Helping to fill a gap in the provision of leisure facilities for young people in Darlington, the Zumtobel Group lighting brands Zumtobel, and Thorn worked with Davies Tindale Associates to supply advanced lighting control and luminaires for the £1.7m Darlington Dolphin Centre refurbishment project.
For many years Darlington’s residents have asked about a ten-pin bowling alley for the town; The council’s research had also shown a gap in the provision of leisure facilities for young people. Darlington Borough Council responded with a £1.7m redevelopment of the Dolphin Centre, which it hopes will improve the town’s leisure offer and bring in future income.
The underutilised, double-height space of the squash courts provided the perfect location to install the much-demanded bowling alley, creche, and Cafe. While the Under the Sea soft play area was both upgraded and extended.
Davies Tindale Associates (DTA) approached the Zumtobel Group to assist with a lighting design for the refurbished areas. The end customer wanted a fun, dynamic lighting scheme that staff could adapt to different events and occasions. Therefore, the lighting control was very important.
Jordan Wilkes, Electrical Associate at DTA Consulting Engineers, comments, “I have worked with Steve and the team on several other jobs. For this project, the client wanted complete lighting control, from scene-setting to colour changing. I knew that the Zumtobel Group would provide everything DALI enabled to achieve the desired results. We had a tour of the local Zumtobel Group factory, where they showcased the levels of lighting control that can be achieved.”
Meeting the challenges
The main challenges were integrating a complete controls system, including scenes and dynamic colour change, that would add interest and creativity to appeal to the younger generation using the bowling alley. Furthermore, the ceiling design added complications, the Zumtobel range of TECTON continuous lines of light overcame this situation, offering a unique zero glare optical performance from the asymmetric beam attachment, full wiring containment, including the colour changing controls. The products were finished in black as standard to allow the installation “disappear” into the ceiling void space.
Jordan continues, “This area of the building was beginning to look aged. The new lighting and the refurbishment have modernised and revitalised the space, creating a leisure facility at the heart of the community. It looks fantastic. The client is over the moon, and the feedback from the local community is excellent.”
A focal piece of the scheme was the circular windows into the bowling alley, which show a snapshot of the bowling alley. The client had a clear vision they wanted to achieve. The accent lighting and bowling alley can be changed as required for parties and different functions.
The bowling alley scheme also consisted of Zumtobel’s MICROS, PANOS infinity downlights and ONDARIA. The soft play and playrooms feature Thorn’s Glacier pendent, Omega Pro 2 recessed, and Chalice downlights.
The scheme delivered a superb lit effect with colour change control, good colour rendition, and low energy consumption.
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Find out more about Thorn Lighting here
