This project amplifies the spectacle of sport by creating a viewing vessel within the urban fabric.
Using a repeated module of an arch and inverse arch, an inhabited skin envelops the playing fields whilst using the given site boundary to generate its form. This module is oriented to address streets, points of access and vantage points whilst remaining a cohesive structure. The massing has remnants of the prior gasometer, using this bold form to create a cohesive space within the currently disparate site.
The ovular form allows for access from multiple points in the site. The oval is cut at the site boundary providing a thoroughfare creating a new procession from the south along the retaining wall to the north-east corner - the highest vantage point. A new plaza is created here providing a space of congregation as well as viewing over the basketball fields.
The structure in plan generates a double layer providing vertical circulation by means of ramps. In section there are also double layers within inhabited floors consisting of back of house program allowing the playing fields to be free in plan and section. These floors are accessed via centralised stairs giving division and hierarchy to the spaces.
The program is suspended within the double frame, creating voids that transcribe the whole height of the building providing views from below as well as above.