Florida’s sunshine and balmy breezes are not keeping Florida residents from enjoying ice skating and hockey—as evidenced by the popularity of the new J.P. Igloo Ice and Inline Sports Complex in Ellenton, Florida. The domed 115,000-square-foot complex is billed as the Gulf Coast’s “most state-of-the-art facility,” offering two national Hockey League (NHL) size ice rinks and a USA Hockey inline rink. The facility also includes a full-service restaurant, a Pro-shop, video arcade, exercise rooms and conference and party centers.

When the complex was constructed, the lighting system in the rinks was designed for flexibility. The system had to be able to accommodate each rink’s many uses—from public skating and figure skating to ice and inline hockey. The inline rink is also used for banquets and dances.

“The goal was to supply the quality of light and the uniformity needed to create a comfortable and highly visible environment,” said Marc Reisinger, office project director, Harold Hart & Associates, Inc., Tampa. “We knew the vertical footcandles had to be higher than normal because of the hockey. The players must be able to see the pucks flying through the air.”

Holophane Prismalume® luminaires with 400-watt super metal halide lamps were installed in all three rinks. The fixtures were stem-mounted and arranged in pairs on the 28-foot open steel ceiling. Spacing is 18’ x 25’ on center.
A total of 340 Prismalume fixtures were utilized, with Holophane’s Computer Aided Lighting Analysis (CALA) software employed to design the layout.

The Prismalume units supply 15 percent uplight to illuminate the painted white ceiling. The outside walls in each rink are concrete block, with Plexiglass installed around the rink perimeter to deflect the hockey pucks.

One of the challenges associated with the project was providing enough illumination to facilitate videotaping. At the same time, facility management wanted to be able to reduce the illumination levels when the rinks were used for lessons and general skating.

Holophane’s Automatic Energy Reduction System™ (AERS) was installed to control the lighting fixtures. The system allows the luminaires to be switched to four different light levels, with levels ranging from 20 to 100 footcandles. Supplemental theatrical lighting is provided as needed for productions such as “Disney on Ice.”

“The lighting in the rinks is substantially better than any other skating facility we have visited. Many people have commented on the difference; it’s very noticeable,” said Dave Wescott, general manager for the J.P. Igloo Ice and Inline Sports Complex.

The lighting system is illuminated approximately 112 hours per week. Nearly 10 percent of the Prismalume fixtures include a quartz restrike feature for emergency lighting. The fixtures also include Holophane’s Holoflex® wiring system, which facilitated installation and helps ease maintenance.