If you’ve been anywhere near greater Boston lately, you’ve likely passed by or seen media coverage of TD Garden’s gargantuan expansion and renovation. Dubbed the TD Garden Legendary Transformation by Garden Owner & Operator Delaware North, this project is estimated to take two years and multiple AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) teams to fully complete. Our Architectural Lighting department at Port was honored to play a role—upgrading the aisle lights and a few other areas inside the arena.
We’ve been proud to partner with TD Garden for over 10 years, providing advanced lighting control systems, game presentation lighting, moving fixtures, exterior color-changing lighting, and specialized support for the Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics.
That long-standing familiarity made it easy to jump in when the Garden asked us to upgrade their aisle lighting. The existing system used an unusual voltage, meaning a full rewiring of the arena would have been required at an extreme cost.
Instead, inspired by Madison Square Garden’s renovation, we proposed an efficient alternative: LED ellipsoidal fixtures mounted from the catwalk to project clean, bright light onto the aisles. Lighting calculations confirmed the solution met code requirements, and the new fixtures were selected for installation.
That’s where we came in. We quickly identified that the originally specified white fixture would not comply with the National Electrical Code (NEC) section 700.24, which requires emergency lighting fixtures to be specifically listed for that purpose.
To meet code while adding flexibility, we recommended the UL-924-listed ETC ColorSource Spot LED fixture. This solution provides reliable aisle lighting for both everyday use and emergencies, while also offering white and color-changing capabilities—ideal for displaying Bruins, Celtics, or event-specific lighting looks.
We also outlined how the ColorSource Spots would integrate seamlessly with the Garden’s existing lighting infrastructure, including our previously installed Pharos Control System, Sylvania Encelium system, and Hog lighting console. For added safety, the aisle lights would operate on a dedicated emergency circuit, automatically bypassing all other controls and instantly illuminating at preset, code-compliant levels to support safe evacuation.
The TD Garden team approved this plan, and this summer, we commenced and completed the aisle lights upgrade, added master control elements to Levels 2 and 9, devised and installed a new lighting solution for the Coors Light HUB Bar, and are preparing for additional upgrades as construction progresses.
We are deeply grateful to our invaluable operations and warehouse crew for teeing up every detail, for our entire architectural installation team—as virtually everyone contributed some degree of help, to Matt Teuten for capturing these photos, to collaborators ME Engineers, CES Inc., A. Murphy Inc., Gilbane, SCI Architects, and of course, to the wonderful team at TD Garden—it’s an honor and a privilege to participate in this legendary project with all of you.
TD Garden Legendary Transformation
Collaborators
ME Engineers – Lighting Engineers
CES Inc. – Electrical Engineers
A. Murphy Inc. – Electricians
Gilbane – General Contractor
SCI Architects – Architects
Port Lighting Team
Ron Kuszmar – VP, Architectural & Theatrical Lighting
John Beaulieu – Senior Lighting Technician
Sean Harding – Senior Lighting Technician