CHROMAFLOOD 200’s ENHANCE PIONEERING ARCHITECTURE AT HATFIELD SWIM CENTRE
The radical remodelling of a Council-owned Hertfordshire swimming pool between 1989-1991 resulted in a new type of building geometry, topped off with a giant hyperbolic roof which at that time was the largest of its type in the world.
During the first quarter of 2006, The Finesse Leisure Partnership, who manage the Hatfield Swim Centre for Welwyn Hatfield Council, completed a £750,000 council-funded refurbishment of the technical infrastructure for the local authority.
At that time the facility’s system integrators Clarity in Sound, Light and Vision introduced Finesse to the idea of LED lighting to enhance the discharge lighting in the high-humidity environment.
Eighteen months ago the integrators specified and fitted 12 of Pulsar’s ChromaFlood 200 fixtures (each containing a combination of 66 Red, Green and Blue LED’s) — and the installation proved a huge success.
With a maximum power consumption of just 200 watts, these high-powered LED fixtures are housed in a compact IP65 flood enclosure — perfect for architectural applications in high-humidity environments such as swimming pools.
Finesse’s Health & Fitness Manager, Amanda Morris, said that it was always in the plan to double their complement of Pulsar fixtures once they had received their Carbon Trust Grant (an initiative to accelerate the move to a low carbon economy and encourage commercial low carbon technologies).
“It was imperative that we reduced our carbon footprint — and in the last year have spent around £800,000 improving our two sites with this in mind,” she said. One of these phases was to introduce more LED into the swimming pool — as the amount of energy LED’s draw in comparison with the big floods is minimal.
With design and installation support from Pulsar, Stuart Graham’s team set to work, installing 12 further ChromaFlood 200’s, divided into arcs of six at either end of the pool. The system was commissioned last month.
However, it was no easy task. The unusual continuous-curve geometry of the vast roof forced them to experiment with different beam angles, projecting onto the drop sail roof, to gain optimum impact. As a result, four are fitted with a 45° angle lens (for close ceiling work), four with a 25° spread (for mid-ceiling projection) and four with an 8° attachment (for longer-range projection).
The lighting is driven from a Pulsar Masterpiece Replay 216, with an OS1 Outstation compact 12 Button, 54-channel DMX programmable control desk.
There are over 40 scenes programmed into the controller — ranging from gentle crossfades to static presets (including one all-white).
Amanda Morris says that her management team are already identifying preferred scenes which are not only proving hugely popular with their clientele but also the community travelling past the heavily-glazed building at night, and marvelling at its architectural impact.
She adds that the ChromaFloods complement the MR16 LED’s and fluorescents they have in other areas, such as the Fitness Room and Health Spa. “In the main pool we sometimes illuminate the pool entirely with LED, although the intention was always to create mood and atmosphere rather than to provide a general lighting source,” she says.
“The ChromaFloods are proving a fantastic addition to our infrastructure and fully meet our Carbon policy, as well as contributing considerably to the architecture of this remarkable building.”
LED Lighting: Clarity Sound, Light and Vision - stuart.graham@clarityslv.co.uk
Lighting Equipment: 24 x ChromaFlood 200 RGB - Pulsar Masterpiece Replay Unit Control - www.pulsarlight.com
Click here for hi-res photos
Click here for Pulsar logos
For further information, please contact any member of the the Pulsar sales network. We are always glad to help.
