Sportcampus Zuiderpark, Den Haag, Netherlands

The campus in The Hague, completed in June 2017, is a cooperation between the city of The Hague and two private partners. With the help of entertainment and education, the sponsors want to promote the importance of sports and exercise for a healthy society. Inside, sporting competitions from soccer to judo are held, and the building also has classrooms. The construction of the building took slightly more than two years and cost 45 million British pounds. British architects FaulknerBrowns won the tender.

Colors and materials give the Sportcampus Zuiderpark an iconic look. The flowing design effortlessly finds its place in the surroundings and is just as in motion as the people who play sports here.
 

The architects responded to the brief that the building should reflect the principles of movement and activity with an oval design that smoothly overcomes height differences. " At ground level, the curved form of the plan is expressed by a simple plinth constructed from textured precast concrete panels. The upper part of the elevation is expressed as a metallic ‘ribbon’ that narrows and twists to reveal glazing on the elevation," says Edward Shanks, Marketing Director at FaulknerBrowns. 

The "ribbon" that the architects have wrapped around their design is elegant and colorful: Made of polished stainless steel, the metal strip takes on different colors depending on the incidence of light, ranging from a warm yellow to flaming red and a delicate pink.

In order to represent the smooth and flowing height differences of the building, the architects needed malleable materials. They opted for steel panels that were flexible enough to be used on the façade. The steel is 0.8 millimeters thick and was polished with a special finish that creates a reflective effect. Light is reflected at different wavelengths and creates a rich play of colors on the panels.

Although they are mounted individually, the steel panels lend a homogeneous appearance to the building’s metal strip. The slightly offset height of their lugs contributes to the building’s flowing character. " With such a dramatic overhead form we considered it necessary for the plinth to be visually subservient, especially when viewed from a distance", says Shanks. With the use of precast concrete elements, the curved shape of the building could be perfectly reproduced. The precast concrete elements were cast with glass fiber reinforced concrete by specialist Polycon. FaulknerBrowns wanted a strong vertical structure for the concrete surfaces to mask the flowing difference in height, especially in the narrow side areas of the building, and to create the impression of a cohesive plinth. They opted for the elastic formliner "Liberty", a fantasy pattern with a wave design that visually stretches the plinth. The pattern gives the concrete surface the appearance of a curtain with wide, flat throws. The use of the mold lends the exposed concrete a lively, light character while the structure's profile depth allows subtle shadows that gives some depth to the façade. A further benefit: It hampers graffiti from damaging the façade.