NL architects: TNW sports hall, utrecht

turnaccommodatie nieuw welgelegen (TNW) by NL architects image courtesy NL architects

turnaccommodatie nieuw welgelegen (TNW) by NL architects is a sports hall dedicated soley to gymnastics. four individual gymnastic clubs will combine their efforts in this new facility. the project based on the idea of a ‘tulip’ TNW is the 3rd last building of the redevelopment of a sports complex in the center of utrecht.

the brief for the TNW excluded the possibility of creating windows in the hall. in order to be ‘livable’, daylight is required, but for serious training and competitions windows will cause undesired effects – too much contrast and too much distraction.

the idea of tulip is to ‘peel off’ the skin at the top to bring daylight into the interior. by partly bending out the facade a gap comes into being between the roof edge and the walls: indirect light will reflect into the hall. the carefully deformed envelop creates a mildly glowing gradient that lights up towards the top.

a pleasant side effect of bending out the facade is that the building becomes sculptural.

image courtesy NL architects

car park image courtesy NL architects

daylight entering the gym image courtesy NL architects

the gym opens to allow daylight in image courtesy NL architects

image courtesy NL architects

hall with no daylight image courtesy NL architects

hall with daylight image courtesy NL architects

image courtesy NL architects

turnaccommodatie nieuw welgelegen (TNW) image courtesy NL architects

turnaccommodatie nieuw welgelegen (TNW) competition: 1st prize client: dienst maatschappelijke ontwikkeling gemeente utrecht team: bobby de graaf, sarah moller, michael schoner, gen yamamoto, rebecca eng, joanna janota, jeong jun song