Lighting for indoor swimming pool in Bernsdorf: Architecture and lighting – with clean lines
LED technology opens up new possibilities for swimming pool lighting – offering greater design freedom, efficiency and light quality. At the same time, factors such as humidity and a chlorinated atmosphere put the technology to the test. In the new swimming complex in Chemnitz, planners and installers drew on NORKA’s expertise as a partner to tackle such challenges.
The Bernsdorf district has a long tradition as a destination for Chemnitz’s water lovers: a large outdoor pool opened here as early as 1925. Construction of the modern indoor swimming pool began on the site in 2020, and it opened in 2024. Meanwhile, Chemnitz’s swimming pool authorities have also refurbished the outdoor pools, meaning that, from the 2025 summer season onwards, an attractive swimming complex is available for all seasons.
The new indoor swimming pool building has a polygonal floor plan adapted to the site and varies in height according to its functional areas. Solid external wall sections, clad in grey clinker bricks, integrate the low-rise structure into the natural topography. The wraparound, ribbon-like glass façade emphasises the building’s sculptural appearance. “The swimming complex is divided into three functional areas,” explain the architects from the Dresden-based office Code Unique, describing the spatial layout of their design: “A low-rise foyer and changing room wing facing Bernsdorfer Straße, a large swimming hall with a relaxation area and diving, lesson and children’s paddling pools, as well as a separable competition hall comprising a 25-metre sports pool with a number of spectator seats.”
Glare-free lighting for competitions
Perfectly tailored to the building’s clean, geometric aesthetic, the lighting integrates seamlessly and unobtrusively into the architecture. To achieve this, the designers worked closely with lighting technology expert Michael Kegel from Königswartha and the specialist engineers at Elektroplanung Bautzen GbR, who have already successfully completed a whole series of swimming pool projects. “The architects wanted linear lighting elements that would integrate into the ceiling structures,” recalls Kegel, “or better still: that would disappear completely into the ceiling.” With this in mind, the planner developed and calculated a lighting concept. In key areas, it draws on lighting technology from NORKA, the specialist in lighting for challenging environmental conditions. “Thanks to the manufacturer’s extensive experience, we can rely on these products to deliver consistently high light quality, reliability and safety for many years, even in the swimming pool hall,” says Kegel. This is by no means a given, as the typical warm, humid and chlorinated air in swimming pools corrodes many materials over time. Consequently, the requirements for the watertightness of the luminaires and the corrosion resistance of the housings and mounting elements are correspondingly high.
The lighting at the 25-metre competition pool at the Bernsdorfer Bades is exemplary: the luminaires are arranged here as continuous strips along the pool edge, in single rows on the short sides and in double rows on the long sides. This prevents glare for the swimmers and also ensures good accessibility for maintenance purposes. “We achieve illuminance levels of 500 lux on the water and 500 lux at the starting blocks – in accordance with DIN EN 12193 on the lighting of sports facilities,” explains Kegel. To achieve this, he worked with Elektroplanung Bautzen to install the LONDON LED luminaire in its special swimming pool version. The two linear LED units in this luminaire provide asymmetrical light distribution: this enables the water surface to be illuminated evenly from the pool edge.
Zoning through light and ceiling design
The lighting in the diving and teaching pools follows a different approach. Here, the lighting concept fulfils the architects’ wish for a continuous ceiling surface without visible luminaires by mounting linear light sources at regular intervals above the ceiling, within suspended grid elements. A solution that largely eliminates glare, but one that was only made possible by the extremely long-lasting LED technology – “the luminaires above the pool would be difficult to access for regular lamp changes”, says Kegel. Here, he opted for the ERFURT LED HIGH OUTPUT luminaire, a robust luminaire with through-wiring that delivers luminous flux of up to 7,900 lumens at a system power of 58 watts and has a service life of up to 100,000 hours. Its protective tube reflector produces an omnidirectional light distribution, and the luminaires are fitted using corrosion-resistant polymer clips specifically designed for swimming pools.
The designers at Code Unique used different ceiling finishes to distinguish between different zones within the swimming pool complex. For instance, they designed the ceilings in the entrance area, the cafeteria and the area around the children’s paddling pool not with square grid elements, as seen above the sports pools, but with natural-coloured wooden slats. The lighting here takes the form of linear LED elements of the NORKA BRIG type in varying lengths – tailored to the respective illuminance requirements, which are naturally higher at the ticket counter than in a relaxation area. These luminaires are mounted between the wooden slats of the ceiling. They consist of an aluminium profile housing compliant with protection class IP 65; at the Bernsdorfer Bad, versions with an impact-resistant PMMA cover and medium beam light distribution are used.
Outstanding: the degree of integration
A consistent feature of the lighting is the neutral white light colour of 4000 Kelvin, which blends pleasantly with the daylight streaming in through the swimming pool hall’s generous window areas. Furthermore, the emergency lighting is fully integrated into the lighting concept, as some of the BRIG and ERFURT LED luminaires have been fitted with the appropriate technology: “These luminaires contain monitoring modules for connection to a central emergency power supply system,” reports Michael Kegel. This ensures adequate lighting in the event of a mains power failure. The luminaires fitted with this technology are designed for operation in the DC voltage range and can be monitored individually.
Viewed as a whole, the consistently high level of integration between lighting and architecture in the new swimming complex is particularly impressive. This was achieved thanks to the close collaboration of all those involved in the planning and execution – and thanks to manufacturers such as NORKA, who, with a great deal of experience and flexibility, deliver lighting solutions in which aesthetics, efficiency, safety and reliability are optimised.
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ERFURT LED HIGH OUTPUT (80 Articles)
Linear luminaire with high luminous flux and service life
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