ZSOMS SPORT HALL CRACOW
A sports school located on a cramped downtown plot needed a new hall. Instead of building a courtyard we decided to demolish an old small hall and build a new object in its place. The new hall defines the school's courtyard. At the same time, the new hall connects the old school with the existing swimming pool. Simple, basic materials - concrete, glass and wood - respond to a rational function.
This gesture is both strong and delicate.
Instead of the anticipated building of the courtyard we proposed a demolition of an old, too small room and accumulation over the years. The construction of a new hall in their place allows to keep and clearly enclose the courtyard, between the school, sports fields and street.
A strong rectangular solid, embedded in a living structure, is absorbed by it.
The facade is not a hard division of space, it reacts with the environment - the courtyard penetrates into the hall through high glazing, the wooden façade becomes a terrace, the playgrounds are climbing the elevation, the cloakroom roof becomes the audience of school competitions and gives you the chance to see inside the hall.
The game is continued inside. Hall, level layout and staircase with a new elevator they allow you to go to the pool from school and lead to its previously difficult-to-access floors.
The movement is complemented by a game of glances. From the floor of the hall you can see the water of the pool and the movement in the gym on the first floor, the climbing wall looks at the auditorium of the hall.
The background is subdued to take on the school's colorful and spontaneous life. It is dominated by raw concrete walls and floors, light natural wood and steel. Carefully dosing color helps to connect spaces. Signs, boards, painted balustrade and selected walls, are directed to places, the dark blue floor of the hall flows towards the water in the swimming pool. Continuity is also preserved in the sphere of habits. In new spaces, a more convenient place for existing activities has been found. A large hall replaced a small one, training rooms from outbuildings moved to a new building, the fitness room can be darkened and become a school theater hall.
A new hall built into the existing structure- it has become a connecting tissue.
