Odenwaldschule Sports Hall

Peter Hubner

Located on a sloping site with many trees and strict conservation requirements, the sports hall is set into the hill, allowing the meadow to continue onto its roof.

A curved roof profile allows the ground to rise and fall, while being the optimum form to accommodate the trajectory of a ball. The changing rooms are located underneath the hall, with a narrow full-height foyer linking the levels and acting as a solar collector. Parts of the building in the ground are concrete, while those above are timber and glass. The roof deck is thick plywood covered by insulation, membrane and topsoil. The structure is glue-laminated timber, and has been left untreated to age naturally along with the rest of the timber construction. The large building impacts only slightly on the delicate site, and, despite its partial burial into the ground, maintains a warm and light feeling through its use of timber and glass.

Location:

Oberhambach, Germany