ACTIVITY LANDSCAPE
12 Jul 2016
A model for a low-cost sports hall provides an economically viable option for small towns that encourages activity and recreation, and provides sheltered space for social engagement.
As small town communities often lack inviting and active public spaces, the Activity Landscape by JAJA Architects introduces a model for a low-cost sports hall that offer an outdoor and sheltered informal space that playfully encourage activity and recreation, all day and all year around.
The first example of the Activity Landscape opened earlier this year and has become a popular focal point in Harboøre, Denmark. Contrary to traditional sports halls that are tailor-made for formal sports and mostly used during the winter, the Activity Landscape creates a seamless transition between the interior and exterior spaces, which opens up for a wider range of informal as well as formal usage. From in- and outdoor skating, soccer, flea-markets or concerts, the Activity Landscape offers a new type of public space where activity can extend beyond the sheltered space and out to the open.
The design consists of two main elements: Building and Landscape
Cladded with translucent polycarbonate sheets on a basic structural frame, the building is essentially a large shelter that reduces glare while offering a natural ambient lighting indoors that accentuates the spatial relation to the outdoors.
Hills of grass, asphalt and concrete undulate in, out and around creating a playful landscape that interacts with the building while encouraging a range of activities. The smooth asphalt and concrete hills, for instance, are perfect for skating and bicycling. The grass is better suited for climbing, running and tumbling down. Altogether, the hills and its surfaces create an indoor/outdoor spatial composition that encourages recreation and social interaction.
Images by Rune Johansen
