• Tweet ^[1]
• Share on Tumblr ^[2]
• Email ^[3]

 

^{[4]  [5]}

Canadian firm RUFproject ^[6] worked in collaboration with the Nike Global Football Brand Design ^[7] to complete this striking Soweto Football Training Centre in South Africa over the course of just six months. The football facility ^[8] combines multiple fields, training and locker rooms, offices, a gym, a kitchen and more in a building encased in wooden louvers and sandstone. Even though they had such a short time to complete the facility, RUFproject still managed to throw in a lot of sustainable design strategies, including energy-efficient passive solar design.

  ^[5]

Image ©Julian Abrams

Due to the project’s tight turnaround time, RUFproject decided to forgo incorporating more complicated green strategies and instead focused on more basic principles, like sun shading ^[9], natural ventilation, and reduced energy loads. The rectangular, three-story building is constructed out of steel and features a double-walled air cavity covered with locally-sourced sandstone that acts as a rain screen. It is oriented to the east and west to take advantage of the northern solar aspect.

A locally-sourced South African timber louver structure suspended from the steel acts as a sun screen on the east, north and west facades, protecting the building from solar heat gain. The building is cantilevered over the edges of the two main fields, creating a shady area that keeps the the gym, kitchen and trial areas cool.

Image ©Julian Abrams

As the Johannesburg area is prone to power outages, RUFproject wanted to ensure that the building could weather the outages and still maintain relatively constant temperatures. An energy-efficient water-based cooling system with air circulation keeps most of the building within a reasonable temperature range, while offices make use of small AC units when it more cooling is necessary.

The building’s lighting systems make use of energy-efficient fixtures, like metal halide fluorescents and LEDs. A solar hot water system on the roof provides plenty of hot water for the athletes in the locker rooms. Additionally, approximately 30 tons of recycled rubber tires ^[10] were used to create the surface for the tunnel, gym and the cushioning and infill for the artificial turf fields.

+ RUFproject ^[6]

Via Dezeen ^[11]

Images ©Julian Abrams & Allan James Lipp courtesy of RUFproject