Text description provided by the architects. The 4-storey sports centre comprising of the games arena, fitness room, dance room, children playroom and two multi-purpose rooms is backed by a hill with beautiful natural setting, scattered with village houses near Che Kung Temple Station.
As with the local tradition the villagers are encouraged to go up to the feng shui hill, the public in this sports centre are inspired to ascent through different levels of the Venue and finally connected back to their feng shui origin. The Sports Centre provides an accessible extension of the adjacent hillside greenery. Designing a public venue not only to provide sports facilities, but also as a place for leisure. The arrangement of the different scopes for the Sports Centre with its public spaces connects the functional areas while leading visitors through the natural setting of the place, shaping the Sports Centre as the neighbourhood garden, a retreat for the residents.
The spatial concept is to encourage interactions among visitors and nature. Instead of a traditional indoor leisure complex, functional spaces of the Sports Centre are arranged along a promenade through garden settings. A public pedestrian route is created to literally cut through the building to allow natural sceneries to penetrate into each functional area and create dialogues between spaces and visitors. This also allows the general public to experience the various leisure activities inside the Sports Centre while meandering through the building to reach the feng shui hill.
From the forecourt, a staircase and ramp route leads to the central courtyard, terraced gardens, landscape deck and roof gardens, linking a garden path through different sports facilities in the building, bringing different users together. Functional rooms are arranged around the central glass courtyard, creating a focus to converge a sense of community gathering and form a welcoming oasis for the neighbourhood.
We do away with air-conditioning altogether in all public circulation areas. Instead of an internalized route relying through lift, open circulation is adopted, reducing electricity consumption needed for air-conditioning. Courtyard, terraced gardens and ramp passage enhance natural ventilation and lighting while creating a natural setting. A glass courtyard is placed directly over the central atrium to provide natural night into the public gathering space.
Generous use of windows is incorporated in the elevation design to let in daylight at different locations while capturing views of surrounding gardens and greenery for the interior. Gardens, roof gardens and vertical greening are arranged in different locations and on different floors, setting natural scenery for different portions of the Sports Centre, creating a green retreat in the neighbourhood. Fair-faced concrete finish was employed to reduce the need for extra finishing materials. PV and solar panels, rainwater harvesting, water and electricity saving devices are adopted.
