BIG, in collaboration with AKT, Tyréns and Transsolar are awarded first place in a design competition in Malmo, Sweden for a 100.000m2 first of its kind sports facility.

The World Village of Women Sports seeks to create a natural gathering place for the research, education and training in all areas connected to the development of women’s sports. Located in the centre of Malmo, the 100.000 m2 facility will create a regional landmark and new attraction for the area. The winning design was chosen among five submissions by a jury, comprised of the founder and main financier of the World Village of Women Sports, Kent Widding Persson, the co-founder and entrepreneur Maarten Hedlund, City of Malmo Architect,Ingemar Graahamn and Architects Mats Jacobson and Cecilia Hansson together with representatives from the City of Malmo.

“BIGs design places great emphasis on architecture tailored to women with an unconstrained atmosphere and a feeling of well-being." commented Mats Jacobson, Jury Member, WVOWS. "The architects see the WVOWS as a town within a town rather than just a sports complex. The decisive factor has been the holistic approach and the overall impression of the design – the ability to interact with the neighborhood and environment, and creating attractive housing and functions at the same time.”

Composed as a village rather than a sports complex the WVOWS combines individual buildings with a variety of uses with open spaces and public gardens. The sloping roofscapes and alternating building volumes provide the complex with the varying identity of a small village thus reducing its scale to the adjacent neighborhood. The interior streets animated through public functions resemble a medieval downtown, supporting all aspects of human life – generous living, work and intensive play.
Bjarke Ingels, Partner-In-Charge, BIG explains: "Considering the special requirements of women of all cultures and all ages, special attention has been given, to provide the sports village with a feeling of intimacy and well being often lacking in the more masculine industrial-style sports complexes that are more like factories for physical exercise, than temples for body and mind.”
The central hall is large enough to accommodate professional football matches as well as concerts, conferences, exhibitions and flea markets. Rather than being an introverted sports arena shut off from the surrounding city – it appears like an open and welcoming public space, visible from all of the surrounding streets – generously offering its interior life to the passers-by. The pedestrian network around the main sports hall plugs into the surrounding street networks as well as the interior galleries of Kronprinsen, turning it into a complete ecosystem of urban life.

Ingels adds: “The WVOWS fuses high levels of ambition within public space and private accommodation, living and working, health and recreation, sport and culture. Like a village rather than sports complex it merges the modern utopianism of the neighboring Kronprinsen with the intimate scale and specificity of the nearby historical city center of Malmo."
Project Leader Nanna Gyldholm Moller of BIG described the vocation of the project. “From the main football field at its heart, to the gyms and auditoria, from the handball halls of the university to the laboratories of the health facility, it is an entire village committed to sport.”

Project details and credits :

Project: WVOWS
Type: Invited Competition
Client: H-Hagen Fastighets AB
Collaborators: AKT, Tyréns, Transsolar
Size: 100.000 M2
Location: Malmo, Sweden
Status: 1st Prize

Partner-in-Charge: Bjarke Ingels
Project Leader: Nanna Gyldholm Moller
Team: Gabrielle Nadeau, Daniel Sundlin, Jonas Barre, Nicklas Antoni Rasch, Jin Kyung Park, Fan Zhang, Steve Huang, Flavien Menu, Ken Aoki

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