Facility users:offices for Netball WA, training for West Coast Fever (state team) and games for West Australian Netball League (WANL). The adjacent Matthews Netball Centre (which the State Government also funded) hosts an average of 600 teams in their winter season – around 6000 players (of all ages) plus spectators. That equals more than 8000 games a season and is the biggest netball competition in the State.
The opening of SNC was delayed in mid-2014 due to a fire which required the replacement of sports flooring, the eastern wall and roofing materials.
Design comments: The design of the State Netball Centre creatively addresses both its public interface with Selby Street and its iconic role, marking the new main entry to the Wembley Sports Park.
The SNC is a multi-purpose, high performance and community sporting facility. In recognition of this functionalrequirement, the design team focused on an appropriate building typology for this sporting facility. It was strongly influenced by the importance and historical context of the development of netball inWestern Australia and by the urban context in which it will be located.
The co-location and strong formal relationship between the SNC and the redeveloped Matthews Netball Centre highlights the historical continuity of netball in Western Australia at this site since 1961 including the 2nd World Netball Championships, with the facility accommodating community to high performance level netball.
The building actively reveals its function to the landscaped street in order to promote activation and encourage use and participation. The sculptural canopy element and partially glazed north-east corner of the SNC building serves to further reveal and integrate the activities of the SNC with those of adjacent Matthews Netball Centre.
The concept of the built image is one of community participation and sporting excellence. Through architecturalinterpretation of site history, local topography and climatic conditions, the design team developed the built form,colour and pattern of the SNC (both externally and internally) as a highly legible sports facility which sitscomfortably in its immediate context.Consistent with these contextual and conceptual influences, the external material and colour palette of the SNC building is largely neutral and muted except for the continuous, blue aluminium fascia element which serves to formally and visuallyunify the building.
The building envelope was designed with Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) strategies in mind with the removal of hidden spaces around the perimeter while also providing safe and sheltered open areas for netballersand the public to congregate and shelter from the weather.
Form and scale is driven by the height and volume of the sports court area. The height is determined by theminimum clear span requirements of indoor sporting competition. The design softens the visual and formal impactof this large main volume by articulating the smaller volumes of the ancillary building functions (foyer, administrationoffices, circulation spaces etc) that surround the main sports court area. The articulation of these separate elements,within a visually unified whole, both reduces the physical scale of the building and maintain the clarity andlegibility of its individual parts.
The building has been oriented so the scale and configuration of each of its facades responds appropriatelyand sensitively to its urban context. In addition, each elevation responds both formally and functionally to its climaticorientation and passive design parameters.
Features: • Four indoor netball courts • Spectator seating for 1050 people • Nine competitor changeroom facilities including a dedicated one for West Coast Fever • Kiosk facility • Office space for Netball WA and West Coast Fever • Universally accessible amenities • Injury prevention and rehabilitation room • Program room (multi-purpose room for workshops, presentations etc) • Multi-sport capacity – line marking for volleyball and badminton courts • Designed to accommodate sports wheelchair competitors and officials
