Let’s glow SF 2023 - hyperion monolith
About the Festival
Let’s Glow SF is a holiday light festival in downtown San Francisco that transforms landmark buildings with large-scale projection art each December. Organized by the Downtown SF Partnership with A3 Visual, it is the largest event of its kind in the United States, drawing tens of thousands of visitors to see the Financial District reimagined as a glowing arts district.
The Installation
Hyperion Monolith was conceived as a monumental fusion of light and architecture, turning the 300-foot façade of the Crown Zellerbach Building into a towering canvas for laser graphics. The goal was to provoke contemplation, wonder, and a sense of connection with the urban landscape. The Downtown SF Partnership and A3 Visual promoted the work as the festival’s dedicated laser show — a marquee attraction with a unique full-color high-powered laser system.
Audience Experience
Crowds responded with awe and excitement. The scale and movement of the lasers gave the building an animated presence, as if the architecture itself had come alive. The shifting forms and rising beams created moments of silence followed by bursts of applause, producing a shared sense of wonder in the heart of the city. Many left describing the experience as transformative, reshaping how they saw a familiar part of the downtown skyline.
Press and Reception
Coverage of Hyperion Monolith focused on its hypnotic laser patterns and the way they transformed the building into a luminous presence in the city. Local writers described the piece as abstract and dizzying, capturing the sense of motion and depth created by the beams. The finale — when the lasers joined to form a radiant star climbing the skyscraper — was widely noted as a striking and memorable moment, leaving audiences with a vivid impression of light and architecture fused together.
Impact
Let’s Glow SF 2023 drew more than 67,000 visitors and was praised by city officials as an investment in downtown vitality. The inclusion of Hyperion Monolith helped define the festival’s cutting-edge appeal and marked lasers as a signature element of the city’s holiday tradition. Altogether, the festival was estimated to generate $8 million in local economic impact, reinforcing its role as both a cultural and economic catalyst for San Francisco.
SEE IT LIVE
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