Martial arts centre, Verquin (FR)
New building
Client: Communauté d’Agglomération de Béthune, Bruay, Noeux et Environs
Architecture: Dietrich Untertrifaller with 2H Architecture
Competition: 2015
Area: 5,800 m²
Programme: Martial arts arena with 12 tatami, spectator stands, changing rooms and sanitary facilities, administration, public areas, clubhouse
Visualisation: Dietrich Untertrifaller
Team
Christina Kimmerle, Margarete Sierek
Text: Gerlinde Jüttner
Partners
Statics, building services, electrics, building physics: B.A.-BAT, Ruitz
Landscape: Atelier Villes et Paysages, Paris
Competition under a wooden dome
The new martial arts centre is a place of identification and community in Verquin. With its conical shape, the design fits perfectly into the triangular plot. The martial arts arena with its 12 tatamis is located in the centre of the building and with its conical shape and the incidence of light from above it focuses on the martial artists. The wooden construction of the large roof with its diamond-shaped wooden struts is the central architectural element of the design.
Daylight streams through a glass dome at the high point of the wooden roof, whereby this concentric incidence of light is emphasised by the geometry of the diamond-shaped roof construction. By raising the conical roof, the shape of the building does not create an introverted feeling, but is in dialogue with the surroundings and allows access to the public and the light. It is focused on the competition from the inside and at the same time opens up to the outside.
Spectator stands, changing rooms and sanitary facilities for the judokas, administration and publicly accessible areas are organised around the martial arts arena. All ancillary rooms are located under the stands, allowing for a compact, functional layout.
The concept creates a balance between the closed nature of the service zones and the generous size of the public and representative areas.
