Danish architects BIG, in collaboration with AKT, Tyréns and Transsolar has been awarded first place in a design competition for first of its kind sports facility. The new sports village is designed to be a home for research, education and training in all areas of female sport. The facility reflects BIG’s signature angular modern design.
Firm founder Bjarke Ingels said that their objective behind the design is not to create a venue that is just another exercise factory. By taking into account special requirements of women of all cultures and all ages, the facility is designed to reflect a feeling of intimacy and well-being that are rarely found in masculine industrial-style sports complexes.
The scheme will feature a series of buildings with a variety of uses displaying open spaces and public gardens to promote unconstrained atmosphere. A central hall in the village is designed spacious enough to hold professional football matches as well as concerts, conferences, exhibitions and flea markets. The pedestrian network around the main sports hall links to the surrounding street networks as well as the interior galleries of Kronprinsen, transforming it into a complete ecosystem of urban life.
The sloping roof-scapes and alternating building volumes are integrated to offer the complex with the varying identity of a small village. This will help in reducing its scale to the adjacent neighborhood. The interior streets animated through public functions are designed to evoke a medieval downtown.
BIG has designed WVOWS as a village rather than sports complex, complementing the intimate scale and specificity of the nearby historical city center of Malmo.
