Thorn fills Horgen football pitch with new light and pride

Sport plays a big role in Horgen, Switzerland, a municipality located on the south bank of Lake Zurich. The local Waldegg sports complex features a triple-section sports hall along with several outdoor facilities. In 2018, the city council awarded Thorn with the contract to supply one of the football pitches with a new floodlight system. Completed one year later as part of a larger refurbishment of the outdoor facility, the new installation not only provides excellent lighting levels and uniformity, it is also a great source of pride – for the athletes, spectators and the community as a whole.

Lighting a multi-sport venue

The A football pitch at the Waldegg complex primarily serves as the home ground of the FC Horgen, a League Two club competing in the Football Federation for the Zurich Region. It is also used for various other sports, by schools, other clubs and as a training facility. Together with the athletic track that surrounds it, the venue covers a total area of 9,000 square meters. As a result, the municipality was interested in upgrading the outdoor facility with a future-oriented lighting solution that would fulfil the lumen requirements and, at the same time, could be flexibly adjusted for different sports scenarios. In addition, the project required close coordination with other contractors such as architectural landscapers, electricians, planners and various craftsmen to ensure safety and efficiency.

The decision for Thorn

Following a vote by the citizens of Horgen to upgrade the A football pitch, the city council contacted various contractors for tender offers. Thorn won the contract for a couple of reasons. The Zumtobel Group had already successfully provided an interior lighting solution at the Waldegg complex for an earlier project. Thus, the client was familiar with the quality of the group’s products and workmanship. Thorn had good contacts to the electrical and light planners as well as installation partners involved in the project. Above all, it submitted the most convincing offer.

The perfect floodlight fit

In designing a new lighting solution for the football pitch in Horgen, Thorn teamed up with the light planners from Lichtplan. 3-module Altis floodlights from Thorn were selected for the task. Comprising 396 LEDs each, the high-powered, glare and flicker-free luminaires deliver up to 176,000 lumens of pure illumination. For the lighting scheme, six columns were positioned around the pitch. Each was fitted with three Altis luminaires. As an absolute first for an outdoor sports facility of its size, a DALI control was used to enable convenient floodlight dimming for different sports and needs. A Litecom lighting management system was also integrated with the DALI installation. With it, the groundkeeper can program various dynamic and static light settings using a simple control panel.

The Altis floodlight proved to be a perfect fit for the project. With its highly modular and flexible design options, it is easily configured to provide different levels of light intensity and distribution for wide-ranging sports venues of every scale. In addition to its rugged design, the luminaire directs light forward parallel to the ground, thereby greatly minimising artificial sky glow as well as windage.

Lighting up local pride

The new LED floodlight system supplied by Thorn has proven to be a smart solution that more than fulfils the lumen requirements of the football pitch in Horgen. Both flexible and powerful, it has greatly increased the usability of the facility at night. With the DALI control, the floodlight is now easily adjusted for three different scenarios: game, training and basic lighting. When not in use, the installation can be fully dimmed to save energy and operating costs.The football pitch is the first of its kind to feature DALI control. It certainly won’t be the last. Ricardo Dominioni, who looks after the school and sports facilities in Waldegg/Horgen, put it this way:

“We were only able to test it for a few weeks in the fall, but the three-level control proved very useful. The lowest level is completely sufficient when the facility is open to the public for running workouts or for various athletic sports in the evening. The footballers are very much looking forward to the start of training in April, for which the middle level will be used. The highest level will only be switched on during games. It makes a substantial contribution towards saving energy and conserving resources.”

For the sports enthusiasts in Horgen and the community as a whole, the newly lighted venue has brought yet another form of brightness – a feeling of excitement and pride.