Lighting design for stadiaIlluminating world-class venues for memorable fan experiences

AAMI Park, Melbourne, Australia

Aurecon approached the redevelopment of the sports lighting at AAMI Park (pictured above) from a conceptual point of view by considering the sporting, historical and cultural contexts of the stadium. The resulting system enhanced the fan experience and retained the stadium as a world-class venue ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The design required an efficient solution that met stringent FIFA and television lighting standards. A total of 320 dimmable new LED sports luminaires, connected to a centrally controlled lighting system, provided flexibility for switching, programming and dimming. With this control, the stadium operator chooses to illuminate small sections, or the entire facility, in order to optimise lighting energy use.

AAMI Park's sophisticated lighting control system has energy saving features and creates a spectacle for players and fans.

The lights are environmentally-friendly, and create no light spill into the neighbourhoods surrounding the stadium. They also suit the conditions of the field, whether it’s a sporting or entertainment event, whilst remaining flicker free for broadcast camera requirements.

Ensuring an appropriate lighting solution for different sporting codes, and entertainment events, was a challenge so Aurecon aimed the luminaires at specific spatial coordinates on the pitch to provide unparalleled fan viewing, and player experiences.

Melbourne & Olympic Parks, Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne & Olympic Parks delivers a year-round calendar of events and attracts more than 2.5 million visitors annually. Its most iconic event is the Australian Open tennis tournament which alone creates more than 1,500 jobs every year and injects more than $300m into the Victorian economy annually.

Aurecon understands the precinct well, having contributed engineering services to all venues at the precinct including the four premier venues: Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena, John Cain Arena, and Kia Arena.

Sports lighting upgrades help illuminate more than 1,500 events held annually at Melbourne Park.

Aurecon designed the LED sports lighting upgrades within the four premier arenas and all outdoor courts as part of an energy efficiency upgrade to the broadcast lighting. Light from LEDs is more efficient than metal halide lights and other lighting fixtures. They provide a greater ability for beam control, flicker reduction and lumen output.

To address the challenge of upgrading lights within the existing roof structures of the venues, new dimmable LED lights were mounted at roof level off the existing roof trusses to ensure accessibility for future maintenance. Aurecon used 3D modelling to ensure that LED light spatial and weight specifications were supported by the roof gantry structure limits, together with ambient temperature requirements under different external conditions.

Centrally controlled lighting systems provide full control and flexibility for operators to program changes in lighting configurations to suit different sports or performances.

State Football Centre, Victoria, Australia

Located at La Trobe University Sports Park Precinct, the new State Football Centre is home to the Australian women’s soccer team, Matildas. Football Victoria’s vision for the centre was a facility that supports women’s participation in sport and professional development, serving as a long-term Victorian base for football (at all stages of the development pathway), and help Football Victoria achieve its targeted 50/50 gender participation numbers by 2027.

Lighting was specifically located and designed for
optimum player and spectator comfort.

Aurecon was the sports lighting engineer for this project, providing field illumination to 5 fields in compliance with Australian and Football Victoria Standards. The design utilised pole mounted LED luminaires, specifically located and designed for optimum player and spectator comfort. They are fully programmable and addressable via a central lighting control system.

Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand

In order to host national and international sporting and cultural events, Eden Park in Auckland underwent a major redevelopment to increase its seating capacity to 60,000 and to provide a world-class, multi-use, multicultural venue for spectators and the media.

To meet the challenging demands of this nationally significant project, Aurecon provided engineering, lighting analysis, and sports lighting design services. The stadium now boasts a state-of-the-art sports lighting system to enable high-definition television broadcasting.

Advanced shading and daylight analysis was also undertaken to address complex resource consent conditions to ensure it continues to host world-class sporting events for future generations.