Nätverket

Status: Idea 2009
Location: Växjö, Sweden
Client: Växjö Municipality

After laying out a continuous tennis surface on the Södra Tennis site, a simple shell is created to enclose three indoor courts, while leaving two for outdoor play. The shell is to be constructed primarily of timber elements and cladding. Irregular wooden slats express a solid building volume while simultaneously mimicking the slender tree trunks that populate Swedish forests. The facade also includes vast areas of north-facing glass to provide adequate diffuse light and maintain the continuity of the tennis surface.

The roof, which slopes down towards the human scale entrance, acts almost as a fifth facade, and is planted with a wide variety of grasses and mosses so as to provide passive environmental benefits while blending into the surrounding meadow when viewed from future high rises planned for the Välle Broar housing development.

An important aspect of the Södra Tennis Hall, is that it should be flexible for local expansion as well as global replication. This requirement might make it difficult to retain an established local identity, but by using different modular structural and spatial systems, Nätverket’s construction could easily be added to or replicated at another site without the building seeming like a product of placeless industrial fabrication.

The primary loads are carried by a glu-lam timber grid, and the spatial layout allows for more courts to be added without amending the original bearing structure. The offices and training rooms that serve the tennis courts are free-standing within the large volume, so as needs and uses change, each building can adapt easily.

The tennis hall is organized so that the three indoor tcourts are all contained in one large volume, with a series of service volumes attached to a promenade running alongside them. The area on top of the service volumes is used for spectators, but includes several social spaces to be used by athletes as well.

The large competition space can be also used for other events like conventions, concerts, or markets, contributing to the flexible nature of the building construction.