Design Daily
  • Home
  • Projects
    • Commercial
      • Bank
      • Distribution Centre
      • Exhibition Centre
      • Office
      • Trade Show
      • Pop-up
      • Shop/Store
      • Shopping Centre/Mall
      • Showroom
      • Supermarket
    • Cultural
      • Gallery
      • Concert Hall
      • Cultural Centre
      • Exhibition
      • Memorial
      • Museum
      • Pavilion
      • Sculpture
      • Hall/Theater
      • Observation Tower
    • Educational
      • Auditorium
      • Library
      • Nursery
      • Primary School
      • High School
      • University
      • Workshop
    • Government + Health
      • Aging Facility
      • Care Home
      • City Hall
      • Community Centre
      • Consulate/Embassy
      • Courthouse
      • Fire Station
      • Hospital
      • Medical Facility
      • Military Building
      • Palace
      • Parliament
      • Police Station
      • Post Office
      • Prison
    • Industrial
      • Factory
      • Farm
      • Laboratory
      • Mill
      • Power Plant
      • Pump Station
      • Research Facility
      • Warehouse
      • Winery
    • Landscape + Urbanism
      • City
      • Coast
      • Commercial Landscape
      • Heritage
      • Individual Building
      • Masterplan
      • Residential Landscape
      • Park/Garden
      • Rural/Village
      • Townscape
      • Transport
      • Urban Green Space
      • Urban Planning/Regional
      • Waterway/Wetland
    • Recreational + Hospitality
      • Amusement Park
      • Bar/Nightclub
      • Casino
      • Cinema
      • Hotel
      • Information Centre
      • Golf Course
      • Movie Theater
      • Park
      • Playground
      • Restaurant
      • Skatepark
      • Sports Centre
      • Stadium
      • Swimming Pool
      • Theme Park
      • Visitor Center
      • Wellness/Spa
      • Yacht
      • Zoo/Aquarium
    • Refurbishment
      • Adaptive Reuse
      • Restoration
      • Renovation
      • Extension
    • Religious
      • Cathedral
      • Cemetery
      • Chapel
      • Church
      • Crematorium
      • Memorial Space
      • Monastery
      • Mosque
      • Synagogue
      • Temple
    • Residential
      • Apartment
      • Multi Unit Housing
      • Private House
      • Senior Housing
      • Student Housing
    • Transport + Infrustructure
      • Airport
      • Aquaduct
      • Bicycle Stand
      • Boathouse
      • Bridge
      • Bridge Control Building
      • Bus Station
      • Car Park
      • Hanger
      • Highway
      • Marina and Port
      • Parking
      • Passenger Terminal
      • Promenade
      • Sound Barrier
      • Subway Station
      • Train Station
      • Tram Stop
      • Tunnel
      • Watch Tower
  • News
  • Collections
  • Competitions
  • Events
  • Interviews
  • About
  • Contact
  • User Center
  • Submit
  • English ▾
    ar العربيةzh-CN 中文nl Nederlandsen Englishfr Françaisde Deutschit Italianopt Portuguêsru Русскийes Español
  • Project of the Year
Design Daily
  • Home
  • Projects
    • Commercial
      • Bank
      • Distribution Centre
      • Exhibition Centre
      • Office
      • Trade Show
      • Pop-up
      • Shop/Store
      • Shopping Centre/Mall
      • Showroom
      • Supermarket
    • Cultural
      • Gallery
      • Concert Hall
      • Cultural Centre
      • Exhibition
      • Memorial
      • Museum
      • Pavilion
      • Sculpture
      • Hall/Theater
      • Observation Tower
    • Educational
      • Auditorium
      • Library
      • Nursery
      • Primary School
      • High School
      • University
      • Workshop
    • Government + Health
      • Aging Facility
      • Care Home
      • City Hall
      • Community Centre
      • Consulate/Embassy
      • Courthouse
      • Fire Station
      • Hospital
      • Medical Facility
      • Military Building
      • Palace
      • Parliament
      • Police Station
      • Post Office
      • Prison
    • Industrial
      • Factory
      • Farm
      • Laboratory
      • Mill
      • Power Plant
      • Pump Station
      • Research Facility
      • Warehouse
      • Winery
    • Landscape + Urbanism
      • City
      • Coast
      • Commercial Landscape
      • Heritage
      • Individual Building
      • Masterplan
      • Residential Landscape
      • Park/Garden
      • Rural/Village
      • Townscape
      • Transport
      • Urban Green Space
      • Urban Planning/Regional
      • Waterway/Wetland
    • Recreational + Hospitality
      • Amusement Park
      • Bar/Nightclub
      • Casino
      • Cinema
      • Hotel
      • Information Centre
      • Golf Course
      • Movie Theater
      • Park
      • Playground
      • Restaurant
      • Skatepark
      • Sports Centre
      • Stadium
      • Swimming Pool
      • Theme Park
      • Visitor Center
      • Wellness/Spa
      • Yacht
      • Zoo/Aquarium
    • Refurbishment
      • Adaptive Reuse
      • Restoration
      • Renovation
      • Extension
    • Religious
      • Cathedral
      • Cemetery
      • Chapel
      • Church
      • Crematorium
      • Memorial Space
      • Monastery
      • Mosque
      • Synagogue
      • Temple
    • Residential
      • Apartment
      • Multi Unit Housing
      • Private House
      • Senior Housing
      • Student Housing
    • Transport + Infrustructure
      • Airport
      • Aquaduct
      • Bicycle Stand
      • Boathouse
      • Bridge
      • Bridge Control Building
      • Bus Station
      • Car Park
      • Hanger
      • Highway
      • Marina and Port
      • Parking
      • Passenger Terminal
      • Promenade
      • Sound Barrier
      • Subway Station
      • Train Station
      • Tram Stop
      • Tunnel
      • Watch Tower
  • News
  • Collections
  • Competitions
  • Events
  • Interviews
  • About
  • Contact

La Trobe University Sports Park

  • Project Type: Recreational+Hospitality, Sports Centre
  • Designer: Warren and Mahoney
  • Location: Australia, Melbourne
  • Year: 2020
  • Size: 6,000 sqm
  • Photo Credits: Derek Stalwell

Our ‘hubbing’ strategy combines key functions into a single vibrant centre, delivering significant efficiencies and bringing diverse users together. La Trobe University Sports Park at La Trobe University, Melbourne, has been designed as the first purpose-built facility of its kind in Australia. The sprawling site integrates academic research and teaching functions with world-class playing facilities for professional, state, and community clubs. We were awarded the project following a competitive tender. A high-level masterplan had already been drawn up, situating buildings in multiple locations across an enormous site. Among the first things we did was to interrogate this plan with clients and stakeholders through extensive consultation and user group workshops.

 

 

Based on these findings, we then developed a very different masterplan. Our new design was built around a ‘hubbing’ strategy that co-located high-performance sports science facilities, teaching and research spaces, and indoor playing facilities in one main building. This resulted in a reduced building from across the site and significant efficiency gains from shared operations and services. Crucially, it also transformed the Sports Park into a place with a busy, energetic heart. More than just an academic centre, Sports Park is a community destination that is active day and night, weekdays and weekends.

 

 

The key concept was to concentrate maximum activity into a single centre of gravity that would naturally draw a broad range of participants. Students, athletes, academics, sports administrators, and community club members come together, concentrating their energy, talent and experience in one vibrant hub. At the heart of the design is the transparent teaching ‘bar’ that lies between the indoor and outdoor playing areas, opening out both sides and creating a learning zone that links codes and functions.

 

 

State-of-the-art sports science technology, including advanced physiology and biomechanics labs, is integrated seamlessly into the design. The outdoor football fields flow right into the building, with oversize doors that allow athletes on movement analysis force plates to kick balls right out of the building. By making elite sport visible and accessible, and encouraging recreational participation, the central hub encourages the natural collisions and cross-pollination that bring about discovery and inspiration.

 

 

The hub is situated as close as possible to the main university campus, with visual and physical connections to maximise accessibility and engagement. Its forecourt is aligned with the main public transport interchange, the arrival point for most students, and links directly to the Agora, the social heart of the campus. The masterplan allows for the expansion of facilities and sporting codes over time.

 

 

The plan is designed to limit disruption and future capital expenses and to ensure that additions can be efficiently integrated with the current facilities. Workspaces have been designed with deliberate overcapacity to open up potential sub-leasing opportunities in the future. The project benefited from association with our Toronto-based colleagues MJMA, the international sports architecture specialists we invited to collaborate on the design and master planning.

 

Project Gallery

Share
Facebook Twitter Pinterest

Newsletter

Follow us

Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest Linkedin Flickr Tumblr



POPULAR POSTS

  • Canterbury House by Murray Legge Architecture

  • A Saramaga by DC.AD

  • Athens Stables by Ryan Street Architects

  • Fluid Home by Alessandro Isola

  • SNVT by Atelierzero

Recent Posts

  • Casa AF by Zegnea Grupo

  • A Tour of 320 Pitt Street’s Sydney Office

  • BCN326 – Provença by E32 Studios

  • Casa NM by Zegnea Grupo

  • Casa Mika by ASP Arquitectura Sergio Portillo

  • Athens Stables by Ryan Street Architects




Subscribe Newsletter

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Linkedin
  • Flickr
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • RSS
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Advertising
  • Contact

Design Daily © 2010 - 2021
Images are copyrighted to each entity/photographer mentioned or the original owner.
If you believe that content on the Design Daily site infringes a copyright, please send us a notice by mail.