Jurmala is a seaside resort of Riga, the Latvian capital. At a distance of approximately 20 km from the city centre the town stretches along the Baltic Sea in a costal stripe wooded with pines. A banker family commissioned the gmp practice in the mid 1990s to plan the comprehensive extension to the Villa Marta, accommodating amongst other things a guesthouse completed in 1999 and a tennis hall.
The guesthouse and tennis hall are orientated along the strict road grid and frame the old villa. With its restricted eaves height the building integrates into the scale of the surrounding country houses.
The hall as well as the other new buildings take reference from the traditional timber construction typical for the area, transferring this construction system into the present. The bizarre cable bracings of the load-bearing structure and the mono-pitch roofs of the skylights characterize the appearance of the building.
With reference to the surrounding roof profiles the roof surfaces of the tennis hall are inclined. The mono-pitch and hip roofs are clad with sheet zinc.
Identical to the guesthouse the tennis hall is also designed as a timber frame structure, with its façade being finished with a timber cladding from Siberian larch.
The load-bearing structure consists of columns, which are re-anchored with stay ropes to the foundation. These cantilever beams support a total of eleven truss girders.
The court is spanned with a shed roof structure, allowing the north light to enter the hall. The aubergine wall panelling from coated timber elements defines the interior atmosphere. The hall’s visible frame construction from light Siberian larch structures the space. Due to their elevated position a total of 90 seats along the longitudinal sides offer an optimal view onto the sunken court.
