Pavilion For All

Location

Brent Cross

Client

Brent Cross Town

Year

2021

This design for a new sports and active play pavilion at the heart of Clitterhouse Playing Fields, a key part of the emerging Brent Cross Town, is designed to meet the highest environmental and whole-life carbon design criteria. The Pavilion for All will be the social centre of the playing fields, a welcoming hub of activity providing a meeting point and contributing to an unrivalled multi-sports and active play provision which will promote health and wellbeing and bring together people of all ages and backgrounds.

Our concept is inspired by the traditional park Bandstand, a common park architectural form that has stood the test of time due to its simplicity, flexibility, and adaptability. Our design takes this archetype and updates it to meet the challenges of the climate emergency, creating a new pavilion for Clitterhouse Playing Fields. A key feature of our proposal is a large outdoor decking area which will be an open, informal, flexible space for the entire community to meet and gather at any time, whether that be to meet the team before a big match, play a quiet game of chess, take a yoga class or go for a jog. The deck is broken up with a series of green courtyards to create a variety of spaces at different scales for different groups to meet. The deck is sheltered from the sun and rain by a lightweight timber canopy which is also used to harvest sunlight and rain to be used within the building.

Spaces within the building that require strict thermal control such as the café and sport facilities will be formed using rammed earth walls with cork insulation and heated with ground source heat pumps to achieve PassivHaus standards. The earth for the walls will be taken from the construction site and waste rubble will be used to form gabion cage foundations. The pavilion has been designed to bleed into the surrounding park. The landscape adjacent to the pavilion will use Sustainable Urban Drainage to reduce surface water flooding, improve water quality and enhance the biodiversity of the environment. This will be enhanced with native trees planted both inside and outside the pavilion creating a zone of natural habitat within the playing fields.

The soft landscaping continues into the pavilion with green courtyards letting natural light into the canopy and providing integrated seating while a landscaped roof terrace provides a unique rooftop garden for the cafe.