BIG: The World Village of Women Sports

WVWS_Image By BIG_01

“Considering the special requirements of women of all cultures and all ages, special attention has been given, to provide the sports village with a feeling of intimacy and well being often lacking in the more masculine industrial-style sports complexes that are more like factories for physical exercise, than temples for body and mind.”

~ Bjarke Ingels, BIG

It seems like you can’t go more than a week or so without hearing that BIG has won another competition – this time, they’ve partnered with AKT, Tyrens and Transsolar to design the 100,000 sm World VIllage of Women Sports in Malmo Sweden. Being touted as the first of its kind, the village will be a “natural gathering place for the research, education and training in all areas connected to the development of women’s sports”.

WVWS_Image By BIG_03

The project has been designed as a village – rather than an overpowering sports complex – in an attempt to address the scale of the surrounding neighborhood. Sloping roof lines and staggering volumes hope to enforce this ‘village’ feel – along with terracing gardens and open public space, all connected with internal streets animated by public functions.

These sloping forms surround a large central hall large enough for a professional football [I think they mean soccer] game – which can also serve as an auditorium, performance space, conference or exhibit area, etc, etc.

Rather than being an introverted sports arena shut off from the surrounding city – it appears like an open and welcoming public space, visible from all of the surrounding streets – generously offering its interior life to the passers-by. The pedestrian network around the main sports hall plugs into the surrounding street networks as well as the interior galleries of Kronprinsen, turning it into a complete ecosystem of urban life.

WVWS_Image By BIG_02

“The WVOWS fuses high levels of ambition within public space and private accommodation, living and working, health and recreation, sport and culture. Like a village rather than sports complex it merges the modern utopianism of the neighboring Kronprinsen with the intimate scale and specificity of the nearby historical city center of Malmo.”

~ Bjarke Ingels, BIG

WVWS_Image By BIG_05

I’m kind of feeling the design – although at this point, it’s very reminiscent of a number of other projects by BIG. That said, they seem to have tweaked their rendering style a little bit – and I like it. Just a thought.

WVWS_Image By BIG_04

WVWS_diagrams

WVWS_Drawing_03

WVWS_section

::all images, info + quotes courtesy of BIG::

Posted: October 29th, 2009
at 11:40am by orangemenace


Categories: architecture,featured ninjas

Comments: 2 comments



 

2 Responses to 'BIG: The World Village of Women Sports'

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  1. I really wonder when Bjarke will have enough of using the same metaphore of the mountain/sloped roof in his proposals. Apparently jurys of competition are still seduced… Sad architectural world…

    Joel

    17 Nov 09 at 9:09 am

     

  2. I agree with you joel.. It’s so typical of bjarke to design mountain like buildings I don’t see anything new here! There’s nothing innovative about this design..

    Aya

    23 Nov 09 at 1:42 pm

     


 

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