LONDON 2012 LIGHTING CASE STUDY
From the Queen, Bond and Boyle, to Bolt, Ennis and Hoy – what a show it’s been, and thanks to the lighting design, TV viewers had as good a view as spectators watching live. Andrew Brister reports on the Olympics that took broadcast lighting to brilliant new levels
W
ow. What was your favourite moment? From Usain Bolt’s historic retention of his sprint
treble, Chris Hoy’s golden exploits in the velodrome to Michael Phelps extending his record medal tally in the Aquatics Centre, the 2012 Olympics certainly lived up to its promise to inspire a generation. A massive medal haul for Team GB
fuelled Olympic fever at home, and not just for those lucky enough to have tickets. The broadcast coverage has been superb, with the latest generation of cameras giving the world some amazing close-ups and slow-motion pictures. Such quality images would not be possible without the best lighting. ‘Superior broadcast lighting is essential: it is the core of a successful show,’ explained Giulio Antonetto, associate at Arup and part of the team behind the lighting design at the Aquatics Centre. ‘The value of a shot is immense; it
is historical, cultural, iconic and forms our memories. We still see pictures of the Berlin Olympics to this day. There is also a commercial dimension with the branding that can come from a single frame, so there is a fi nancial implication for the lighting that goes beyond capital and running costs.’ Nowhere is broadcast quality lighting
more critical than in the three main venues in the Olympic Park – the main stadium, the velodrome and the Aquatics Centre. Philips Lighting is the supplier to all three, responding to Arup’s design at the Aquatics Centre but having full design responsibility at the velodrome and main stadium, working alongside M&E consultants BDSP and Buro Happold respectively. ‘Making sure the lighting levels at
the three main arenas reached the formidable demands of television broadcasting was made even more diffi cult by the unique challenges that each of them presented,’ said Mike Simpson, technical and design director at Philips Lighting. ‘Both the velodrome and Aquatics Centre required strong architectural input and many of the design decisions were made before the lighting was detailed.’
Olympic stadium The triangular masts for the fl oodlights are a distinctive feature of the main stadium. Yet, early artist’s impressions show a very different, rectangular array. ‘We got involved early on, even before we won the bid, and worked out that the proposed light positions were too low for camera angles and broadcast requirements,’ said Simpson. ‘So we sat down as a team and that’s how we’ve ended up with the triangular towers.’ The main stadium uses 536 2kW
metal halide fl oodlights on 14 towers, achieving an average of 2,000 lux vertical in Olympics mode, with 1,400 lux minimum. Half of the lamps are of the hot restrike type, so they would come on instantly in the event of a power failure. ‘Access to fl oodlights was high
but well-designed, which made the commissioning easier,’ said Simpson. ‘We used GPS positioning to set out aiming points, which signifi cantly reduced the time to commission compared to traditional tape measures. We would normally reckon on two people aiming 50 fl oodlights in a day so would set aside 10 days for a project of this size. Using GPS, all towers were aimed in less than three days, which we believe is a record for a stadium of this size.’
www.cibsejournal.com
September 2012 CIBSE Journal 25
Stu Forster/
gettyimages.co.uk
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