tennis cabanas
| cafe and pool for white city tennis club
[micheal fountain architects]
The Tennis Cabanas at White City was a sub-component of a successful bid to build a new tennis and multi-leisure centre at the prestigeous White City grounds. The logistics on the placement of tennis courts left three triangular spaces along the site boundary on which we intended to supply the courts with amenities, refreshment facilities and an outdoor pool. Similarly, the site entry had a left-over area which we decided should be used as a sculptural structure to define the entry to the centre.
The Entry to White City Tennis Club displays a moiré sculpture at the entry as a simple focal point closely related to the act of movement: that of entering
The two cabanas each consist of a row of huge timber laminate blades and a translucent glazed cabana within which sits a dark blue tiled cube housing all services and amenities. The cabana features a cafe with room for a few indoor tables and an outdoor shaded area under the timber blades with direct views to the training wall as well as the other tennis courts. Three segments of the glazed wall swivel to open and close the cabana
The timber blades not only provide shade to the cafe outdoor resting area; they are the main structural element from which the cafe roof, and by extension the glazed walls, are hung. This structural solution facilitates a feather light and seamless touch of the cabana base upon the ground as well as a complete absence of vertical structural elements (columns, walls, etc.) in the cabana
The pool cabana features a lap pool along the concrete wall, an adjacent splash pool and a shaded kids’ pool under the timber blades. Wash-off showers are provided behind a tiled wall along the Northern edge of the roof. The plant room is located within a small tower structure identical to the Entry sculpture; the two structures set up a sculptural pair across the width of the site defining and emphasising the whole of the Multi-Leisure Facility behind to the South
The Entry to White City Tennis Club displays a moiré sculpture at the entry as a simple focal point closely related to the act of movement: that of entering
The two cabanas each consist of a row of huge timber laminate blades and a translucent glazed cabana within which sits a dark blue tiled cube housing all services and amenities. The cabana features a cafe with room for a few indoor tables and an outdoor shaded area under the timber blades with direct views to the training wall as well as the other tennis courts. Three segments of the glazed wall swivel to open and close the cabana
The timber blades not only provide shade to the cafe outdoor resting area; they are the main structural element from which the cafe roof, and by extension the glazed walls, are hung. This structural solution facilitates a feather light and seamless touch of the cabana base upon the ground as well as a complete absence of vertical structural elements (columns, walls, etc.) in the cabana
The pool cabana features a lap pool along the concrete wall, an adjacent splash pool and a shaded kids’ pool under the timber blades. Wash-off showers are provided behind a tiled wall along the Northern edge of the roof. The plant room is located within a small tower structure identical to the Entry sculpture; the two structures set up a sculptural pair across the width of the site defining and emphasising the whole of the Multi-Leisure Facility behind to the South