The Illumination Artists

The tower's lighting team manages 20,000 light bulbs for the hourly sparkle, plus architectural lighting, seasonal displays, and special events. Master electrician Zhang Wei coordinates this symphony of light.

"People think it's just flipping switches, but we're programming dreams," he explains. "The sparkle uses 20,000 bulbs firing in sequence, creating movement. Each bulb is individually addressable—we can create patterns, words, images. For special events, we might work weeks programming five minutes of magic."

Maintenance means constant bulb replacement. "We change 800 monthly just from normal failure," says Wei. "Working at night, racing sunrise, replacing bulbs while suspended over Paris—it's athletic and artistic. Each bulb positioned precisely or the effect fails."

The team includes traditional electricians and computer programmers. "Modern lighting is software," notes programmer Sarah Johnson. "I write code that becomes emotion. For New Year 2000, my algorithm created the countdown seen by billions. That's immortality for a coder."