Light in Madrid
Good friend Brian Williamson sends some images of how they do festive lighting in Madrid:
What, I wonder, will we be doing in the way of street lighting for the Olympics? The Vancouver Heritage Foundation had a proposal to highlight the worthy buildings of Hasting Street with some of the advanced lighting technologies used in European cities – but that idea fizzled.
And it might have been possible, during the reconstruction of 
Granville Mall, to have installed some of the overhead displays that truly create an urban room. And maybe we’ll be surprised.
But other than leaving our Christmas lights on, and the special display in False Creek, I’m not aware that we’ll be seeing much more than the Olympic rings in Coal Harbour and the white lights of Robson Street.
Google or flickr search ‘northern lights adelaide’ to see what is possible today with building lighting technology.
Isn’t it more than a bit late in the game to be thinking of doing this now? I would have thought this would all be tested and ready to go now.
It seems strange that this sort of lighting would only be considered during the Olympics in Vancouver. Obviously Madrid didn’t wait for a special event to decorate their city in winter, and I don’t see why Vancouver should. Those sorts of displays could be done every year, with some variations.
There’s a heritage building in Gastown next to the steam clock that is now lit up with multi-clour LEDs (changing colours).
The light standards at the Olympic Village plaza have LED lights that change colours.
City Hall currently has an art installation with very bright white LEDs at each of its stepped roof levels.
The mechanical penthouse of the SilverSea condo (next to Granville Bridge) is lit with LEDs that change colour.
Robson Square is brightly lit with Christmas lights in the trees.
Granville St. will have white light tubes atop its street lamps – hopefully before the Olympics(!?!) – with multi-colour ones at teh intersections.
Science World’s white strobe lights are currently being replaced with multi-colour LEDs.
I’ve heard that LEDs may be spotlighting the observation pod of Harbour Centre.
And then there’s the lighting effects we all know about – Shaw Tower, The Bay, the tops of various condos, Electra (old BC Hydro), Lions Gate Bridge, Renaissence’s revolving restaurant)
Ron, all those lighting features you list are exceptions to the rule; the vast majority of our most prominent structures are poorly lit. Much of this is due to silly condo residents in the downtown core who find that lights at night “bother” them. As a case in point, The Electra has been forced to turn off its lights fairly early at night after receiving numerous complaints from neighbouring residents (most of whom clearly have nothing better to do with their time).
The problem isn’t the residents, it would be the way the lights are set up. The residents would not complain if the objects themselves were lit up instead of emitting light outwards towards the residents. If the buildings are lit up in such a way that the light is cast onto them then the residents do not complain. The complaints come when the lights are pointed away from the building, and those complaints are legimate. To do lighting right is not that diffilcult, if you are going to do it wrong though then it deserves to be shut down by residents.
I think that’s still a fairly decent number of lighting displays (i.e. we don’t live in a theme park).
We also don’t have a lot of historical facades to light up and the downtown is comprised mainly of condos (so individuals end up paying for the cost (and esp. maintenance) through their condo fees (as well as there being a lot of NIMBYs)).
Note that even in Shanghai, the bold neon lighting displays on Nanjing Road promptly turn off at 10:00 pm.
You can also blame it on the City too, with its restrictive sign bylaws. i.e. that’s why there’s no Shangri-La logo atop the Shnagri-La tower (as for lighting features up there, (unlike a commercial tower or others without top access) the fins occupy the penthouse owners’ rooftop decks, so that would be an intrusion into their living space).
Heard that the Birks Building at Granville & Hastings now has snazzy new LED lighting.
Yaletown is getting some special lighting for the Olympics (and as a legacy).
http://www.yaletowninfo.com/about/YBIANews_03_11_09.html