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PROJECT REPORT: SPORTS & LEISURE FACILITIES
Maverick created an intricate 3D digital model, and specialist firm Cordek manufactured polystyrene moulds
revealed on floors two and three, each bigger than the last as the building grows outwards. All the walls on these floors lean outwards, which assists skaters who will often come into contact with them. Further helping them, the windows are shaped to be smaller at the bottom, reducing the chance of them running into them, and are reinforced throughout with wire netting, to reduce the chance of cracking. Created to get progressively easier to skate upon, the second and third floor skate parks – (‘flow’ and ‘street’ parks, respectively) – are built from timber. It is of course a more pliable surface, and was designed using a heavily CAD-oriented process led by Cambian Action Sports. According to Cambian, both of these floors provided significant challenges. For one, most skate parks are of course in rectangular clear span industrial buildings or outdoor spaces – meaning here its designers had to consider not just the shape of the building, but the presence of the columns and the circulation of the building in use.
Overcoming these challenges however, the finished result is a combination of two further unique skate parks, one providing a simpler, pedestrian streetscape that provides varying routes and interplay between its users, and the other creating infinitely long
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continuous smooth lines, where skilled riders can venture anywhere they wish. On both of these floors – encompassing over 1,500 m2
of skateable timber
floorspace – the sustainably sourced plywood has been intricately connected in a patchwork to combine what the designers believe to be the ideal combination of speed, safety, durability, aesthetics, as well as a potential for upgrades as trends evolve. One particularly impressive element of this patchwork is on the fluted columns of the second floor, in which Cambian took several thin sheets of plywood, bent them, and glued them in a press to form the curved shape.
Community
Now in frequent use, the project is demonstrably a huge success. Opened in a post-Covid world, F51 quickly became more important than could have been conceived when the original ideas for a car park evolved into what became this state of the art sporting facility. At such a pivotal time, when young people have desperately needed freedom and accessible space to safely expend their physical energy – and return to having some fun away from screens and pandemic- induced isolation – this facility has turned out to be of huge benefit.
ADF JUNE 2022
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