Mark Domino, the son-in-law of developer Douglas Durst, has developed an app, called Spireworks, that allows anyone with a smartphone to change the color of a building's lights.Â
Durst installed the corresponding technology on two midtown skyscrapers—Bank of America Tower and 4 Times Square, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat reports. App users will be able to play with the light colors on the spire and antennae of the buildings, as well as add sparkles and pulses of light.
The project is still in the testing stages, and users can join only if invited by a current user. Durst says there are a few hundred users so far and estimates that about five people manipulate the lights per night.Â
Domino and Durst told the New York Daily News that the project is meant to be a fun alternative to the Empire State Building, which changes its lights for the holidays. “People don’t believe you can do this,” Domino told the paper.Â
The company is still unsure how many users can utilize Spireworks at once without crashing the system.
Related Stories
| Jan 23, 2014
Think you can recognize a metal building from the outside?
What looks like brick, stucco or wood on the outside could actually be a metal building. Metal is no longer easily detectable. It’s gotten sneakier visually. And a great example of that is the Madison Square retail center in Norman, Okla.
| Jan 23, 2014
3 fatal flaws your architecture firm has right now
After visiting over 200 architecture firms, I was aghast that so many of them were committing these costly sins of mismanagement and miscommunication, without even realizing it. If I can stop even one more firm from shooting its own foot, then this is worth it.
| Jan 22, 2014
SOM-designed University Center uses 'sky quads,' stacked staircases to promote chance encounters
The New School's vertical campus in Manhattan houses multiple functions, including labs, design studios, a library, and student residences, in a 16-story building. Â
| Jan 22, 2014
Architecture Billings Index sees first back-to-back decline since mid-2012
The AIA's Architecture Billings Index dipped for the second consecutive month in December—the first consecutive months of contraction since May and June of 2012.
| Jan 21, 2014
Comcast to build second Philadelphia skyscraper, with Norman Foster-designed tower [slideshow]
The British architect last week unveiled his scheme for the $1.2 billion, 59-story Comcast Innovation and Technology Center, planned adjacent to the Comcast Center.Â
| Jan 21, 2014
2013: The year of the super-tall skyscraper
Last year was the second-busiest ever in terms of 200-meter-plus building completions, with 73 towers, according to a report by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
| Jan 20, 2014
BUILDINGChicago/Greening the Heartland Conference 'call for 2014 educational proposals' is now open
The conference and exposition will take place September 29-October 1, 2014, at North America’s largest LEED Gold-certified hotel, the Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza. Deadline for proposals is February 28, 2014.
| Jan 17, 2014
Crystal Bridges Museum will move Frank Lloyd Wright house from New Jersey to Arkansas
Numerous architectural experts have concluded that moving the Bachman Wilson House offers its best hope for long-term survival.
| Jan 17, 2014
Australian project transforms shipping containers into serene workplace
Australian firm Royal Wolf has put its money where its mouth is by creating an office facility out of shipping containers at its depot and fabrication center in Sunshine, Victoria.
| Jan 17, 2014
The Starchitect of Oz: New Gehry building in Sydney celebrates topping out
The Dr. Chau Chak Wing Building at the University of Technology, Sydney, will mark Frank Gehry's debut project in the Australian metro.
