Pärnu city center sports hall

Pärnu city center sports hall
Photo: Kaido Haagen
Pärnu city center sports hall
Photo: Kaido Haagen
Pärnu city center sports hall
Concept model
Pärnu city center sports hall
Concept diagram
Pärnu city center sports hall
Situation plan
Pärnu city center sports hall
Section and plan
Pärnu city center sports hall
Study model
Pärnu city center sports hall
Photo: Kaire Nõmm
Pärnu city center sports hall
Photo: Kaido Haagen
Pärnu city center sports hall
Photo: Andrus Kõresaar
Pärnu city center sports hall
Photo: Vahur Puik
Pärnu city center sports hall
Photo: Vahur Puik

This gymnasium is located in the courtyard of an existing school, in a park near the town centre of Pärnu. The structure accommodates a hall large enough for two basketball courts, service spaces and changing rooms, providing gymnasium facilities for three local schools.

 

The building has a strong visual relationship with the adjacent nineteenth-century schoolhouse, looking onto it through an almost entirely glazed north-facing facade over the geometric landscaping of the space between them. Although the gym and schoolhouse are comparable in size, the gym has a polygonal plan with rounded corners, while the schoolhouse’s plan reflects classical rectilinearity.

 

A curving wall of hand-made red brick on the outside – referencing the brick of the school building – and unfurnished concrete blockwork on the inside wraps the sides of the gym. A total of 365 gaps in the blockwork create a diagonal grid of small, glazed opening, allowing some daylight into the interior from every side, and at night resulting in a textile-like pattern of illuminated windows visible from the outside.

 


 

Location: Kuninga 29, Pärnu, Estonia

Client: Pärnu Town Goverment

Design: 2003-04

Built: 2005

Architects: Siiri Vallner, Katrin Koov, Kaire Nõmm, Heidi Urb

Structural engineer: Tiit Masso

Total floor area: 1502m2