Creating a safe space for children through wireless lighting control

The Johan Cruyff Foundation supports and develops creative outdoor spaces for children and teenangers for sports and play worldwide. Often in more deprived areas in which sports arenas are an important social hangout for sport enthusiasts. Having the right light at the right time can be a challenge. By using the right fixtures and smart technology, young people can spend longer time on the sports fields, while the risk of these becoming a hangout spot is reduced to a minimum.

This was the case for Haarlem-East in the Netherlands, for which Johan Cruyff Foundation wanted a more neighborhood friendly solution for the sport enthusiastic Haarlem youngsters.

The central network the root of the problem

The Haarlem youngsters are enthusiastic about the neighborhood’s sports fields and eagerly use them. In winter, however, it gets dark early and the fields can only be used well until the end of the afternoon. That is why the municipality of Haarlem made an effort to install suitable lighting and lighting controls at the Cruyff Court.

“The challenge we encountered was that Haarlem did not have its own central network but was dependent on a central system” says Wouter Keesom, technical advisor for Public Lighting at the Municipality of Haarlem. “The lighting of the sports fields had to be connected to the general mains and therefore switched on and off at the same time as the rest of the lamp posts in the city. We did not find that desirable. If lights remain on all night around the Cruyff Court, this could potentially become a hangout and cause nuisance.”

Bypassing the problem through wireless lighting control

The lighting distributors Modernista and LRS Solutions worked together with the municipality of Haarlem to find a solution to the problem. They needed a wireless lighting control with a Zhaga Book 18 solution for smart interface between the outdoor fixtures and sensing nodes.

“Through collaboration and problem solving with Modernista, we now have a suitable fixture system in place for the specific sport court illuminating the sports fields, but not the entire neighborhood. With the right partners and technology involved we managed to bypass the problem,” Keesom concludes.

Today Cryuff Court is lit up until 10pm which means it can be used more efficiently by the municipality and its enthusiastic sport youngsters. Essenze luminaires have been installed throughout the sport court with LumenRadio’s AirGlow and Zhaga node controlling the lights.