How Lighting Architecture Can Enhance A Retired Tower

by PORT on Nov 13, 2023 1:11:56 PM

Canal+Street+Towers

Learn how PORT designed and installed architectural lighting on two retired electrical towers and turned them into an attractive highlight.

November 2023 -

Original article: Gateways - Canal Street Towers - Color Kinetics

Holyoke, MA wanted to convert some unattractive, rusting relics left from the heyday of their milling era into something that could bring a distinctive and more attractive look to the neighborhoods that had them as part of their skyline every day. Lighting architecture gives you the ability to do that.

As part of a larger beautification project for their Main Street area, PORT provided architectural lighting design and architectural lighting installation services on two old, retired electrical towers and turned them into an attractive highlight using thoughtful lighting and sustainable designs. PORT’s Ron Kuszmar and Quentin Stockwell executed this unique project with our partners at Color Kinetics.

Consistency & Reliability

A vital part of Holyoke’s and Nueva Esperanza’s ‘El Corazon de Holyoke’ beautification project, ‘Gateways’ is one of several vibrant public art projects installed throughout the Main Street area.

Gateways feature dynamic, colorful lighting on two historic electrical towers that once provided support for a staggering number of electrical cables that were run to the mills in and around the downtown Canal District. Rusty and unused, the towers became the perfect sculptural canvas to uplight, creating the beacons of light envisioned by the El Corazon de Holyoke committee.

The towers are comprised of a thin, lattice-like structure with a very dark surface. The vibrancy, intensity, and consistent color rendering between different Color Kinetics fixtures were needed to illuminate those surfaces with an exciting wash of color-changing light.

Canal+Street+Towers

Our Unique "Right Of Passage"

Color Kinetics iPlayer3 provides powerful light show storage and playback capabilities to each tower, while Color Kinetics ColorPlay 3 authoring and configuration software enables users to create and manage light shows with spectacular and fully customizable effects.

Color Kinetics Data Enabler Pro delivers integrated data and power to the lighting system of both towers. Completed in October 2022, the comprehensive, end-to-end Color Kinetics lighting system provides an effervescent, colorful, and constantly shifting beacon of joy that anchors the two ends of Main Street and helps define and celebrate the surrounding Puerto Rican and Latinx neighborhoods.