Page 28 - spaces4learning, Summer 2022

spaces4learning RETHINKING SPORTS FACILITIES
CONSIDERING SPILL LIGHT
By Steve Dietiker and Keith Cooper
AS THE LADUE SCHOOL DISTRICT neared completion of the $75,000,000 expansion and renovation of the Ladue Horton Watkins High School, the design and construction team determined the budget lent itself to pursue replacement of its athletics facilities. The project had many elements involved in the full ren- ovation. Specifically, there were updates made to the school’s football stadium (with a new grandstand, synthetic turf and a new scoreboard). The renovations made to the stadium building included updates to the press boxes, coach’s boxes, viewing/filming decks, elevator, storage, and future locker room spaces below the new seating for 1,998 spectators.
The project also called for renovating the Nielson Gymnasium entrance and converting the locker rooms to public re- stroom facilities.
with the city and its citizens very early in the design process. The McClure En- gineering team met with the neighbor- hood association prior to submitting con- struction documents so they could voice any potential concerns, and so that the lighting design team could address any issues ahead of time. The team supported these discussions with technical infor- mation and pros/cons of different design features that were considered. Consider- ations were taken about how the lighting would affect the neighboring properties during the seasons of the year when the tree foliage is at its minimum coverage. Furthermore, the School District was completely transparent with information and offered extensive restrictions on the number of dates and hours that the lights would be used. Once all considerations were discussed, the McClure lighting de- sign team designed a LED lighting sys- tem that provided an exceptional light level cut off at property lines. Though all code requirements were exceeded, the system was designed with individually dimmable fixtures so potential future complaints could be addressed easily and with minimal cost impact.
One of the first considerations that
Although each piece of the project had its own unique set of challenges and con- siderations, the design and implementa- tion of the outdoor lighting for the athletic field was particularly complex. The track and field renovations called for sports lighting for the first time in the facility’s history, requiring 50 foot-candles from four 80-foot poles. The biggest hurdle, however, was the physical
location of the sports fa-
cility itself. With its close
proximity to a residential
neighborhood, the light-
ing needed to be designed
in a very specific way. The
new lighting would need
to be bright enough to al-
low activities and competi-
tions to take place at night
but regulated to the point
where there would not be an excess of spill lighting that negatively affected those that lived in the nearby neighborhood.
Sports lighting for the facility was a sensitive issue with the neighboring property owners. To mitigate any con- cerns, the lighting design was addressed
analysis and modeling, the team showed that if the poles were too short, it would be impossible to control the spill light. And controlling the spill light was the number-one priority in keeping the neighborhood and school district satisfied with the ultimate results. After negoti- ating down from 100 feet to 80 feet, the team could focus on the type of lighting
THE DIMMING CAN ALSO
BE USED TO PROVIDE LOWER LIGHT LEVELS FOR OTHER ACTIVITIES (SUCH AS PRACTICE) WITHOUT OPERATING AT
100 PERCENT—SAVING ENERGY, TOO!
that would best meet the needs of all parties in- volved.
The first thought was to use metal halide light- ing due to its cost-effec- tiveness. Unfortunately, the design team could not meet the spill light requirements for the community with this ap- proach. Next, the team
considered LEDs with optics to see how those would fare given the situation. Still, there was an excessive amount of spill light present. Then, McClure’s light- ing designers tried optics with visors. By pairing specific optics with visors, the playing surface received the required
needed to be addressed was the height of the poles. Naturally, the initial thought from the neighborhood and school dis- trict was that lower poles would be the ideal choice. In fact, the community was initially pushing for the poles to be as short as possible. However, after further
28 SUMMER 2022 | spaces4learning.com