Pärnu City Centre Sports Hall
Kaido Haagen

Pärnu City Centre Sports Hall

Kavakava as Architects

The sports hall is located in the courtyard of an existing school, in a park near the town centre of Pärnu. The structure accommodates a hall large enough for two basketball courts, service spaces and changing rooms, providing gymnasium facilities for three local schools.


The building has a strong visual relationship with the adjacent nineteenth-century schoolhouse, looking onto it through an almost entirely glazed north-facing facade over the geometric landscaping of the space between them. Although the gym and schoolhouse are comparable in size, the gym has a polygonal plan with rounded corners, while the schoolhouse's plan reflects classical rectilinearity. A curving wall of hand-made red brick on the outside - referencing the brick of the school building - and unfurnished concrete blockwork on the inside wraps the sides of the gym.


A total of 365 gaps in the blockwork create a diagonal grid of small, glazed opening, allowing some daylight into the interior from every side, and at night resulting in a textile-like pattern of illuminated windows visible from the outside.


Access is from either end of a spacious foyer on the southwest side of the building, next to the changing rooms.


Products Behind Projects
Product Spotlight
News
Taktik Design revamps sunken garden oasis in Montreal college
23 Apr 2024 News
Taktik Design revamps sunken garden oasis in Montreal college

At the heart of Montreal’s Collège de Maisonneuve, Montreal-based Taktik Design has com... More

Carr’s “Coastal Compound” combines family beach house with the luxury of a boutique hotel
23 Apr 2024 News
Carr’s “Coastal Compound” combines family beach house with the luxury of a boutique hotel

Melbourne-based architecture and interior design studio Carr has completed a coastal residence embed... More

Barrisol Light brings the outdoors inside at Mr Green’s Office
22 Apr 2024 News
Barrisol Light brings the outdoors inside at Mr Green’s Office

French ceiling manufacturer Barrisol - Normalu SAS was included in Archello’s list of 25 best... More

Peter Pichler, Rosalba Rojas Chávez, Lourenço Gimenes and Raissa Furlan join Archello Awards 2024 jury
22 Apr 2024 Archello Awards
Peter Pichler, Rosalba Rojas Chávez, Lourenço Gimenes and Raissa Furlan join Archello Awards 2024 jury

Peter Pichler, Rosalba Rojas Chávez, Lourenço Gimenes and Raissa Furlan have been anno... More

25 best decorative glass manufacturers
22 Apr 2024 Specification
25 best decorative glass manufacturers

By incorporating decorative glass in projects, such as stained or textured glass windows, frosted gl... More

Introducing Partner Geopietra
19 Apr 2024 Partner News
Introducing Partner Geopietra

Geopietra® is an international brand and an Italian company founded in 1996, specialized in the... More

Shigeru Ban’s Paper Log House at Philip Johnson’s Glass House
18 Apr 2024 News
Shigeru Ban’s Paper Log House at Philip Johnson’s Glass House

In New Canaan, Connecticut, Shigeru Ban: The Paper Log House has opened as part of the 75th annivers... More

10 commercial buildings that benefit from planted facades
18 Apr 2024 Specification
10 commercial buildings that benefit from planted facades

The integration of nature into architecture marks a proactive urban response to the climate emergenc... More