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Zero to Hero commended: Sportholder No.1 by Kashdan-Brown Architects

Words:
Will Jennings

Julian Kashdan-Brown proposes a new Colosseum where gladiatorial individual combat sports are surrounded by an amphitheatre of epic proportions

The proposition’s UFO-like form installed in the Oval gasholder.
The proposition’s UFO-like form installed in the Oval gasholder.

‘A new Colosseum above the London skyline,’ Julian Kashdan-Brown wrote in his application, describing a design in which ‘gladiatorial individual combat sports are surrounded by an amphitheatre of epic proportions’. 

It’s a grand and romantic proposition for a space in which table tennis is listed as a possible function – which one would hope resulted in fewer deaths than the average gladiatorial battle – though Kashdan-Brown’s multipurpose reimagining of a Victorian gasholder could also be used for sports with a more physical edge.
It was a versatile approach to design that impressed judge Mark Osikoya. ‘Judo and table tennis are always in a dull conference centre,’ he said, ‘but sports like these could be in such a dramatic setting.’

The 20m diameter central stage would be eminently suitable for a number of spectator sports.
The 20m diameter central stage would be eminently suitable for a number of spectator sports.

Repurposed spaces could lead to compromised experiences for athlete, audience or media, but in this instance, judge Soaad Stott felt the gasholder approach could work well, noting that it could easily be blacked out for television requirements. But drawing on her stadium experience, she suggested that the 12 sectors of banked seating, formed of cantilever composite timber trusses, would provide better sightlines if steeper.

The panel admired Kashdan-Brown’s reuse approach and, while his design was configured for a listed gasholder adjacent to Oval cricket ground, there was a conversation around a smaller, modular system that could be demounted and relocated to new locations. ‘Every city has gas cylinders,’ said Stott. ‘It could be so interesting if it could move.’

12 audience tiers are formed from composite timber trusses cantilevered forwards and back from the sides of CLT lift shafts. Cross trusses of increasing cantilever complete the fan-shape of each sector. Covered with SterlingOSB Zero, these sit beneath a PTFE canopy.
12 audience tiers are formed from composite timber trusses cantilevered forwards and back from the sides of CLT lift shafts. Cross trusses of increasing cantilever complete the fan-shape of each sector. Covered with SterlingOSB Zero, these sit beneath a PTFE canopy.

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