Medeu Sports Center, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Audrey Matlock Architects design sports centre in Kazakhstan mountains
The architectural goal for this project is to seamlessly assimilate a large building into this breathtaking landscape and to weave the invigorating mountain location into the athletic spaces.
The site is on a plateau in the foothills of the Tian Shan Mountains on the eastern border of Kazakhstan. It is a privately sponsored project devoted to sports and social gatherings. The program includes indoor and outdoor tennis courts, observation areas, children's gym, dressing rooms, Turkish baths, children's game lawn and a barbeque pavilion.
The design concept is a low profile structure that meshes with the landscape by depressing the building into the earth. The all-roof building is comprised of ten zinc covered ribbons that reflect the jagged profiles of the surrounding mountains. Between each ribbon a clerestory window frames views to the nearby mountain peaks.
The below grade tennis courts are accessed by a ramp that reinforces the athletic purpose of the building. The dressing rooms and hamams are at this lower court level. Surrounding the courts are grade level observation areas and a children's gymnasium.
The open barbeque pavilion is under the easternmost roof ribbon facing the best mountain views. Sliding glass wall panels connect the pavilion to the interior observation area and steps provide seating facing the exterior game lawn. This covered terrace has a large two-sided fireplace, a kazak-style b-b-q pit and a kitchen.
Triangular steel trusses that anchor to the hilltop support the roof. A standardized truss module was developed that is adjusted to the various angles with simple joint connections. The roof sheathing is unfinished zinc that will weather to take on the natural appearance of its surroundings.
The Medeu Sports Center was honored with a Chicago Athenaeum 2008 American Architecture Award.
56 Leonard Street, New York, United States
Garland 77, Sydney, Australia
Folded House, Sydney, Australia
Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, United States
The Ivy, Sydney, Australia
Redondo Beach Container Home, Redondo Beach, CA, U...
Whale beach house, Whale beach, Australia
Bannister Point Lodge, Mollymook, Australia
Freedom Park, Pretoria, South Africa
Chelsea Modern, New York, United States
Be at Newhall, Newhall, Essex, United Kingdom
One York Tribeca, New York, United States
The Norwegian Embassy, Kathmandu, Nepal
Ulitsa Rochdelskaya Residential, Moscow, Russia
The Petter Dass Museum, Alstahaug, Norway
VeloPark London 2012, London, United Kingdom
23 East 22nd Street, New York, United States
Westside Shopping and Leisure Centre, Bern, Switze...
Loblolly house, Maryland, United States
Hazelwood School, Glasgow, United Kingdom
House F, Kronberg, Germany
210 Pentonville Road, London, United Kingdom
Lewis Library at Princeton University, Princeton, ...
Tirana Rocks masterplan, Tirana, Albania
Cluster housing, Redfern, Sydney, Australia
VilLA NM, New York, United States
Uppsala Concert & Congress Hall, Uppsala, Sweden
The Nelson-Atkins Museum Of Art, Kansas City, Miss...
The New York Aquarium, United States
Ataria nature interpretation centre, Vitoria, Spain
Grand Museum of Egypt, Cairo, Egypt Wednesday 03 S...
Sandton City Shopping Centre, Johannesburg, South ...