Lighting Design: Fairlight

“A Bridge Too Far”, the classic history of one of the great battles of World War II, tells the story of Operation Market Garden, a failed Allied attempt to force a break in the German lines at Arnhem in the occupied Netherlands during World War II.

During Operation Market Garden hundreds of soldiers died in an attempt to free the Netherlands before the winter of 1944/45. For this reason Arnhem native Piet van Leeuwen, an eyewitness to the battle, committed himself to honoring the fallen soldiers by keeping the memory of the battle alive.

Colorful commemoration
Central to the battle was Arnhem Bridge. After the war the bridge was rebuilt and now carries the name of the commander who defended his hopeless position on the north shore of the Rhine, Lt-Col. John Frost. Yet it bothered Piet van Leeuwen that the city of Arnhem did nothing more to commemorate the Battle of Arnhem. Therefore, he launched the idea to paint the bridge in the Airborne Battalion color, maroon-red, in honor of the Allied Forces. Piet obtained the support of Paul Scholten, major of Arnhem at that time, but unfortunately the Dutch Ministry of Waterworks and Public Works did not allow the bridge to be painted in any color other than gray.

Exterior 600
As an alternative, a plan was then initiated to illuminate the bridge in the Airborne’s colors instead. Martin Springer, a specialist civil servant in Arnhem’s Department of City Lighting, investigated the possibilities and subsequently approached Martin Architectural’s local distributor Fairlight about lighting the historic bridge. In May of 2002 Fairlight conducted a demonstration of the Martin Exterior 600 and consequently the luminaire was chosen as the most suitable outdoor fixture for the project. The possibilities inherent in the fixture’s CMY color mixing module - lighting both blue and red (the Airborne battalion colors) - was a particularly convincing argument. The luminaire’s solid housing, durable IP 65 rating and long lamp life also played a decisive role.

The Dutch Ministry of Waterworks and Public Works – although impressed - came up with an additional demand however. The Exteriors were so powerful that navigating officers on passing ships might be blinded by the light. As this was absolutely unacceptable, it was decided that the main Exteriors would be dimmed whenever a major ship passed. Since the project manager on the job, Walter Jaegermann of Fairlight, had worked for over 14 years in sensor techniques, a satisfactory solution was quickly found and two beam-sensors were placed on the bridge pillars, which detect passing ships.

Lighting control
The Exteriors are controlled from a PC-based Martin LightJockey software program, which combined with the Martin LightJockey Scheduler offer the ability to preprogram lighting events to the minute more than a year in advance. Fairlight technicians René van Loon and Piet Oostendorp integrated the sensor-techniques with the LightJockey Scheduler. Imtech Nettenbouw, based in Arnhem, completed the electrical installation. With the fast and efficient help of Imtech’s Project Manager Minne Nawijn, the installation was a success.

On September 15th, 2004, exactly 60 years after the beginning of Operation Market Garden, the bridge was reopened with a grand festival. The event marked the start of a week of commemoration in which hundreds of veterans were present. After a spectacular fireworks show, the bridge presented itself in a stunning blue.

The John Frost Bridge will now be illuminated in various colors throughout the year. The bridge will be lit in blue for most of the year except in September when it will show itself in a brilliant red. On April 30th (Queens Day, a national holiday) the bridge will take on an orange jacket.

For more information please contact Walter Jaegermann or Timo Verhoeven at Fairlight at:

Telephone:        +31 263255880
Fax:                  +31 263257074 
E-mail:              sales@fairlight.nl; walter@fairlight.nl
Web:                 www.fairlight.nl