Mapei Stadium, Italy

Photography: Alessandro Fiocchi

Click here to watch the case history video.

The Mapei Stadium - Città del Tricolore in Reggio Emilia is famously recognised as one of the best playing fields in Italy. A modern facility that has been equipped with a state-of-the-art lighting system, thanks to the technical and management support of Thorn Lighting.

A COMPLETE LIGHTING SOLUTION UP TO THE CHALLENGE

We ensured the best functional lighting of the playing field, of course! But also scenes and light effects for public entertainment, as well as the enhancement of the facility's external facade.

If "We know lighting, inside out!" is the premise with which we at Thorn Lighting face the challenges of the market, Mapei Stadium made these words concrete and tangible! Thanks to the "Turnkey" service entrusted to the client, we supervised every phase of the project, meeting stringent deadlines and complex challenges.

Over the last ten years, Mapei Group has invested more than 20 million euros in improving and modernising the stadium, transforming it into a facility of the highest international standards and one of the most popular in the Serie A Championship.

The decision to entrust the entire relighting project to Thorn was based on three essential ingredients: competence, creativity and reliability. Our tangible actions in the area of sustainability were also recognised, which allowed us to become Partner of Choice. The commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is mutually shared by Zumtobel Group and Mapei Group in their respective market segments.

MAPEI STADIUM: THE CHALLENGE AND THE THREE KEY ELEMENTS TO WIN IT

RELIABILITY - With the championship just around the corner, it was essential to meet stringent delivery and installation deadlines to ensure the state of the sports facility and thus avoid having home matches played outside. A challenge that was easily met, considering the amount of work handled by the Zumtobel Group and its partners.

First was the removal and disposal of the existing lighting system, installation of the new Thorn Altis floodlights and luminaires for the lighting show, as well as for the external façade of the stadium. The commissioning phase was then essential, with the management of scenarios and lighting in accordance with the client's ideas and requirements. As with any highly complex installation, a "live" verification phase must finally be considered, necessary to highlight potential issues that can only be verified when the system is in operation.

CREATIVITY - We are reliable, and we can be very creative! The existing poles clashed with the modernity of the remaining installation, and the client had the option of removing them. Our consultancy made it possible to reverse the perspective: using our flexible Mystrid Flex RGBW light lines we enhanced the towers, making them themselves a complementary scenic element of the show.

Watching a match at the Mapei Stadium today means being immersed in a spectacle of light and colour with a high experiential value. Andrea Lorenzi, Facility Manager of Mapei Stadium, highlighted Thorn's intervention "to make the structure versatile. A facility that is now unique thanks also to the use of the light towers as architectural elements in their own right". 

COMPETENCE - Each phase of the project requires specific competences and orchestration: project management for the turnkey lighting design in compliance with the stringent UEFA requirements for 'Elite A' pitches, the creation of light effects consistent with the architecture of the space and attentive to light pollution.

In the words of Tarcisio Mazza, Head of Services & Solutions at ZG Italy, the Mapei Stadium project "demonstrated the ability of the Zumtobel Group and its partners to successfully tackle complex challenges in terms of both implementation and timing"

THE PLAYING FIELD: FUNCTIONALITY AND ENERGY SAVINGS THANKS TO ALTIS 

Thorn devised a tailor-made lighting solution consisting of 196 high-powered Altis floodlights distributed between the grandstand roofs and light towers, while meeting the FIGC requirements for Serie A stadiums (1660 lux average towards the cameras). In addition, the new installation meets the 1,500 lux vertical illumination specified by UEFA for 'Elite A' level stadiums.

The three-brick Altis version proved perfect for the project, thanks to its modular design and installation flexibility. Altis offers excellent, flicker-free lighting quality with a TLCI (television lighting consistency index) >80. Stefano Battaglia, Lighting Designer at Zumtobel Group, said: 'Altis was chosen as the lighting solution because of its high quality for TV broadcasting. Brilliant colour reproduction and flicker-free operation are particularly necessary for super slow-motion HDTV transmissions'.

A technical peculiarity - uncommon for gaming facilities of this size - was having designed "functional lighting while also taking into account the requirements of stage lighting," added Battaglia.

The versatility of Thorn's portfolio then made it possible to complete the rest of the installation with Contrast, Eroa, Mystrid Flex and Raze Architectural products.

PASSION FOR LIGHT, PASSION FOR SPORT

Contributing to the further improvement of the Mapei Stadium was an exciting challenge for us, made possible thanks to the trust placed in us by the Mapei Group, which recognised the added value of our technical and management proposal and the coherence of our sustainability path.