Bright lights, Big City: how Dallas lights the sky

The iconic Dallas skyline is known for catching eyes, but it especially shines at night.

The awe-inspiring visuals make visitors and Dallasites alike stop and wonder, why and how it happens.

The answer; lots of communication and a handful of light techs.

WHO’S INVOLVED

Several buildings make up the impressive display that lights the Dallas sky every night.

Reunion Tower, Bank of America Plaza, AT&T Discovery District and the Omni Hotel all have to coordinate to create awe-inspiring visuals.

A simple email chain with the building's light coordinators is how they keep it organized. However, each building individually decides what they will display each night and they will keep one another informed on what shows will be happening.

Requests are taken independently and through the city manger's office, said Bily Rowland, JLL Operations Manager for Bank of America.

And sorry, no baby showers and engagements.

“It's pretty crazy," said Jenna Guinn, marketing manager at Reunion Tower. "If we participated in everything we would be going back from pink and blue, and 'will you marry me?' like 24/7."

Typically holidays, sports team wins and charity events will be featured.

DAZZLING DESIGNS

More than just a flip of a switch goes into creating what we see on the outside.

As for how the displays are created, well it varies. Each building has its own specs and system for creating light displays.

Maybe the simplest, but arguably most iconic of the buildings is the Bank of America Plaza. The green-lined building is a staple of the skyline, but the building is more than happy to change it up or let others change it.

“Green was chosen in 1986 when they put the glass argon lights on," said Rowland. "And that was because green can be seen the furthest by the human eye.

With LED lights lining the 921ft of the building, it can be set to any color on the spectrum.

If you’ve ever seen the lights change before your eyes or heard someone claim they can change the lights, it’s not a myth. Bank of America created My Dallas Lights, so those who have been invited can change the color of the building lights for a limited amount of time every night.

“Ownership had a vision of being able to share the experience of changing the color of the lights of the buildings," Rowland said.

Another staple of the cityscape, Reunion Tower, changes its display almost nightly. If you ever want to know what design is showing or why the building keeps and updated calendar on reuniontower.com.

259 LED Lights encase the top of the structure and can create dynamic shows. The designer, Daryl Vaughan, had to create a custom program for the building's unique shape.

The original lights were a birthday gift to Ray Hunt, whose mother decided to light the outside of the ball, said Guinn. Later the lights were charged out for color lights to create the shows.

Some of the classic shows include Dynamic Warm White, I Heart Dallas and the Dallas sports teams.

New kid on the block, AT&T Discovery District, is excited to join the other buildings in their festivities.

"That's one of the great things about the Dallas skyline, it lights up for things, so we wanted to be a part of that," said Keith McCoy, associate director of brand experience at AT&T design district.

AT&T's signature light color is of course, AT&T blue said McCoy. However, the building has a unique feature with the media wall in the Discovery District, which can take a few days to program.

Maybe the most impressive of the bunch is the Omni Hotel with a 23-story canvas to showcase images. Text and images can be seen most nights and sometimes coordinate to the conventions being held at the hotel.

Hundreds of lights and hours go into the coordination and design of the building lights, but all the hard work makes up a unique cityscape that has become a staple of Dallas.