Ravenscraig Sport Facility / Populous

Populous, commissioned by North Lanarkshire Council, sportscotland and Ravenscraig Ltd. to design a new regional sport facility, recently announced that work on the new recreation centre has reached the half way stage.

The iconic building, due to open to the public in autumn 2010, will provide central Scotland with a world class sporting facility that includes a full size football hall, athletics hall, gym and dance studios, sport hall and outdoor pitches. The internal layout has been designed with the paramount goal of enhancing the interaction between users and visitors.

Architect’s description and more images after the break.

The facility is designed to serve the entire community and provide inspiration by enhancing the experience of audiences and providing a first class sporting venue for elite athletes, amateur athletes and school classes. The large open ends of the halls make the building appear to dissolve into its surroundings, giving the occupants a sense of being in a sheltered hollow within the natural landscape rather than in an enclosed structure. The design also provides a large amount of natural light, limiting the building’s carbon footprint while enhancing the ambiance and tranquility of the spaces.

Alexander Hoppe, Populous project architect commented, “Our aim has been to create an expressive building which gives a focus and identity to the new Ravenscraig Development. The facility will be a focal point of public life for the whole community, especially the young people of Motherwell.”

Through its innovative design, Populous has created a feeling of openness and space that traditional sports halls do not have while making a strong reference to the history of the site through the architectural language of the new facility. Its cladding, designed as metal bands that rise out of the ground to wrap around the structure, creates a link to the heritage of the steel industry that has such a strong cultural presence within the local community.

Ravenscraig Sport Facility will be a key venue for the International Children’s Games held in Lancashire in 2011, as well as a key training ground for London 2012 Olympics and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014.