Campus Sursee Project News
UNDERWATER LIGHTING WITH LED EQUIPMENT FROM WIBRE
On the Sursee campus, Switzerland’s swimming arena built in 2019 offers ideal conditions for international swimming meetings and sports events. The 50-metre Olympic pool and 25-metre competition pool are equipped with high-tech innovations, such as a drowning detection system, crane track and wave-making system. The innovative underwater lighting with LED equipment from Wibre makes the sports facility shine with superlatives.
The modernisation project in the sports area of the Sursee campus has catapulted the former training centre into a leading position nationwide. What is now Switzerland’s largest swimming arena is capable of hosting national and international swimming competitions and major sports events. Thanks to its extensive array of swimming pools (50-m Olympic pool, 25-m competition pool, relaxation pool and children’s pool) and the flexible triple-section sports hall, teams enjoy ideal conditions for sports events, championships, training courses and training camps.
But the swimming facility is intended not only for professionals. It also provides the infrastructure for two national associations, Swiss Swimming (training centre) and the Swiss Life Saving Association (SLRG). The SLRG, fire brigade and police can train water rescue in the 25 m long and 5 m deep training pool. A test car can be lowered by crane into the water so that rescue attempts can be practised. At the same time, sea waves can be generated with a wave ball.
The 50-m Olympic pool has a movable floor enabling the depth of the pool to be adjusted as required. In addition, the pool can be partitioned by a 1.5 m wide bulkhead to create two 25-m pools and space for 20 swimming lanes.
Resource-conserving infrastructure
The campus obtains its electricity from Swiss hydropower. The photovoltaic system on the roof supplies half a million kilowatt hours of energy, meeting a quarter of the campus’ total requirements. The campus consumes up to three million kilowatt hours of electricity every year.
To save energy, those in charge opted for LED lamps from Wibre, the professionals for underwater and outdoor lighting.
The Olympic pool is illuminated by large number of rear-operated LED spotlights, thus ensuring maximum safety at all times of day. The large spotlights were specially developed for competition pools with a corridor at the rear. With their specially developed beam characteristics, they eliminate the risk of adverse effects due to glare from the edge of the pool. The high-power LED emits a cold white light. With a luminous intensity of 25,000 lumens, the spotlights are designed precisely for competitive swimming. Compared to conventional 400 W HIT lamps, this LED technology reduces consumption by 50 %, minimises light loss and improves lighting quality several times over. The spotlights score with a service life of up to 50,000 hours.
Red linear underwater floodlights are also used for visual separation on the bottom of the pool. The relaxation and children’s pools are atmospherically enhanced with RGB-W spotlights. Wibre has installed a total of almost 70 underwater spotlights and three underwater loudspeakers.
Sources and data
- Author: Benjamin Pfendt, WIBRE
- Pictures: Campus Sursee, Schweiz, Samuel Trümpy