Devon Energy Center

[Praedura]

It was a dark and frosty Christmas night in OKC.

With the Dallas Mavericks freshly beaten, a curious soul meanders from the Chesapeake Arena with camera in hand and captures the colorful flecks of lights and mist surrounding Devon Tower and the Myriad gardens....

























Photos by Ludowe

Read about it in his blog post: Loud City, Quiet City

(and to all, a good night)


Edit: Ok, make that a dark and frosty December 27th, not Christmas night (oops... oh well, close enough!)

[Bailey80]

You are not nuts; throughout the building there are two sets of doors, one on each end of the bank of elevators. The doors have security devices that keep them closed until a security card is scanned. On windy days there is enough air pressure coming through the elevator shafts (actual strong air movement) that some doors will not close until an opposite door is opened releasing internal pressure from the elevator bank area.

Thank you!

[mcca7596]

What happend to the 500+ pages?

I've only got 111 pages; I like my settings being at 100 posts per page :-)

[mcca7596]

So, I haven't been keeping up with all the technical issues, sorry. How much longer do we think until all the LED issues are worked out?

[OKCisOK4me]

So, I haven't been keeping up with all the technical issues, sorry. How much longer do we think until all the LED issues are worked out?

The new end of the world date....2036.

[mcca7596]

:-)

[Pete]

The LED lighting is starting to be a real embarrassment.

They were supposed to be done with this a long time ago and there are still a sizable amount of fixtures that don't work at all or only work improperly.

I know there was an issue getting access to the building maintenance unit (crane) in order to repair the sections that were damaged during installation, but I can't believe that is still the hold-up.

I'll see what I can find out.

[CuatrodeMayo]

Larry Nichols addressed this at the OKC Chamber luncheon last month. Apparently the BMU can only be operated under ideal wind conditions. Those days with those conditions have been few and far between so work on the lighting has been slowed down considerably.

[Pete]

Thanks for the information.

If we are waiting for ideal wind conditions in Oklahoma, none of us may live to see the LED lighting completed.

[Anonymous.]

Honestly I think he is just talking out of his bum.

Does anyone know if Devon has had their windows cleaned yet? As in, guys on scaffolding being pulley-hoisted up and down the building? This seems like a way more logical way of repairing the tubes than using a "crane".

I brought up how the LEDs are an embarrassment back in post #10749 - and I was quickly barraged by posters about how unreasonable I was being. Where are all those posters that insisted they "knew how it worked" and they were going "to be fixed very soon"?


It's funny when people are just so sure about something they are actually completely wrong about.

[Pete]

The window washers use the BMU -- the same apparatus needed for lighting repair.

I haven't seen that thing in use much and I was told by someone in the know there was an issue with it very early on. Could have been the wind, but that was not my impression.


Anyway, I know the lighting contractor was to be finished with this last summer, so something has gone wrong somewhere.

[Plutonic Panda]

Is OKC windier than Chicago?

[edcrunk]

Is OKC windier than Chicago?

Yes. Chi town got it's nickname from long winded politicians, not the weather.

[Urbanized]

Is OKC windier than Chicago?

Yes. Actually MUCH windier. And Chicago's nickname comes from politics, not weather.

[Urbanized]

Doh. Beat me to it.

[Urbanized]

Regarding "jeez, why don't they just use old-fashioned platform and pulley window washing platforms instead of that fancy-schmancy BMU"... ...it's because of the curvature of the top floors of the building. Along about the 30th floor or so, the building tapers in, starting almost imperceptibly and with an increasing taper as it goes up. If you hung a traditional window-washing platform over the side you would smash through the glass on the top 20 or so stories as you went down the side of the building. The BMU is basically the same thing, but uses a crane arm to extend it from the building before lowering, so that they can place it on a dime.

Regarding the idea that all they have to do is switch out some lighting "tubes" or whatever you are picturing for the LED installation: during a tour of the building I figured out for myself what one of the challenges is. There ARE no "tubes." And in fact, the LED lights are actually BEHIND vertically-and edge-mounted glass panels, which are then set into a frame and form the "fins" on the corners of the building. I wish I had taken a photo, because it is difficult to explain. But the light you see is actually being transmitted almost like a fiber-optic light transmission THROUGH the glass panel, from edge to edge, like from the spine of a book to the exposed page edge. You literally cannot see the LED lighting strips from the outside of the building; you can only see the LIGHT they make.

What this means is to replace a strip of lights you must first remove the glass fin section to access it. As many of those fin sections are likely one-of-a-kind or close-to owing to the building shape, and as they all are probably locked in very tightly, I would guess it is probably pretty time-consuming, labor intensive and requires extreme care when removing and replacing. Factor in the apparent lack of availability of the BMU (and the need to also use it for other building maintenance when available), it is really not that surprising that it is taking a loooong time to fix the individual lights that are faulty.

What IS surprising to me is that so many defective ones were installed in the first place. I never saw any areas where it seemed quality was sacrificed in the name of haste on this project, but in retrospect this might be one. You can bet money that there is a contractor and/or a supplier feeling a lot of heat on this one.

[Pete]

Just FYI, I was told by someone who knows that the only way to repair the LED units is with the BMU and that for quite a while it was unavailable.

Don't know the status of the BMU but it certainly hasn't seen much use.

[CaptDave]

Yes. Actually MUCH windier. And Chicago's nickname comes from politics, not weather.

Our politicians aren't far behind.....and they have shovels too.

[Praedura]

Let's sneak in a few more shots before the holidays end and the decorations come down...

















Photos by OkayCityNate

[Praedura]

A question that comes to mind: Where do they put all those giganto decorations when they take them down?

[SOONER8693]

A question that comes to mind: Where do they put all those giganto decorations when they take them down?

Up in the attic of course.

[Praedura]

Up in the attic of course.

That's what I was thinking!

[Teo9969]

Let's sneak in a few more shots before the holidays end and the decorations come down...

For whatever reason my eye is immediately attracted to the self-photograph.

This is a stunning picture otherwise.

[jn1780]

Up in the attic of course.

Lol, its funny because there's probably a giant warehouse that specializes in storing Christmas decorations for other companies like Devon.

[Bellaboo]

Do you think Devon 'owns' these displays or were rented ?