2014 Marc NeyckenMarc Neycken - Sports and meeting centre
Construction task

The task involves the conception drafting of a sports and meeting centre.

The objective was to find an appropriate attitude to this centre in a rural area, expressed by its flair, function and materials.

The property called „Hander Weg“, is situated in Laurensberg near the Dutch - German border, about 1.6 km from the village centre and 5 km from the Aachen Cathedral.

Schools and sports clubs in the surroundings will find a common place through this construction project.
The main users are a football and rugby club.

Landscape

The landscape shows 3 fundamentally different typologies: the orthogonal road system of the northern parking lot; the wild landscape between country road and sports complex and the complex itself, determined by a lawn with subtil arranged clusters of trees.

Building

The building lies on the intersection line of the 3 landscape typologies and benefits from their different levels of intimacy. The one-story building falls into line with the sports complex delimiting tree structure and is super-elevated in two places.
A protruding part of the building nearby the parking area, is the new entrance of the sports complex and the access to the building, separated into 3 independent functional sections: habitation of the groundskeeper, the sports area and the common area.
A roofed gangway allows a time - independent utilization of all those functional sections.

The centre should radiate the atmosphere of a „rural“ functional building. This impression is underlined by the low height, the closed front and the choice of simple materials: plain surface bricks, raw concrete and a small quantity of oak wood. There is no „artificial„ colouring or veiling. The surfaces are reflecting the way of construction and become a naturally integrated part of the place.

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