Color-changing tower rises high above Tel Aviv
At its completion in 2003, Israel’s Moshe Aviv Tower was the tallest building in the Middle East, and today stands as the second tallest in Israel. Rising 244 m (801 ft) over the Tel Aviv skyline, it serves as the gateway between the cities of Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan and serves as a symbol of national importance.
Lighting designer Michal Kantor understood the building’s significance and wanted to make it even more distinct within the city’s nightscape. She wanted to highlight the building with a dynamic light show that would interact with the cosmopolitan city’s events, holidays and festivals. Kantor conceptualized a light design focused on the building’s crown, and used Color Kinetics’ LED lighting solutions to make her dream a reality. From conception to completion, the project took over six months. However, product installation was completed in less than 24 hours, unveiling the light display at Passover. Color Kinetics’ ColorBlast 12 luminaires (now specified with Blast Powercore) with clear lenses were used to produce a vibrant, consistent wash of color and highlight the delineated sections of the building’s crown. The luminaires extend slightly over the building’s exterior and are secured in customized trays, each holding two Blast units—one aiming the light just below the crown and the other aiming at the crown directly. Using a combination of Color Kinetics’ ColorPlay authoring software and iPlayer controller, customized light shows are designed for the city’s major events. For example, on Remembrance Day the crown becomes a flickering candle, and for Independence Day blue and white light shows illuminate the structure. Additional light shows were created to display a full range of vibrant colors on the Tower. “Color Kinetics has a reputation for delivering reliable products to its clientele worldwide, which was a major decision factor for me when turning to them. In addition, its lighting fixtures provided the best solution for the project,” said Michal Kantor. “The light shows are seen by thousands of people daily, and the citizens of Ramat Gan and Tele Aviv are thrilled with the results.”
Color Kinetics’ LED-based luminaires are perfectly suited for lighting exterior structures such as the Moshe Aviv Tower. Beyond producing high-quality light, the LED lights have a very long lifespan—mitigating the time and resources that would be required to maintain traditional light sources. Also important, LEDs are directional sources and the output can therefore be precisely directed, whereas incandescent and fluorescent sources require external reflectors to focus light to a specific location.
