Volleyball Court Lighting Designs

FLAGSTAFF ATHLETIC CLUB
Volleyball Court Lighting Project
Flagstaff, Arizona
March 2009

PROJECT DETAILS
RLLD Design was contacted by an athletic club in Flagstaff, Arizona that was interested in upgrading their volleyball court lighting system. The club had many members, and boasted was a 4-court sand volleyball commercial facility which was used by local leagues for games and tournaments. Over the years, the lights had deteriorated, and the club management decided it was time to consider replacement options.

CHALLENGES CLIENT WAS FACING
The existing lighting system was woefully inadequate for a multi-directional, fast moving sport such as volleyball. The existing court lighting system consisted of nothing more than a set of wooden poles and quartz halogen lamps. While these courts definitely needed more foot candles in the play areas, there were two things we had to keep in mind while proposing them system. One was dark sky regulations. Arizona has some of the most restrictive lighting ordinances in the nation, so we had to carefully study the lighting code book from the City of Flagstaff to find the most appropriate equipment options.

The second challenge was client budget. Operating costs had risen over the years, while membership had remained static. The client asked us to propose two volleyball court lighting systems at different price points so they could determine which one would work best for them.

LIGHTING DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
The four court layout was also a considerable challenge for our design team. It offered very little room for interior pole placement due to safety concerns. All volleyball court lights would therefore have to be mounted on perimeter poles.

The interior court boundaries would suffer from lower levels than rest of court surface, but foot candles levels would still meet acceptable minimums.

PHOTOMETRIC ANALYSIS SOFTWARE HELPED TO DEVELOP A CUSTOM LIGHTING PLAN BASED ON IESNA STANDARDS.
It was necessary for us to maintain an average of 24 foot candles throughout the entirety of the playing areas. With the eight pole lighting system, we were able to achieve a max to min ratio of 2.3: 1. We were also able to show the client a rendered 3D view of all four volleyball courts to completely illustrate the lighting system and its capabilities.

FINAL SYSTEM PROPOSED
For fixtures, we decided to use our CXL Series court lights as they were full cut off, and specifically designed for all volleyball court sports lighting kit situations. We proposed two different layouts—an 8-pole layout, and a 4-pole layout. We strongly discouraged the client from going with the 4-pole system because the luminance levels were sub-par at best.

Although the cost was higher, the client eventually opted for the 8-pole layout. The simple design of equipment fit with the club aesthetics, wind load capacitance met with regulations, and the CXL series fixtures met with all dark sky ordinances. RLLD further assisted the athletic club by consulting with the local electrical contractor to properly place, orient, and install equipment.

OTHER SPORTS LIGHTING FIXTURE INFORMATION:

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RLLD Commercial Lighting carries a wide variety of industrial, sports lighting commercial grade light fixtures. If you can not find what you are looking for on our website contact us toll free at 1-866-654-3961 and we will find it for you.

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