Zuiderbad

Swimming pool overhead lighting

Although the Zuiderbad underwent an extensive restoration in 2000, certain parts still require periodic renewal. Last summer (2023), all lockers, changing rooms and ceiling lighting in the entire swimming hall were replaced. Janneke Maksimovic-van Zijl, Team Manager Swimming Pools Sport & Forest at the Municipality of Amsterdam, explains why these adjustments were necessary: “We had problems with the overhead lighting in the swimming hall. The main problem was that we had a lot of dark corners that made it difficult to clean. In addition, the changing rooms and lockers were poorly lit, which affected the experience of our visitors. I have been on the work floor myself and cleaned the dark areas more or less by feel. Given the great importance of safety, hygiene and user-friendliness for our guests, we wanted to find a solution for this. We also wanted to enhance the monumental atmosphere of the building.”

Highlighting monumental parts

To emphasize the monumental elements of the building and to better illuminate the swimming hall, Aquavidi was called in, the same company that had previously installed the underwater lighting in the swimming pool. “We were very satisfied with the installation of the underwater lighting in the swimming pool by Aquavidi. In 2022 they installed underwater spotlights in the color Aquablue, which gave the swimming pool much more atmosphere. We hoped that Aquavidi could help us again,” says Janneke. “The ceiling of the Zuiderbad is approximately 8 meters high and natural light enters the gabled roof through the skylights. This makes good lighting a challenge.”

Aquavidi installed special LED overhead lightning for high spaces, namely Liniair 54 Watt tunable white (AV.LIN Series). With this ceiling lighting, the Zuiderbad now has two different colors of light: Cool white and Warm white. Janneke explains: “We call Coolwhite the cleaning mode. We use this during cleaning to properly illuminate all corners. We use the Warmwhite lighting during the opening and it creates a pleasant atmosphere for our guests.” In addition, Aquavidi has installed additional lighting above the changing rooms and lockers and added decorative lighting (AV.LBay Series) to better highlight the monumental walls. Surface-mounted spotlights in the color Aquablue were installed to illuminate the tiled fountain. All lighting is DALI controlled for optimal control of the light. With this new lighting, the Zuiderbad has not only simplified cleaning and emphasized the monumental splendor of the building, but also provided an even more pleasant and hospitable environment for its visitors.