Hafnia Sports Hall
A universe of activity
“Copenhagen’s new multi-purpose sports hall is developed with a clear visual identity, a beautiful and simple graphic solution that invites everybody in. Both the contemporary lines and the bright red color signal vitality and playfulness, and the dynamic aesthetic convincingly conveys the excitement of sports and physical activity in an inclusive manner.”
Description from the jury from the Danish Design Award 2018.
The new Hafnia Sports Hall architecture is a transformation of the former ‘Club Denmark Hall’. Here, the original glue-laminated wooden beams that spans one of northern Europe’s biggest sports halls has been strengthened. Under the arched roof, the inner life of the hall is transformed into a multifunctional sports universe with small and large football pitches, beach volley courts, handball, and badminton courts, fitness area, and a climbing wall for school, leisure and elite sports.
Heated, semi-heated and unheated areas are organised around the hall’s bright red clubhouse. The red building, with changing rooms and staff facilities, is the social heart of the sports hall. All surfaces of the clubhouse are designed to be used for sports activities – from the balcony and sloping façades to the climbing steps. At both ends of the hall spaces for various activities are placed three storeys high, with views of the hall and the outside area. Along the edge of the hall, the original Olympic sized running track has been preserved for crossfit, parkour, table tennis, running and games. The large glass façades in both ends of the hall connect activities under the roof with the outside.
A multifunctional sports hall architecture
With the transformation of the hall, the entire arena has become a significant landmark in the cityscape of Copenhagen. New vertical glass gables have been established to create views of the sporting activities inside. The windows bring in sunlight and ensure ample daylight for the voluminous inner space. The light and openness connects the inside and outside and the users get a sense of time passing during the day as the light shifts and they can experience how the seasons change the surroundings.
The openness of the sports hall architecture inspires athletes, audiences and visitors to explore new sporting activities as transparancy and concurrent pathways expose new activities all around the hall. In that way, the sports hall architecture supports an active sporting community that centres around an active lifestyle. The central club house, provides an epicentre for the community life the building. Apart from housing administrative functions, the club house also function as the central social space of the hall, clearly visible and easy to remember with it’s atypical shape and bright color. A café, locker rooms, facilities for the employees and meeting rooms for teaching students about sports and movement are all gathered in the clubhouse. From the two storey club house, pathways branch out into the various sporting facilities.
How the project addresses the Sustainable Development Goals
We’ve created the energy design of the building to reuse excess heat. With a system of zones organizing heated, semi-heated and non-heated areas in a manner that ensure excess heat is reused we minimize energy consumption. Thus, we reuse heat from heated areas in semi-heated areas and exess heat from these areas go into non-heated areas.
In the project we have worked with issues related to the Sustainable Development Goals. However, the project was not designed to address the global goals, as it was created before the goals were adopted by the UN. We have worked with issues related to: SDG 3: Health and well-being, SDG 4: Quality education, SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy, SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth and SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals.
- Client
- Copenhagen Municipality
- Area
- 10.000 m²
- Year
- 2017
- Location
- Copenhagen, DK
- Collaborators
- Rambøll
- Images
- Mads Frederik Architectural Photos, Christensen & Co. Architects