Columbia Center to Light Up Seattle Skyline.(Beacon Capital Partners/LEDinside)

Beacon Capital Partners, a leading commercial office investor and manager, today announced that it will unveil a new, colorful LED light display at the iconic Columbia Center on Friday, January 16 at 5:00 pm with a blue and green display in celebration of the Seattle Seahawks’ hosting the upcoming NFC championship. Adding elegant, subtle movement to the city’s skyline, the color of the crown lighting will change to recognize specific dates, events and organizations throughout the year.

 “The new lighting at Columbia Center accentuates the character and design of this iconic building, and allows us to celebrate local and national events with our tenants and the Seattle community,” said Andy Wattula, Beacon Capital’s locally based senior vice president in charge of Pacific Northwest properties. “We’re excited to start with a celebration of the Seahawks in recognition of the team’s success and its fans’ support this season.”

The light bands will span the full length of the roofline of all three rooftops that comprise Columbia Center, with the highest lights reaching 943 feet. Programming and testing of the new lighting system will occur throughout the week. In addition to the colorful crown lighting, a special animation will run around the lights every hour on the hour, turning Seattle’s tallest building into a digital clock visible throughout the city. The animations can also be tied to spontaneous events such as a Seahawks’ touchdown.

The lighting is part of a $4.5 million renovation that includes new signage and digital displays in the building’s lobby and atrium that continually refresh with content about weather, building facts, tenant information, and news and events around Seattle. The lobby’s three new light sculptures, known as Sky Lights, are assembled from high-resolution LED tubes. One changes color based on visibility, another changes with the temperature and the third reflects the position of the sun and the phase of the moon. Each sculpture will run on day and night modes and has a set of animations that reflect other environmental factors, such as wind velocity, the arrival of solar noon and an animated “chime” each hour.

Other recent improvements to the 76-story, 1.5 million square-foot building include a state-of-the art conference facility, new fitness center, extensive renovations to the 73^rd floor public Sky View Observatory, the Columbia Tower Club, and a redesigned lobby and retail atrium with new furniture and seating areas.

Columbia Center’s website has more information about the lights and upcoming events. Follow the Columbia Center Twitter feed @columbialights for updates on changing light colors and animations. The building marks its 30^th anniversary this year.