Expo Square

[patric]

Tulsa County to spend $1 million to enhance Golden Driller at Expo Square

The new plaza is intended to provide a safer, more beautiful entrance to the fairgrounds and highlight the Golden Driller with new lighting and signage.
https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/government-and-politics/tulsa-county-to-spend-million-to-enhance-golden-driller-at/article_dd2a68b3-2238-58db-b467-4c69ab35cda6.html


Did someone just discover they make amber LEDs?  Blue lights on the Golden Driller just dont cut it.

[Jacobei]

Can we take the Driller down and move it elsewhere?  Since pretty much everything in Expo square is getting knocked down and Gun and Horse show people don't care, He could have a better home.

[BKDotCom]

Just replace the oil derrick with a rifle

[patric]

Work began Wednesday on a $3 million upgrade of Golden Driller Plaza at Expo Square
The project marks the first significant renovation of the area in front of River Spirit Expo since it was built in 1966.

The plaza will also have large, ground-level letters spelling out "Expo Square" in bright colors and a big electronic message board.
https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/golden-driller-plaza-getting-3-million-in-fixes-first-renovation-since-1966/article_7ce4ff1a-7b94-11eb-b14b-4ba250d06419.html

Oh. thats. swell.

[Vision 2025]

KOTV has the renderings

https://www.newson6.com/story/604162f092320e0bc7f77032/3-million-renovations-coming-to-golden-driller-plaza-first-upgrades-since-1966

and a bit of missing information, the project also utilizes $1.2 million of Vision 2025 funds.

[patric]

KOTV has the renderings

https://www.newson6.com/story/604162f092320e0bc7f77032/3-million-renovations-coming-to-golden-driller-plaza-first-upgrades-since-1966

and a bit of missing information, the project also utilizes $1.2 million of Vision 2025 funds.

The drawings show a golden driller lit with garish blue-rich light.

With LED lighting you can make any monument any color you want, including golden amber. So why light the Golden Driller like it was a used car lot?



https://www.lumileds.com/markets-served/architectural-lighting-solutions/

[tulsabug]

I'm sure this has been covered but what ever happened to the dancing LED lights on the Expo Center? I seem to recall something about something broke but the company who made it went out of business so money down the drain or something.

[TulsaBeMore]

Those lights on roof of Expo Building cost a bundle.  County officials went cricket quiet on them once they quit working.

[Vision 2025]

Those lights on roof of Expo Building cost a bundle.  County officials went cricket quiet on them once they quit working.

As I recall, the installation company and their supplier for the controls both went out of business which made it virtually impossible to bring them back.

[Oil Capital]

Tulsa County to spend $1 million to enhance Golden Driller at Expo Square

The new plaza is intended to provide a safer, more beautiful entrance to the fairgrounds and highlight the Golden Driller with new lighting and signage.
https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/government-and-politics/tulsa-county-to-spend-million-to-enhance-golden-driller-at/article_dd2a68b3-2238-58db-b467-4c69ab35cda6.html

"on any given day 20 to 30 vehicles stop in front of River Spirit Expo so people can take photos of the Golden Driller."  Really??

[dbacksfan 2.0]

"on any given day 20 to 30 vehicles stop in front of River Spirit Expo so people can take photos of the Golden Driller."  Really??

Guilty.

[patric]

I'm sure this has been covered but what ever happened to the dancing LED lights on the Expo Center? I seem to recall something about something broke but the company who made it went out of business so money down the drain or something.

(2002:) "For years there's been talk about doing some kind of lighting for holidays, but not as an architectural lighting feature," said Steve Alter, president of Matrix Architecture and Engineering Inc., proud designer of the fiber-optic project.

Plans to renovate the Exposition Center became a reality when voters approved funding through the "4 to Fix the County" sales tax. Alter said he wanted to do something to enhance the unique roof structure, which is similar to a suspension bridge. There are no interior columns, making its floor space one of the largest clearspan buildings in the world.

"It is a very pronounced building and it is an icon in Tulsa, so I wanted the lighting to be of the same quality, that kind of state-of-the-art quality," he said.

Expo Square CEO Denny Tuttle also sees the building as having a bold new presence.

"We felt like it was something unique that would highlight the improvements and hopefully create a new icon for the community," Tuttle said.

Employees of SECO Electric began installing the lights -- a 10-day project -- on Tuesday.

There are 82 fiber-optic cables, 64-feet-long, that are being fastened to the steel cables that extend to the top of the structural struts. The fiber-optic cables were custom-made by Special-T Lighting of Burbank, Calif.

The Exposition Center will light the night sky for the first time publicly at the Fair Friends Kick-Off on Sept. 14. The fund- raiser for the fairgrounds will preview the Tulsa State Fair with fair games and food. The fair runs Sept. 26 through Oct. 6.

The $1.12 million fiber-optic lighting project also includes a major color makeover for the building still referred to as the International Petroleum Exposition or IPE Building.
https://tulsaworld.com/archive/expo-center-new-theme-lighten-up/article_c738e585-1bf4-5987-9839-f789c67ef291.html

[patric]

It really would take very little effort to properly light the Golden Driller with an appropriate warmer color like amber LED, as opposed to the cold pallor of the blue-rich LED that you see at used car lots.

The artwork here is very misleading with regard to illumination; "TV-on-a-stick" video billboards no brighter than their surroundings, etc.