Skoda Stadium

75 in the land of the giants SydNey SKoda StadiuM The new Sydney Showground, the primary  ground for the australian football league and  home of the giants, makes its debut: seat  capacity doubled, technological and lighting  systems upgraded he  official  name  is  Sydney  Showground  Main Arena, but it is commonly known as the Skoda  Stadium, the primary Australian Football venue and home of one of the most popular clubs in Australia, the Greater Western Sydney Giants. May 26 marked the official debut of the “new” Sko-da Stadium, the result of a massive upgrade that in-creased seat capacity, technological equipment and hospitality services, and redeveloped the Australian arena to become a major international venue for in-ternational sport events and competitions, especially for Australian Rules Football, an uniquely Australian  T ›

76 SPort indigenous  sport  that  is  now  breaking  down  cultu-ral barriers, attracting fans from throughout Europe. Following the upgrade, seat capacity increased from 13,000 to 25,000, new bars and function spaces were created and the field and stands were reconfigured. However, the truly revolutionary upgrade concerned the stadium’s technological equipment and systems. The Giants’ inaugural match was extensively cove-red by numerous websites and international media. Aerial  photographs  showed  the  world,  rising  from  On these pages, pictures of the Skoda Stadium in Sydney after the  upgrade that increased seat capacity and involved the total remaking of the  technological systems in order to comply with international TV broadcasting  standards. The new stadium has totally 504 Forum spotlights (Disano), mounted  on spotlight towers divided into sets of 40 to 54 units on the pre-existing structures  and up to 80 on the new towers › ›

77 SydNey SKoda StadiuM Shown here is a detail of the design project for one of the six spotlight towers built in the  stadium. Each structure was carefully shaped and dimensioned to ensure not only perfect  lighting conditions over the pitch but also to give aesthetic appeal. The red colour of the  spotlight towers turned them into the symbol of the new Skoda Stadium itself. Pictures of the new system were beamed around the world. The stadium was  the country’s main baseball venue during the Olympics 2000.

79 SydNey SKoda StadiuM the wavy roof covering the stands, the six red spot-light towers with their innovative design and lighting products entirely made in Italy.  forum: high performance and custom designAndrew  nagy,  Application  Engineering  Design  Ma-nager  at  Pierlite  Australia  Pty.  Ltd.,  talks  about  the origins of the new lighting system, designed entirely with Disano products, in compliance with the strin-gent AFL (Australian Football League) requirements. “The project – explains Nagy – included the total re-placement  of  the  existing  system  and  the  removal of the lighting equipment previously installed on the six spotlight towers. Two towers were replaced with new ones to achieve visual and aesthetic consisten-cy”. The original lighting system was custom built to comply with TV broadcasting of baseball games (the  The Australian Football League requires the lighting of the pitch to have an average light level of 1400 lux near each TV camera. The pictures on these pages show the simulations of the lighting design laid down by the Austrian company Pierlite. “The search for the most efficient set of lighting products was an exciting challenge”. › ›

SPort stadium was originally built as Australia’s main ba-seball venue during the Olympics), and lighting equi-pment  was  arranged  strategically  around  the  field. Pierlite  designed  a  new  lighting  system  capable  of meeting the first AFL requirement, i.e. a system that could provide and keep a lighting level of 1400 lux near each camera. “The  real  challenge  for  lighting  designers  and  in-stallers was to find the most efficient set of lighting products to achieve this goal”. Pierlite installed a set of 504 2Kw Forum fixtures (Disano). The product has a compact shape and five rows of “high performan-ce” spotlights.  Fixtures were installed on the towers according to a non-uniform criterion: 40 to 54 spot-lights were installed on the existing towers and up to 80 spotlights on the new ones. Extra spotlights were  installed  strategically  around  the  pitch,  once  again near TV cameras to facilitate broadcasting coverage. Forty-eight lighting fixtures were equipped with re-strike controller to guarantee emergency lighting. For the Skoda Stadium, Disano designed and develo-ped a special version of Forum with very high perfor-mance levels, both in terms of technical features and materials, so that the fixtures could blend perfectly into  the  surroundings.  “We  were  asked  –  explains Maurizio  Fortunato  from  Disano  illuminazione  –  to provide  products  that  could  combine  high  perfor-mance  levels  and  top  quality  materials  in  order  to withstand the wear and tear of weather conditions. And  not  only  that:  they  have  been  equipped  with special sheathing and covers to protect against wild birds  collisions”.  The  Forum  version  developed  for the  Skoda  Stadium,  therefore,  represents  a  major milestone in the evolution of the spotlight itself. “It was  developed  following  a  process  of  constant  re-modelling and improvement – confirms Fortunato – with the objective to provide the fixture with greater performance and wider usage “.  Forum spotlights for the Skoda Stadium were equipped with protections against wild bird collisions. The system’s performance was integrated with extra fixtures installed around the pitch and on the sides, including a sophisticated light management system and emergency lights.  80 ›