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An app lets you change the lights atop two midtown skyscrapers

Written by
Howard Halle
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We've all seen the color of the lights on the Empire State Building and other New York towers change for different occasions (green for St. Patrick's Day; red, white and blue for July 4th, etc.), but that's been pretty much all we could do—watch them change. Now, however, there's apparently an app that puts you in charge of the lighting.

Called "Spireworks," it comes courtesy of mega-developer Douglas Durst, whose son-in-law Mark Domino came up with the idea of allowing anyone with the app to change the lighting scheme on two Durst-owned buildings: 1 Bryant Park (aka the Bank of America Tower) and 4 Times Square (aka the former Condé Nast Building). Billing itself on its website  as "the only building scale interactive lighting installation in New York City," "Spireworks" is also, according to Domino, “a democratic and philanthropic call to action on the New York City skyline.”

Sounds very civic! But before you rush to download the app, be aware that it's being beta-tested, which means you can't access it unless you've been invited to use it by the developers. In the meantime, you can check out how it works in this video tweeted by Buzzfeed's David Mack 

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