Neighbourhood Sports Centre Kiel | UR architects

The site has a strategic position in the socially mixed Kiel district of Antwerp. This low-budget sports centre with a sports gear rental depot fulfills a social role in the neighborhood, edging the gateway to the school campus.

The building looks out to all sides. The traditional sports hall typology is inverted: large sports hall, dancing hall and rental depot face outward, interconnected by a service area. The simple, industrial architecture reflects the modernism of the surrounding buildings. The roofscape is conceived as a fifth facade visible from the nearby housing blocks by architect Renaat Braem.

The ephemeral halls with facades in translucent multi-layered polycarbonate, white steel structure and colored floors contrast with the chiaroscuro service area in concrete and black laminate. The facades communicate the play of shadows and combine diffused daylight with good insulation and air tightness, resulting in low energy use.

Sun and outdoor climate form the backdrop of sports and play. At night the building becomes a glowing beacon in the neighborhood. The terrain will become an ecological flowering prairie dotted with trees and a grass island for informal play.

Sustainable and energy saving measures:

- Translucent facades allow playing by daylight, gradually replaced by artificial lighting (sensors).

- Floor heating in the large hall (payback period 6 years vs. local air heating).

- Air treatment system D (with heat recuperation) and adiabatic cooling with rain water in summer. Extra summer cooling through the floor heating system.

- Rain water use for showers with UV-filter. Only 1 year payback period.

- Extensive green roof on the service area for rain water storage and thermal inertia, light gray FPO-roofing on the halls for less warming-up.