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In jest, it has been said of Paris’s Tour Montparnasse (Montparnasse Tower), that the views from its pinnacle are amongst the most beautiful in a city noted for its elegance, because it is the only location from which the edifice itself cannot be seen.

Indeed, such was the capital’s chagrin that, shortly after building on the monolithic 690 foot structure was completed in 1972, Paris authorities forbade the construction of any more skyscrapers in the area.

Seen Under A New Light

Now, the installation of a new LED lighting system by Dutch technology giant Philips is expected to mitigate the harsh appearance of the tower, making it a major visual landmark on the Parisian night skyline.

With the assistance of designer Régis Clouzet of L’Agence Lumière, an independent company specialising in lighting concepts associated with urban renovation and architecture, the building’s previously unappreciated aesthetic qualities are to be emphasised and its shortcomings downplayed.

The company, whose other accomplishments include using LEDs to enliven the Fort Saint Jean at the entrance to Marseille’s Old Port, have implemented a unique lighting solution that is not only sustainable and energy efficient, but also changes colour in accordance with the temporal rhythm of the seasons.

Versatile, Sustainable And Energy-Efficient

LED lights such as these are particularly versatile, and have expected life-spans that far exceed those of their similarly luminescent traditional counterparts.

One of the main reasons for their incredible longevity is that they produce little or no heat when activated. This is in direct contrast to fluorescent and incandescent lights, both of which squander their energy, losing it as heat.

Thus, requiring less energy, they cost just a fraction to run over the course of their 50,000 hour or 17 year lives.

This means that, despite its formidable size, the energy consumption for the entire tower’s 56 floor lighting system is now the same as that of 10 household irons!

According to Philips, this is because the new LED Lights use less than 10% of the energy of their fluorescent predecessors, going from 272 kWh to less than 25 kWh.

The tower’s light maintenance costs have now been reduced almost to zero, as previously its lights needed to be replaced much more frequently, a substantial and expensive endeavour on a building of such magnitude.

The tower's 56 floors have been outfitted with an LED system comprising 972 dynamic LED battens which are very similar to wall washers, and 58 LED spotlights, all of which were installed over the course of 8 months, between August 2011 and February 2012.

The LED lights are controlled by a high-speed Ethernet network that allows their colour and lumens of brightness to be adjusted up or down at the touch of a button.

The LED lights create four fundamental scenarios; one to match each of nature’s seasons. Green shines in the spring, blue for summer, orange and yellow for autumn and crisp white and deep blue illuminate the tower during the winter months.

A fifth setting entitled festival enables the lights' sceneography to harmonize with the various events that take place in the capital, including La Nuit Blanche (the White Night) and La Fete de la Musique (the Festival of Music).

For the thirteenth tallest tower in Europe, and the tallest in the French capital, the incredible transformation wrought by the installation of the LED lighting system is nothing short of remarkable.

The Montparnasse Tower is now an outstanding testament to the prestige, adaptability and sustainability of energy-saving LED lighting, rather than the monument to poor urban planning that it once was.