The Alberto J. Armando Stadium is football stadium located in La Boca district of Buenos Aires. It is widely and affectionately known as “La Bombonera” (translation: “the chocolate box”) due to its very unusual shape that curves on three sides and is flat on one. It has a capacity of 49,000 and is owned by Boca Juniors, one of Argentina’s top professional football clubs. Because of its unique appearance, the stadium is regarded as one of the most emblematic stadiums of the world.
In preparation for the 2020 Copa Libertadores and the Copa America, Boca Juniors wanted to update the floodlighting for the stadium with something brighter and with more flexible control, as well as something that would look good on camera for HDTV broadcasts and any slow-motion replays. Darko Lighting and Zumtobel Group joined forces to completely overhaul the stadium’s lighting; working together on the lighting design, control system design, approaches, measurements and commissioning of the new LED lighting system that meets the rigorous requirements set in place by The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL).
The new design makes use of 248 Altis 3-brick floodlights from Thorn Lighting are used throughout the stadium. The new luminaries are much brighter, more flexible and more energy efficient than the previous lighting scheme, with a massive 30% energy saving per year. The luminaries easily fulfil the CONMEBOL lighting requirements, which specify an LED lighting solution with average horizontal illuminance > 2000 lux and vertical > 1300 lux. Featuring an intelligent design with tiltable modules, the powerful 5700K LED luminaires provide high-quality light in a variety of optical configurations.
248 remotely installed LED gearboxes were used to fully integrate the floodlights with a Pharos control system. Darko Lighting supplied and was in charge of the programming and commissioning of the Pharos LPC, programming a series of useful static lighting states for before, during and after matches, as well as a selection of exciting light shows to delight the crowds – with effects of “waves”, “beats” and “flashes”, amongst others. In addition to supporting numerous static and dynamic lighting effects in real time, the system can also be customised and pre-programmed for various lighting scenarios and events.
The new lighting design has been lauded by both the club and its fans, and “La Bombonera” will continue its proud tradition of being an iconic home to the Boca Juniors with a brilliantly lit pitch for many years to come.
