LIGHTING
All lit up at The Snow Centre
Thorn Lighting’s Hugh King explains how the difficult task of lighting
the Hemel Hempstead Snow Centre was handled using a floodlighting
approach to enhance the shadow and detail of its snowy environment
B
ritain’s latest indoor real ground floor level at a pitch of 15 de- Conventional symmetrical-beam
snow slope – The Snow Cen- grees. The slope ranges from almost floodlights at the relatively low-
tre at Hemel Hempstead – is a horizontal along parts of the training mounting height of 10m would not
spectacular attraction by any slope to what feels like near vertical have been entirely satisfactory.
standards. Constructed by Sir Robert down the main run. This meant which- To provide visual comfort for partici-
McAlpine, the building boasts a 160m- ever lighting was chosen, it had to pants, an asymmetrical beam, useful
long, 30m-wide, main run of real snow illuminate the ribbon-shaped surface for lighting areas rather than small
for regular skiers and boarders and a while providing a pleasant and visually points, with effective cut-off was
100m-nursery slope for beginners. Snow comfortable environment for all Snow required. Thorn has had such a flood-
cannon fire cooled water into the air Centre participants. light in its sports lighting armoury for
that is chilled to cover 8,000sq m of the Further problems included a 60m- a number of years. It is known as the
ski box in perfect, real snow. long centre wall before the main slope Contrast C. At the centre, 154 flood-
opens up to accommodate the training lights are used, equipped with 400W
Lighting Issues area, the high luminance of the snow, metal halide lamps.
There are several fundamental problems limited mounting heights, the alpine en- Aside from high luminous efficacy the
in lighting such a structure. The main vironment and the need for access metal halide lamp brings good colour
run starts 32m above the building’s for future maintenance. rendition, high colour stability and a
cool white appearance, which is ideally
suited to the snowy interior. The flood-
Few indoor sports demand better eye-hand-body
lights are mounted just below roof level
co-ordination and overall balance than skiing and
on a central lattice truss in two rows
(one row by the central wall). The truss
snowboarding, so quality of vision is essential
was supplied with mounting holes for
the floodlights pre-drilled.
Issue 4 2009 © cybertrek 2009 Read Sports Management online
sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital 71
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