The lighting embraces and intensifies the patrons’ anticipation of the dramatic arts they have come to celebrate. New glowing glass canopies and stainless steel poles bejeweled with vertically stacked light fixtures flank the new Grand Entry Stairs bathing patrons in warm, sparkling light; illuminating them as if they were on stage. The challenge was to light the people and the stairs as evenly as possible, with minimal glare, without placing fixtures on the existing buildings, and without detracting from the plaza composition of lighted building facades with the fountain as the focal point. Directly behind the luminous fountain with a bench that floats with light is the façade of the Metropolitan Opera House which forms the luminous backdrop for the southern edge of the plaza.

The hyperbolic paraboloid form of the restaurant roof doubles as a plaza lawn and is lighted from more than 350 feet away. The moonlighting effect is prominently visible from all areas across the campus. The tree bosque is illuminated from below and set atop a structure of continuous seating which appears to float with light.

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