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The Daily Photoist: November 9, 2009
The CN Tower isn't the only building this week to get a rainbow makeover (just in time for Pride Week, we might add). The latest skyscraper to adopt what seems to be an approaching fad is the almost-complete Met Condos at Yonge and Carlton Streets. The cylindrical cornice was lit for the first time tonight with computer-controlled LED panels, similar to those now being tested at the CN Tower.
For now, the Met simply cycled through the solid colours for a while before settling on blue, so it remains to be seen if other types of patterns and effects are to be incorporated. Using much less energy than traditional lights and capable of a range covering millions of colours, Toronto's most charming (and subtler) LED installation is in the Distillery District, where small suspended panels project nebulous blobs of colour on the cobblestone.
As more and more buildings attempt to distinguish themselves in our skyline and with LED illumination becoming cheaper and easier to maintain, Toronto's nighttime view might start to resemble Hong Kong's. We like change, but we urge restraint.
Photos by Marc Lostracco
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There's a new condominium building on Bay just below College and its upper floor has blue lighting at night time. This is visible from the North or South.
And we urge flamboyance! :D
Fortunately LED's are not nearly as gaudy as neon, and for most of the anonymous-looking residential buildings going up, would be a good start in painting our skyline.
Then again, colorful skylines are usually the mark of gambling towns. See: Vegas, Reno, Atlantic City, Niagara Falls
Now if we could get them all coordinated somehow...
David E: The building you mention is immediately west of the Met condos pictured and known as The Residences of College Park (in fact, I cropped it out of the photos, but it appeared immediately to the right of the building above). The cornice of the Empire State-inspired TROCP was lit white last night, though I've seen it as blue lately.
Both the Met and TROCP have second mirror-image towers being built right now, so we might have two more LED-crowned highrises to come in that cluster.
Despite my dislike of the LEDs up the CN Tower's elevator shaft, I actually think the Met's lit cornice is quite nice. The building is already quite good looking (view here and here), and it works as a distinct and appropriate feature of the northeast cylindrical feature.
Nice use of 'nebulous.' I was about to have an orangutan, but then I thought about it. It was like in the Matrix when Neo says 'whoa.'
Let's just hope that the newly brightened skyline doesn't come at the expense of newly deadened birds.
Colourful accent lights may well be less hazardous to wildlife than just keeping all the lights in your giant glass tower on all night; there may even be particular colours that are safer than others. I hope that the people lighting up these buildings care about such things.
I can see this building and the light from my balcony. It's beautiful. Hopefully there will be more such installations across the city. It'v very attractive to look at.
I actually work got to help make those lights and it is hooked us so as the wind speed changes the colours will change through the entire spectrum of light. For the openign of course it is set up with a program to demonstrate the colours. (We can't exactly control the wind.