Thursday, October 30, 2008

pittsburgh all lit up

Pittsburgh has been putting on some good events lately, especially for its 250th anniversary.

At night, they have been illuminating structures in unique ways - and the structures provide inspiration for what other cities can do to light up the night.

It was inspiring enough that I spent the day there, and picked up some great Indian food in Oakland.


The projection equipment above is a sample of what was used to light up the buildings.

Below is a water-and-light-filled walkway under the convention center downtown, descending to banks of the Allegheny River.


This fountain is beautiful. I'd like to propose slightly relocating the Vietnam and Korea war memorials downtown to the same side of the island as the Civil War Memorial, illuminating them all, and then installing a fountain like this in their place.


Here's the gorgeous Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh (or the temple of ignorance as my one CMU friend calls it). More photos of the building here, but check out how the 42 stories of the 1926 structure are bathed in projected light.


Here are two churches downtown:



And the facade of the William Penn hotel:



and to finish with a question:

if the city of Youngstown was yours to illuminate with light, what places would you illuminate or what similar projects could you see taking place?

3 comments:

The Stage said...

i didn't know they did that kind of building lighting in pittsburgh! crazy!

CitizenYoungstown said...

the photo of the lit waterway was from the convention center that i went to for anthrocon! (dont ask).

Katie Libecco said...

I'd love to see the Chevy Centre (in all it's hangar-like glory) beautified with some light.