Chicago’s 400 East Randolph on Outer East Drive had a pool problem. While their pool had originally been lit with dramatic, color changing lights, the chlorine had corroded almost all the lighting fixtures and rendered the color display completely nonfunctional. Morlights was brought on by the tower for a total update of the pool’s lighting.
One of the concerns of the building was the maintenance needed to keep up the original design. The previous designers required that the entire pool be drained in order to change the lamps, which was expensive and time-consuming. We designed our pool lights with small fiber optic ferrules, and put the corresponding metal halide illuminators in a remote location to eliminate the draining requirement. We also implemented a color wheel in the illuminators for a better color changing effect than the previous design, and reduced the necessary power by two-thirds. The new color changing show was programmed to change every half hour, including a five minute, fabulous fireworks show. We also used an astronomical time clock to automate activation and dimming throughout the day, and to implement special displays during holidays. Finally, we extended our design to the entire pool deck, pointing the surrounding lights at the deck rather than at the pool to eliminate glare form the reflective glass and water, and used uplights and LEDs to light the glass’s support system for a clean design. These steps created huge savings for the building owners, as well as provided an attractive amenity for current and future residents.
