In the greenery of Utrecht-East lies Maarschalkerweerd Noord - a special area where sports, hospitality, urban agriculture and nature come together. What makes this place unique is that people not only play hockey, soccer and tennis here, but also work in vegetable gardens, cook with local produce and take evening walks. It is a multifunctional neighborhood spot with diverse users and diverse lighting needs.
From that diversity, the question arose: how do you bring lighting to a place so comprehensive - without cables, without digging and without disturbing nature?
SolarWoodle was given the opportunity to realize sustainable lighting at this location, completely off-grid and circular. The reason was concrete: it was simply too dark in certain places. Especially at night, when sports training ends and people move around the grounds, good orientation and social safety were needed. At the same time, the natural character of the surroundings - including the (flora and fauna) ecologically sensitive areas at the vegetable garden association Koningshof and the idealistic organization De Moestuin Utrecht - could not be disturbed.
By using solar energy and local, wooden fixtures, we were able to place lights without any ground work, cables or external power supply. They are now spread throughout the site: along paths, near parking lots, between the sports fields of SV Kampong, on the terrace of restaurant Stadsjochies and at the catering facility of De Moestuin.
The lighting is tailored to each use: functional where needed, atmospheric where desired, and subtle where tranquility is important. The installation was made possible with support from the Utrecht Entrepreneurs Fund.
This project not only fulfilled a practical wish, but also made something bigger visible: that it is indeed possible to illuminate an area like this - with sports, care, catering, nature and community function - in a sustainable and friendly way. On solar energy. Without concessions to comfort or ecology.
As Ger says in the video:
"You use the heat from the sun to turn that into lighting at night. And that's actually pretty basic."
Also read the story on SV Kampong: lighting on solar energy in Maarschalkerweerd
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