Toronto Pinnacle One Yonge | 351.85m | 106s | Pinnacle | Hariri Pontarini

Strange Advance · Wednesday at 5:07 PM

jveron said:
I completely agree with you. I recently traveled to China and the difference is unbelievable. I was genuinely mind-blown. In cities like Shanghai and Chongqing, around 9–10 pm, dozens of buildings light up with full LED immersive facades at the exact same time, creating this synchronized, vibrant skyline. It’s astonishing. I had never seen anything remotely close to that. Meanwhile, Toronto feels extremely dark by comparison. There’s no immersive or dynamic full-building lighting, just static lights and mostly unlit facades. It’s actually shocking to see how big the gap is. Even adding a few illuminated facades here would instantly make the city feel more alive, modern, vibrant, and visually appealing. And it’s not just about aesthetic. This kind of lighting boosts tourism, creates a stronger city identity, increases nighttime foot traffic, and even attracts investment based on research. Other global cities know this. We’re definitely missing out. If even one landmark, like the SkyTower, had a full LED façade, it would completely transform Toronto’s skyline. It’s disappointing that, even in 2025, we still haven’t embraced this type of lighting. Toronto has so much potential, but we’re dragging behind when it comes to nighttime city design, among many other things.

There's a reason for this, and that is to limit unnecessary deaths of birds, specifically migratory birds, many thousands of which used to die after slamming into well-lit highrise windows. I don't know if the number of deaths has dropped since, but it was a subject of newsworthy concern some 20 years ago, and there's an ongoing campaign called "Lights Out Toronto" that tries to persuade businesses to limit nighttime lighting. It's for the birds.
Aesthetically, yes, it's much more striking and impressive to have a brightly lit downtown, but even aside from the important matter of the avian deaths, it's a colossal waste of electricity (even using LED bulbs) to needlessly run lights all night when no one is there.

kotsy · Wednesday at 5:27 PM

Strange Advance said:
There's a reason for this, and that is to limit unnecessary deaths of birds, specifically migratory birds, many thousands of which used to die after slamming into well-lit highrise windows. I don't know if the number of deaths has dropped since, but it was a subject of newsworthy concern some 20 years ago, and there's an ongoing campaign called "Lights Out Toronto" that tries to persuade businesses to limit nighttime lighting. It's for the birds.
Aesthetically, yes, it's much more striking and impressive to have a brightly lit downtown, but even aside from the important matter of the avian deaths, it's a colossal waste of electricity (even using LED bulbs) to needlessly run lights all night when no one is there.

The discussion is about facade lighting, not interior lighting. People being inside is irrelevant as they won't see the facade lighting. It's strictly for people outside look at the building.