Viola Park

The “Rocco B. Commisso Viola Park” is an innovative and sustainable sports centre located in the scenic hills of Bagno a Ripoli, Florence. Spanning 26 hectares and now home to ACF Fiorentina, Viola Park is the largest sports centre in Italy and one of the largest in Europe. It serves not only as a training facility for all 20 teams associated with the football club but also houses the essential services and amenities required for both training and recovery. These include medical, wellness, and rehabilitation centres, stadiums, gyms, and pavilions, alongside various accommodation options.

The AV systems installed at Viola Park represent some of the most advanced technology in the field. Professional Show selected K-array for the audio solutions, leveraging their compact yet powerful loudspeakers and subwoofers. In the “Curva Fiesole” stadium, the audio setup consists of 21 KGEAR GH12 loudspeakers and 7 GS18 subwoofers per bleacher, powered by KGEAR GA46 amplifiers with DSP capabilities. These components were selected for their high SPL output and compact form factor, allowing them to be integrated discreetly within the architecture.

In the 3000-seat-capacity Curva Fiesole stadium, Professional Show opted for a KGEAR solution comprising a total of 21 GH12 loudspeakers and seven GS18 subwoofers in each bleacher, discreetly rigged to harmonise with the stadium’s architecture whilst providing high SPL for matches and events.

Leveraging the DSP capabilities of KGEAR GA46 amplifiers, the integrator designed an unconventional loudspeaker reinforcement system that matched the aesthetics of the stadium and guaranteed an even coverage of the stands with moderately high SPL. Professional Show also developed a quasi-horizontal step array of GH12 loudspeakers to meet the architectural constraints.

For each of the seven loudspeaker clusters, the three KGEAR GH12 step-array configurations are evenly distributed under the ceiling and carefully positioned to compensate for the up-tilt angle of the seat coverings. Each GH12 is angled downward with defined tilting angles to maximise coverage across the listening area. Furthermore, each loudspeaker cluster is complemented by a GS18 subwoofer to complete the system frequency response.

In the events pavilion, the audio equipment consists of eight KP102l Python speakers and two main KS3PI Thunder subwoofers set into the woodwork in the hall interior. There are also eight KU212 Rumble subwoofers hidden in the interstices of the walls that preserve the beauty of the architectural design without sacrificing the extremely high standard of sound quality that K-Array products provide.

Aside from the main football stadiums, the project also comprised audio installations at various spaces across the site. In the Media Centre, home to a futuristic press room and digital museum, Professional Show and K-array collaborated to design a system that would meet the architect’s request for an invisible and modular solution and ensure clarity of speech during live interviews. Four Kobra loudspeakers, four Rumble subwoofers and a pair of two linear metres of Anakonda seamlessly blend high-quality audio technology with aesthetics.

Even the bars within Viola Park, named Maglia Viola and Il Giglio, boast bespoke audio systems, featuring K-array’s ultra-flat Vyper loudspeakers and Rumble subwoofers, seamlessly integrated through a QSC Audio control system.

The media centre functions as a digital museum for Viola Park, with several monitors displaying content recounting the history of Fiorentina. The images are displayed across an 88 sq-metre Samsung LED wall with a pixel pitch of 2.5mm, delivering exceptionally high –resolution visuals. The centre also features PTZ professional 4K, 50p AW-UE150 cameras and two lateral wall-boxes, allowing visiting TV and radio operators to connect and access the signals produced onsite.

The new multimedia TV studio is an innovative content development area. It is the technological heart of the sports centre, and guarantees dynamic distribution to all broadcast and social platforms thanks to the fully digital NDI, SDI and Dante technologies.

The filming technology is based on Panasonic PTX 4K products. Integrated LED wall, monitors and virtual sets open the recording studio to all manner of productions. The virtual part is handled by a Zero Density system. The set design of the studio, created by Professional Show under the artistic direction of set designer Patrizia Bocconi, has two different environments. On one side there is a 15 m-long area for the Virtual Set and on the other, there is the studio which can support three or four scenes for various transmissions.

Moreover, the walls of the studio have been built with sound absorbing materials and the floor is made of black-lacquered MDF wood inlaid with over 80m of RGBW strip LED. 60m of RGBW strip LEDs have been installed along the perimeters of the set, and, in addition, there is a column covered by Samsung LEDs and a 15 sq metre Samsung screen with a pixel pitch of 2.5mm. A further studio set consisting of 5 55” Samsung monitors is used for face-face interviews.

Viola Park was designed with sustainability in mind, reflecting ACF Fiorentina’s commitment to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles. The AV systems installed by Professional Show contribute to these goals in several ways. Energy-efficient LED lighting systems were chosen to reduce energy consumption, while the compact and lightweight K-array loudspeakers minimise material use and reduce the environmental impact of the installation. Furthermore, the integration of digital content systems in the media centre, such as the Samsung LED wall and virtual set technologies, allows for efficient content distribution without the need for physical media, further reducing the facility’s carbon footprint.

Professional Show ran into no challenges during the project. It was a seamless integration of state-of-the-art audio-visual technology, which resulted in an enhanced overall experience for visitors to Viola Park. “The work carried out at Viola Park has further sealed and strengthened the partnership between Professional Show and K-array. K-array has proved to be a winning solution for Fiorentina and yet another great project where we were able to collaborate and work together with the K-array team to deliver the highest-quality solution.” – Giovanni Beoni, Project Manager and Sales Manager at Professional Show.