Seattle Ret rofit Focuses on the and Architecture INTERSECTION OF SPORTS

The Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Washington, recently underwent a lighting upgrade for its iconic arches, which were originally built for the 1962 World's Fair. The arches had never been fully lit up until the 1990s, when Lighting Group Northwest, The Lighting Group’s predecessor, added color-changing illumination to the arches.

Todd Haas, who works in specification sales for The Lighting Group, explained that the most recent upgrade involved replacing the existing Irideon fixtures with new fixtures from Acclaim Lighting in an effort to make the application more sustainable. The 20 existing 700-watt color-changing flood lights used a 3000-hour lamp that needed to be replaced every year. The lights had been off for several years, during which the Pacific Science Center came under new leadership. They decided it was time for a replacement. The new Acclaim Dyna Drum HO Color fixtures consume a maximum of 250 watts with an L70 rating of 150,000 hours.

In addition to replacing the fixtures, the controls were also upgraded. Todd explained that they replaced the old ETC controls with a Pharos Controls TPC and Pathway Connectivity Merger. The new controls have the ability to plug in a lighting console, providing direct control of the lights for special events underneath the arches.

However, the biggest challenge for the upgrade was incorporating the Seattle Kraken games. The NHL’s newest franchise plays at the nearby Climate Pledge Arena. The CEO of Pacific Science Center asked if they could control the lights during the hockey games. Todd and his team worked with Amazon Web Services (AWS), who own the arena, to monitor a sports data website in real-time. If the Kraken score, the lights automatically change, signaling the score with a short light show before returning to their normal state.

The upgrade not only benefits the Pacific Science Center, but also ties in with the Climate Pledge Arena and Seattle Center campus. Todd explained that the campus consists of multiple buildings supporting arts and culture, including the Space Needle, Seattle Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP), Seattle Children's Theater, Chihuly Museum of Glass, and the Pacific Science Center. Seattle Center hosts thousands of events on the 74-acre campus and attracts over 12 million visitors each year. The renovation of the Climate Pledge Arena spurred upgrades to other buildings in the Seattle Center to create a cohesive look for the campus.

While there was no lighting designer involved in the relighting of the project, Todd shared that he designed and specified the system based on what they were trying to accomplish. Acclaim provided the best solution in both power and performance. RGBW quad chips bathe the arches in color with no risk of multicolored shadowing of the intricate design. Pharos was the perfect choice for this project because of its powerful capabilities to control LED fixtures and write custom software scripts to monitor different things. It was important that no modification or alteration be done physically to the historic concrete arches. Hollywood Lights was able to fabricate custom mounting brackets allowing the project to reuse the anchor bolts already in place.

Overall, the Pacific Science Center’s lighting upgrade is a shining example of how lighting technology can enhance architectural structures and create a cohesive look for a campus. Todd's expertise in specifying the right fixtures and controls for the project, along with the project team's collaboration with Amazon Web Services, shows how innovation can create beautiful and functional lighting solutions. ■

Pacific Science Center - Owner

The Lighting Group - Design, mock-up, programming.

AWS - Data integration

Hollywood Lights - Equipment supplier, full electrical demolition and installation

Acclaim Lighting - Mock-up support and fixture supplier

Pharos Architectural Controls - Controls and integration support

Pathway Connectivity – Networking controls