came across this article on building.ca. interesting
Illuminating Architecture
By: Albert Warson
"Paris is called the City of Light for the flair with which most of its historic monuments and many of its architectural gems are illuminated externally after dark.
Then there is Vancouver, which isn't Paris, but in its own unassuming yet adventurous style may well be leading the world in "green" architectural illumination.
The 60-storey Shangri-La hotel/condo tower, for example - the city's tallest building upon its completion in 2008 (until a taller one surfaces in the meantime) - will literally "glow in the dark" with a new photo-luminescent paint product, developed by Luna Technologies International, New York (corporate) and Coquitlam, B.C. (research, development and production).
Luna calls itself a "world leader in the emerging field of high-performance photo-luminescent materials," which typically illuminate building and aircraft "exit" and other escape signage. The new lighting application for buildings is charged by ambient light, especially ultra-violet rays, and can glow for hours, releasing stored light without any electricity. Luna reasoned that the system could find vastly larger applications than signage. Lighting up building exteriors, for example, and Vancouver is the first city to use it in that format.
James KM Cheng Architects in Vancouver, the firm that designed the Shangri-La hotel, the first to be built in North America, chose the Luna system, which is being applied on the exterior as the tower rises.
Cheng explains that the "lighting absorbs and reflects ultra-violet light during the day into a spectrum of changing colours, and glows softly at night." No electricity or light bulbs are used, and there is no maintenance, except to clean the button-like fixtures occasionally."
full article (good read);
http://www.building.ca/issues/ISarti...e=04012007&PC=