The aim of the design proposal by sam architecture for the sports facilities at Lille-Fives was to create a pure and efficient building. The clearly identifiable shape of the concrete plate, which covers the grandstand and the gymnasium, announces the sport facility from far around. It is undeniably inspired by Future system’s Lords Cricket Ground Media Stand. It truly identifies the building and is ment to become a symbol of the renewal of Lille-Fives, a former industrial and socially fragile district. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The challenge of this competition was to connect the sports field and the gymnasium across the road to create one multi-sport complex, without interfering the street’s traffic. Elevating the club-house and offices off the ground resolved several problems:
- liberating the narrow space for the stands, - covering them for free, - Connect the club house to the gymnasium on the other side of the street, - Containing the buildings in an equal width to the gym’s façade, to not block the views of the adjacent housings.
The complete design is led by the site’s and program constraints. The Plate represents the equipment’s main element, allowing spectators to keep up with the match sheltered in a warmth atmosphere. Liberating the surface around the playing field for spectators, it increases also the capacity of the grandstand, which emerges in successive layers as a natural floor upheaval. All spectators’ spaces around and on the grandstand are clearly identified by the red tainted concrete texture.
Thanks to the rising Club House, overviews on the stadium and the gymnasium are offered from the promenade on top of the grandstand, limited to 2, 55 meters height. Therefore, the design enlarges the narrow Parmentier Street and the Club House’s polished-concrete underside reflects light and stadium atmospheres in the gymnasium and on Parmentier Street.
Furthermore, the Club House animates the district by night: Through its South bay-window, the lighting and interior action conveys the stadium’s beats to the district without any need of frontage lighting. The Plate is a physical link between the Faucompret sport complex and the Stade Ballet, allowing to relate the Club House to both equipments, without any impact on car flows in Parmentier Street.
Architect: sam architecture / Boris Schneider Location: Lilles, France Client: Ville de Lille Engineer: SODEG Model: Model Maker Workshop Building cost: 5M € Completion: 2014
