofl:

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I think the GRAM will be hot at night. I think for lighting to be really cool tho, we are going to need some mid-high rises, that set back as they go up. Much Like the BOA towers in Charlotte and Atlanta.

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Light it up!! Complaining about light pollution in a city is like complaining about stink on a farm. It's an inevitability. So if it's going to happen anyway, do it right and do it efficiently.

I'd light up McKay, 77 Monroe, Amway GP (tower and Pantlind), Plaza Towers, curr. GRAM, St. Andrews Cathedral, St. Adalberts.

Prague's mayor in the 90's created a dramatic lighting program for that city. It was amazing and helped spur tourism because it was so attractive and perceived to be safer with all of the light.

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doesn't the pantlin already have a little lighting at the monroe street entrence. Since it is a hotel it should not be too light, they want the customers to come back ;)

I think it would be cool to have some of the bars like on Ionia be more lite up with neon trimming and signs and create a real bar/nightlife district

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