Sports Center Gilles Boutantin | Dietrich I Untertrifaller

Much like sports itself, sports facilities are important sites of identification. Particularly in smaller towns like Cormeilles-en-Parisis, 17 km northeast of Paris, club sport plays a vital role in social life. With its new sports centre, the municipality of Cormeilles offers local teams, amateur athletes and schools optimal training and competition conditions.

With its flowing silhouette, the sports centre makes a striking statement at the entrance to the town, yet blends unobtrusively into the loosely built residential area. The lowered playing field enabled us to keep the building height moderate. Smartly placed bends modulate the length of the building, and a simple twist turns the ribbon-shaped roof into an attractive canopy that stretches protectively over the entrance and forecourt. With clever spatial references we arranged the dense programme clearly on two levels. The generously glazed reception hall connects the competition hall in the south, the multi-purpose hall in the north, the dojo and the fistball room in the west. The “meeting zone” in the reception area – space for informal exchange and socialising – offers a panoramic view of the competition hall below and leads the spectators directly to the stands. In the basement there is a weight room, changing rooms as well as storage and technical rooms.

The sports hall is planned as a wooden construction with a two-story reinforced concrete core. The building shell made of anodized aluminum integrates the surrounding and enables transparency, allowing inside and outside views. The roof, also clad in aluminum, acts as a fifth façade visible from afar. The wood panelling on the ceilings and walls with daylight flowing in through the roomhigh glazing gives the space an intimate atmosphere.