Several Football Stadiums in Poland and Ukraine Have Made Use of LED Lighting

Several football stadiums in Poland and Ukraine have made use of LED lighting for color-changing facades and other applications. Several stadiums built or overhauled for the 2012 European Championship football (soccer) tournament feature impressive lighting schemes from the likes of Traxon, Philips and Osram. The tournament is jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine, and features national teams from 14 other nations in addition to the two hosts. Philips has installed pitch and façade lighting in six of the eight stadiums that are hosting the games, including the Olympic stadium in Kiev, Ukraine, which will host the final on July 1. Likewise, Osram has also supplied lighting for several stadiums. Philips is also known to have supplied much of the lighting for the London 2012 Olympic Games, but is not allowed to publicize this work because its rival, GE, is an Olympic sponsor. The most significant LED-based projects involve color-changing lighting for the outside facades of several stadiums. Lighting for the pitches and most other areas inside the stadiums is generally provided by other lighting technologies. National Stadium, Warsaw, Poland The façade of the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland, is characterized by its semi-transparent white and red structural mesh panels: red and white are Poland’s national colors. The panels are lit by LED fixtures and a control system from Traxon, an Osram subsidiary. The façade’s panels conceal, in specially designed housings, more than 1700 custom Traxon Liner Shield AC XB-36 red/white fixtures that illuminate the stadium’s exterior. These are outdoor-rated fixtures containing a linear array of LEDs, and have a simple connection system and long run-length capability of up to 32 fixtures, enabling easy installation for large-scale lighting projects. For this project, the fixtures were customized and aimed precisely during installation to allow uniform illumination of the individual façade panels. Additionally, the fixtures consist only of red and neutral white LEDs, which enhance the rich saturation of the already red and white panels. The National Stadium’s façade is controlled by e:cue Lighting Control Engines (LCEs) and Butlers, which interface with the stadium’s building management system. The intelligent control system transforms the static façade into a dynamic palette of sequenced shows, as shown in the video below. Source: LEDs Magazine