IN Brief:
- TRILUX developed the lighting scheme for six shielded radiotherapy rooms at Maastro’s Venlo centre.
- Arimo image panels, Finea light lines, Sonnos downlights, and scene controls support treatment and circulation requirements.
- Four rooms were completed by March 2026, with further refurbishment planned across the clinical facility.
TRILUX has developed a specialist lighting scheme for six treatment rooms at the Maastro radiotherapy centre in Venlo, the Netherlands.
Forming part of a wider clinical refurbishment, the project combines illuminated image panels, continuous light lines, downlights, and adjustable control scenes within rooms constrained by heavy radiation shielding and specialist medical equipment.
The treatment bunkers use concrete walls more than two metres thick, while access is arranged through labyrinthine corridors rather than conventional doors that would interrupt the shielding envelope. Architecten aan de Maas developed the interior concept, TRILUX designed and supplied the lighting, and Equans carried out installation.
Four rooms had been completed by March 2026, with further refurbishment planned across the remaining treatment spaces, offices, and waiting areas.
Each finished room uses a local landscape theme, including marl, cherries, water, and meadows. Images are printed on Arimo LED panels mounted above the irradiation equipment, placing an illuminated ceiling feature within the patient’s direct sightline during treatment.
An asymmetrical Finea continuous light line follows each access labyrinth. Positioned off-centre, the luminaire keeps the brightest part of the fitting away from patients lying on treatment equipment and looking towards the corridor.
Sonnos downlights provide general and transition lighting, while adjustable scenes support treatment preparation, equipment operation, patient positioning, cleaning, and maintenance. Manual control remains available so clinical staff can alter conditions around individual procedures rather than relying on one fixed sequence.
Clinical lighting becomes a systems-integration task
A treatment bunker requires more than a compliant average illuminance. Staff need clear visibility for preparation and checking, patients spend extended periods looking upwards while movement is restricted, and medical equipment may require reduced ambient light during particular stages of operation.
Scene control allows those conditions to be created through one coordinated installation. The control interface must remain simple enough for routine clinical use, with clearly defined presets, local override, predictable transitions, and commissioning records that can be restored after maintenance or software changes.
The labyrinth presents its own optical problem because it serves simultaneously as a circulation route, a radiation-control feature, and part of the patient’s visual field. Asymmetric distribution can guide movement and illuminate the surfaces without placing an uncomfortable strip of high brightness directly within the patient’s line of sight.
Glare calculations based on standing or seated observers may not fully represent the conditions experienced by someone lying beneath treatment equipment. Coordination with the final equipment position, supported by mock-ups or visual assessment, can identify discomfort that conventional reflected-ceiling plans overlook.
The image panels add a visual focus to rooms otherwise dominated by reinforced construction and medical machinery. They must also perform as maintainable electrical equipment, requiring attention to diffusion, colour consistency, flicker, driver access, cleaning, image replacement, and long-term product support.
Clinical schedules place additional pressure on maintenance planning. Driver failure, damaged diffusers, colour shift, control faults, or emergency-lighting defects cannot be allowed to cause lengthy treatment-room closures.
Product identification, spare-parts policy, safe access, isolation points, software ownership, and responsibility for control settings should be recorded at handover. Where components sit above specialist ceilings or near medical equipment, routine replacement may require coordination with clinical, radiation-protection, and estates teams.
The return of growth within the UK lighting market has been supported partly by retrofit, controls, and higher-specification systems. Maastro represents the more specialised end of that activity, where lighting performance is inseparable from building use, clinical equipment, and human factors.
Emergency operation must reflect the unusual escape routes and room geometry. Treatment spaces, access labyrinths, plant areas, and public circulation may require different emergency-lighting arrangements, with testing covering duration, coverage, changeover, status indicators, and interfaces with central monitoring.
Although radiotherapy equipment and ventilation dominate the electrical load, efficient luminaires and scene control can still reduce unnecessary consumption and extend maintenance intervals. Full output is required only during defined tasks, even where rooms remain in use throughout long clinical days.
Further phases across offices and waiting areas will need visual continuity without applying one lighting solution to every part of the building. Workplaces, treatment rooms, public spaces, and circulation areas have different requirements for colour quality, glare, controls, emergency provision, and maintenance.
A common control and asset-management strategy can support the complete estate while allowing optical design and atmosphere to vary by space. The completed Maastro rooms will now provide operating experience as the remaining refurbishment phases are developed.
Further project details are available from TRILUX.
