Devon Energy Center

[Anonymous.]

edit: double post.

[bchris02]

Over the past couple weeks they have had the crown backlight off. And have the color-changing LEDs going. The crown has a lot of LEDs that are malfunctioning - some flash the wrong color, many are just not on. You can see this much more clear now that the crown is not back-lit.

The sides have improved a lot, but still a few patches of darkness or malfunctioning strips.

Honestly I don't think it will ever be 100%. They obviously do not care enough to try and fix it.

I really think it would look a lot better to simply backlight the crown and leave the LEDs off if they can't get it working. It's disappointing to see it completely dark as it has been the past several nights that I've been downtown. The Devon Tower is the dominant feature for OKC's skyline so one would think they would care enough to at least have basic lighting.

[Pete]

I know the original plan was not to to have the crown back-lit has it has been for most of the last two years.

They wanted the LED lights -- which are highly efficient -- to light the crown but I suspect the installation and operation problems are the reason the back-lighting has been used.


And I have to say, this had a very unanticipated consequence on me personally. I've mentioned several times that I organized a class reunion on the 50th floor and our dance floor was right under one of the crowns.

They could not / would not dim those lights and therefore the whole space was ridiculously bright. It really affected the event and also caused massive glare on the windows which meant you couldn't even see out unless you were pressed right up against them.

We had bars in two side rooms where the LED fins are located (in the indentions) and of course, that did not bring any extra light into the space and actually looked really cool.

I know it sounds like a minor thing but that lighting situation really, really sucked.

[jccouger]

We are less than a month away from being 2 years removed from Devon tower being completely finished.

I've been by far the harshest critic on the LED lights, and there is really nothing else left to say. They will never be fully functional & we should count our blessings that only the inlets on the building included them. If you remember the original plans called for the entire building to be fitted with them. If functional, it would have been amazing but as it stands it would have looked like crap.

They have improved slightly over time, but after 2 years of work to fix them heading in to winter we are bound to experience added problems than to solve current ones. Its whatever, as it still looks pretty at night from a distance & I'd much rather have limited lights than none at all.

[Pete]

Devon is taking more space in Oklahoma Tower.

Building permit today for the 18th floor.

[Pete]

Devon is taking more space in Oklahoma Tower.

Building permit today for the 18th floor.

[TexanOkie]

Devon Energy Center wins Urban Land Institute's Global Award for Excellence

[OKCisOK4me]

Didn't this place used to light up at night? I mean, not just the crown but on, something like, three sides...or am I just dreaming??

[Pete]

Didn't this place used to light up at night? I mean, not just the crown but on, something like, three sides...or am I just dreaming??

I can literally see this building out of every window in my apartment on the LED lights are on every night.

They turn them off around midnight typically.

[Bullbear]

I can literally see this building out of every window in my apartment on the LED lights are on every night.

They turn them off around midnight typically.

Yah I notice them nightly as well.. . I will say I think the LED system they put on the building wasn't that well thought out. I hoped it would be much more impressive. for instance the once on the lanterns of the crown are useless as the interior lighting usually is lit so you don't see them. and the spines I had hoped would be more impressive.

[Pete]

The crown is back-lit with white lighting that is completely separate from the LED system.

Having hosted a large event directly underneath one of those triangles in the main ballroom at Vast, it completely floods the room with light which cannot be controlled.

Frankly, it greatly detracts from the appeal of that space. Makes the room way too bright and causes a massive amount of reflection off the exterior glass, which makes the views almost completely disappear. Being the organizer, I had dozens of people ask me to ask the building to turn down the lights, which they had already informed me was outside their control.

It would be far, far better to use the LED lighting in the three triangles atop the building which are on the outside of the glass and do not throw light back into the interior.

The side function rooms actually look out through the LED lighting on the three spines of the building and when you are inside you can't even see it.

[Bullbear]

I agree Pete. I would rather them have put more LED lighting on the triangle lanterns to allow for a more dense light configuration of LED's and not lit them from the inside at all. the LED strips are so sparse it doesn't allow for very good graphics if they choose to do so for Thunder games or whatever. same for the spines. but I know it is just at the seems of the glass.

I would imagine those bright lights would detract from any kind of event. no way to control the mood of the room.

[bchris02]

Many times I have noticed when there is an event going on they will turn the crown off or light it only with the LEDs.

I am not sure if its just a coincidence but it seems like since the Chase tower lighting went off, the Devon Tower has been lit later into the night than it used to be.

[Pete]

I agree Pete. I would rather them have put more LED lighting on the triangle lanterns to allow for a more dense light configuration of LED's and not lit them from the inside at all. the LED strips are so sparse it doesn't allow for very good graphics if they choose to do so for Thunder games or whatever. same for the spines. but I know it is just at the seems of the glass.

I would imagine those bright lights would detract from any kind of event. no way to control the mood of the room.

I believe their plan was to make extensive use of the LED lighting in the triangles, but they don't do so because several of the fixtures are still not functioning properly.

There was a big breakdown in communication and coordination between the general contractor and the LED company that did the install. Not placing blame on either party as both sides became very frustrated.

[HOT ROD]

Im looking at it right now on news 9 skycam and the crown is lit via LED as are the sides.

Personally, I love the backlight as far as the exterior and skyline is concerned. Too bad there wasn't a way to backlight but somehow have it not shine down into the event space. I think a two sided mirror (or a glass where from the room you can see up but the light in the crown reflects back into the crown) - yeah, that. would be a good investment to place in the triangles at the ceiling of the event space. That way, you could still see up but not get light poison from the backlights.

[jccouger]

I also haven't seen the crane in use at the top for a looooong time. Did that thing end up not working as intended?

[Anonymous.]

They use the crane all the time for the window washers.

[OKCisOK4me]

I can literally see this building out of every window in my apartment on the LED lights are on every night.

They turn them off around midnight typically.

Of note, I'm driving to work at 5:45am, so that's the timeframe regarding my question. It's the only time I ever see Devon Tower anymore ;-)

[KayneMo]

Devon's lighting is dancing this evening, looks very cool!

[Pete]

I took some vid I will post later. I think they were coordinating with OK Tower.

[baralheia]

I thought the sparkling phase of the lighting looked really neat, and I didn't even realize that they had the capability to do that. It cycled from Sparkling Red to Red, then to Sparkling Green, and then to Green, before repeating. Pretty awesome. I think I've only ever seen that building just do solid colors...

[Bullbear]

Was in Bricktown Friday night listening to a friend play music and walked around the music festival.
I was looking at Devon and can't believe how many lights still don't work or have went back out on that building. The lighting has been a bit of a disappointment for me. Maybe I had too high of hopes in the beginning but it just seems poorly designed and executed. I also noticed it went completely dark at Midnight with only the Red Beacons on. is that new? I didn't realize it was going so Dark before.

[SOONER8693]

Was in Bricktown Friday night listening to a friend play music and walked around the music festival.
I was looking at Devon and can't believe how many lights still don't work or have went back out on that building. The lighting has been a bit of a disappointment for me. Maybe I had too high of hopes in the beginning but it just seems poorly designed and executed. I also noticed it went completely dark at Midnight with only the Red Beacons on. is that new? I didn't realize it was going so Dark before.

My wife is a flight attendant for United. A couple of weeks ago, on a Sunday night, she could not get on the Den to OKC flight, but could get on Den to Tulsa flight. As a result, I had to drive to Tulsa to pick her up after midnight. Got to downtown Tulsa a little after midnight. As always was impressed with the Tulsa skyline and downtown area. Was especially impressed with how bright and lighted almost all of the buildings were. Extremely impressive, lots of lights and variations of lighting on the various buildings of all sizes. OK, get back to downtown OKC about 1:30. Night and day, no pun intended, difference in the lighting of buildings. OKC looked almost totallly dark. The FNC and the building of the same vintage and height close to it, and the Oklahoma Tower, were basically the only buildings with any significant lighting features. Looked depressing when compared to T-town. I wish OKC would do more building lighting downtown, it adds a lot to the overall aura of a downtown. JMO

[Pete]

The LED lights on Devon were the subject of a big battle between Hines (builder) and the sub-contractor.

The lighting company claimed they were disadvantaged by the build schedule and they couldn't get access to the unit that lowers window washers (and repair people) down the sides of the building. I believe they just split ways altogether, not even letting the lighting company finish the programming work on the light displays.


As far as lighting the rest of the skyline, that's mainly because SandRidge is having terrible financial problems and turned off their exterior lights some time ago. It's the responsible move when you are laying people off.

First National is pretty well lit these days and will no doubt be much better when renovated. BOK Plaza is very nicely lit and Oklahoma Tower just added new LED lighting. Leadership Square recently added the illuminated Enable sign.

It's really just Cotter Ranch Tower and SandRidge that are the issues.

The new BOK Park Plaza will have an illuminated crown and that will add a lot to the skyline. And at at some point SandRidge (or someone else) will turn their lights back on.

[Bullbear]

I agree with you completely!. I wish they would do more as well.