NEW YORK — Although the Empire State Building has been equipped with a Philips Color Kinetics LED color-changing system including customized Reach, Graze, Cove and Blast Powercore fixtures, the LED fixtures have so far been used mainly to mimic the static seasonal and charity-related hues bathing the upper reaches of the 1,454-foot office building for years. But on Nov. 26, that changed. At 9pm, a color-changing light show designed by LD Marc Brickman and driven by Hippotizer media servers controlled by a grandMA2 console was synched to Clear Channel broadcasts of music by Alicia Keys.
Hippotizer distributor TMB noted that six Hippo HDs drove a total of 11,500 pixel-mapped DMX channels to the four types of Color Kinetics RGB fixtures located on the building’s top four tiers, and that Brickman’s design was executed by programmer Tony Fransen, assisted by Hippo technician Darien Koop.
More details from PR Newswire and Philips Color Kinetics (www.colorkinetics.com):
Tonight, the world-famous Empire State Building (ESB), in collaboration with Clear Channel Media and Entertainment and 14 time Grammy Award winner, Alicia Keys, will give a gift to New York City and the world by revealing ESB’s new, one-of-a-kind LED tower lights with a first-ever light show on the Landmark. This show marks the official unveiling of a groundbreaking new LED lighting system, developed by the world’s leader in LED lighting Philips Color Kinetics (PCK).
To view multimedia assets associated with this release, please click: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/59258-empire-state-building-first-ever-led-tower-light-show.
At 9:00 p.m. ET, Alicia Keys will help kick off the light show by flipping the switch live in Clear Channel New York City studios with Elvis Duran, Z100; DJ Clue, Power105; Helen Little, 106.7 Lite fm; and Cubby, 103.5 KTU–a moment that will be synchronized on-air to two of Keys’ tracks–her single from her new album “Girl on Fire,” followed by her smash hit “Empire State of Mind.” New Yorkers and those in the surrounding area with a view of ESB can tune into one of four Clear Channel radio stations–Z100, 103.5 KTU, Power105, and 106.7 Lite fm–as the stations simultaneously play accompanying music to the light show. The light show will be hosted for on-demand viewing at iHeartRadio.com, home to Clear Channel’s digital radio service, by 10 a.m., on Tuesday, November 27.
The state-of-the-art dynamic lighting system from PCK is unique to ESB and allows customized light capabilities from a palette of over 16 million colors in limitless combinations along with effects previously not possible such as ripples, cross-fades, sparkles, chasers, sweeps, strobes and bursts. In addition to greater control and management of the lighting, the new computerized system will deliver superior light and vibrancy levels in real-time, unlike the previous floodlights.
“The Empire State Building’s lights are the international icon of the New York City skyline. We use our tower lights to partner with select charities, organizations, and events around the world,” said Anthony E. Malkin, President of Malkin Holdings which supervises the Empire State Building. “Philips Color Kinetics’ new LED lights were installed over the summer and have been set at the color and intensity of the incandescent lights they replaced. As of tonight, our lights’ full range and intensity will be brought to life, forever changing the New York skyline. We wanted to celebrate with and thank New York City and our global audience with a specially choreographed, custom light show. I am so happy that real New Yorkers, Alicia Keys, Z100, 103.5 KTU, Power105, and 106.7 Lite fm are sharing in our gift of the light show tonight.”
“The Empire State Building has always been a symbol of what’s possible in New York, and all the dreams that can come true in this city that never sleeps,” said Alicia Keys. “I’m so excited to unveil the new tower lights that are going to illuminate the city below like never before–shining bright with inspiration. As a proud New Yorker, I’m so honored and humbled to be a little part of its history.”
To extend the gift to New York City, and celebrate the release of her fifth studio album, GIRL ON FIRE, Alicia Keys will also perform on Tuesday, November 27. Her special performance will be held at the iHeartRadio Theater presented by PC Richard and Son in Tribeca for the first responders and volunteers who have worked tirelessly to restore the affected area, as well as those individuals impacted by Hurricane Sandy. GIRL ON FIRE is available November 27, on RCA Records.
More details from TMB/Hippotizer (www.tmb.com):
Huge Hippotizer Pixel-Map on Empire State Building
With the assistance of Grammy Award-winning artist Alicia Keys, the Empire State Building (ESB) recently launched its new LED lighting system. Designed by world renowned designer Marc Brickman, the landmark building’s first-ever video LED light show was driven by Hippotizer media servers controlled by GrandMA2.
Outputting KiNet to the ESB’s recently installed LED lighting network, six Hippo HDs drove an astonishing 11,500 pixel-mapped DMX channels to four types of Phillips Color Kinetics RGB fixtures located on the building’s top four tiers. Brickman’s design was executed by Programmer Tony Fransen, assisted by Hippo Technician Darien Koop. The spectacular show, visible throughout the city and surrounding areas, ran in conjunction with a rooftop performance by Alicia Keys on a neighboring building. The artiste used the occasion to introduce her new album “Girl on Fire“.
The pixel-mapping for this show represents a unique development: In a typical pixel-map, the fixtures are visible and are viewed and mapped in their real-world locations. In last Monday’s ESB show the fixtures were not visible, instead they were viewed and mapped where they threw onto the building, turning the individual illuminated areas of the building into multiple video pixels, and expanding each pixel to HUGE proportions. This effect was consistent across all sides of the building. The show’s pixel-maps were all created by first making one master map in Hippo’s PixelMapper component, which was then split into four separate maps, one for each side of the building.
For those in the region with a clear view of the ESB, the show was broadcast live over Clear Channel’s New York radio stations. See the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6gQsAlx4vU. See more about the ESB LED installation here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWQBqjuZ1sA
TMB is exclusive distributor for Hippotizer in The Americas. Read more about Hippotizer at www.tmb.com/products/hippotizer.
More details from Philips (www.philips.com):
A “New” New York State of Mind: Empire State Building Redefines New York City Skyline With Philips LED Lighting
World’s most famous office building teams with Philips Color Kinetics to create state-of-the-art, dynamic lighting system that can change building’s mast colors in real-time
NEW YORK – Globally recognized as an engineering marvel and symbol of New York City, the Empire State Building (ESB) has selected Philips, the world’s leader in lighting, as its partner to transition the building’s iconic tower lights to innovative LEDs. The two organizations have pushed the boundaries of LED technology to develop a state-of-the-art dynamic lighting system from Philips Color Kinetics that is unique to ESB and will allow the building’s façade and mast to change lighting scenes in real-time. In addition to greater control and management of the lighting, the new system will deliver the superior light levels for the design, as well as allow ESB to highlight its architectural details.
ESB celebrates many cultures and causes in the world community with iconic lightings. Its tower lights recognize key milestones, events, charitable organizations, countries and holidays, a tradition started in 1932, when a simple searchlight was used to announce the election of New York-born Franklin Delano Roosevelt as President. To honor the United States Bicentennial, ESB installed colored floodlights to illuminate the building at night, lighting up red, white and blue, leading to today’s very popular Lighting Partner program. The new Philips LED lighting system will help to enhance this program by making each lighting more unique and special.
ESB is replacing its traditional light fixtures with LEDs as part of its 21st century renovation. The new computerized system will allow customized light capabilities from a palette of over 16 million colors, including hard-to-achieve pastels, in virtually limitless combinations. The LED lights will replace the current palette of 10 colors, which also requires a team several hours to change the building’s nearly 400 fixtures. Soon ESB staff will be able to create and update customized lights, using new energy-efficient technology.
“Throughout our $550 million Empire State ReBuilding program, we’ve looked at every aspect of the building to make it energy efficient and install 21st century technology, befitting of its position as the World’s Most Famous Office Building,” said Anthony Malkin, president of Malkin Holdings. “It is time to update our iconic tower lighting. Initially, as we have both old-fashioned high intensity discharge and LED lighting side-by-side, there will be no obvious difference to the public’s view. But in September when the LED changeover is complete, we will see some differences. We surveyed the market for the most technologically advanced, energy efficient, and reliable lighting system to illuminate the international, iconic symbol of the New York City skyline. Philips Color Kinetics’ LED system will make our world famous tower lightings that much more magical.”
Moreover, using Philips Color Kinetics LED lighting technology will make it possible to control and focus the light exactly where and how the effect is desired. Ripple, cross-fade, particle and burst effects, previously not possible, can be easily automated to create unique lighting designs. The new Philips lighting system will also allow the building to minimize light spill, ensuring that light is focused on the façade and mast, while providing enough light to allow the building to be seen from anywhere in New York City. This feature not only respects the night sky, but the building’s neighbors as well.
“Lighting the Empire State Building has been a technical challenge and aspiration for us, and one that we have been working on with the ESB for years,” said Jeff Cassis, general manager of Philips Color Kinetics. “We have been developing our LED technology to create a solution that could achieve the right light levels and design for the building’s façade, while keeping true to the building’s identity as an iconic symbol of New York and building innovation. The result is a unique LED lighting system that creates as much light as the traditional light sources that it is designed to replace, yet one that can be adapted on the fly to redefine the New York City skyline.
For video and hi-res photos of the LED color test at the Empire State Building, please click here: http://www.forummedia.us/philipsesb
