Bygholm Sports Hall – Birth of an idea

After the site visit, we started to think. The first designing phase, outline proposal, is a very tricky part. Many architects love and fear it at the same time. What if the last project was the best and I can never do better than that? What if I cannot overcome the constraints that are tied to this project? What if people won’t understand my idea?

This fear can be overwhelming. But it is our duty to overcome it.

How was the 3rd-semester brief?

Not great, the semester is tied with prefabrication, too common in Denmark to my taste. And because of that, we have only two weeks for the proposal. And it is not even our proposal, it is just revision of an existing proposal.

We got a concrete element box. That is a sports hall. And then smaller timber structure, café and meeting rooms connected to it. The thing is, we cannot change the concrete structure, only small adjustments, so it is in accordance with regulations. We can, however, change the layout of timber structure and the glass hall between them.

And instead of complaining about what we cannot do. We changed what we could.

Rough sketch, a play of opposites. Big, hard, heavy, concrete structure juxtaposed (I always wanted to use this word..and finally!) against smaller, lighter, softer wooden volume. Play of two rectangular volumes. They are same but different. They speak the same language, but different accent. The feel is different. Materials are contrasted, the colour as well. The volumetric properties are similar.

The initial proposal involved long wedged timber structure with the deck between two wings. Not completely illogical. I must say it felt quite ok. But we knew we could do better. First, we compacted the whole volume. With the local climate, you do not want to expose much. However, the more square the design is, the harder it can be to divide it because, in the middle, there is no sun without skylights. That is why we divided the volume into three parts. The unfavourable position in the middle is reserved for service core. Storage, technical room, toilets. Those rooms do not need natural light.

On the other hand, meeting rooms benefit from the morning sun. And you can enjoy your coffee the best in the late afternoon. In this arrangement, the sports hall will get the light from the north, because we do not want to create glare and disrupt the fierce battles that will take place inside.

With all that in mind, we changed some minor issues in the concrete building as well. The boring but important stuff that was not quite okay. Escape routes, toilets, toilets for handicapped people. And now we are coming close to the day of the presentation. We are supposed to print a booklet and then present it to our classmates and teachers.

Wish us luck

Cheers