Sports Centre Ballymun

Site Photos

Powerpoint Presentation

Research

We began with researching the Ballymun area, its history and the various regeneration plans that have been carried out, that are on-going and that are planned for future development. Our findings suggested that the area, and our site in particular, have great potential to become an important link with the city, its surrounding areas, and the airport to the north. By 2017, the Dublin Bike Scheme will have expanded to Ballymun, the Greenways Project will have reached nearby Santry Park, and the town centre will be the last Metro stop before the airport. We wanted to find a way of connecting the schools, sports pitches, parks and community facilities in each of the five neighbourhoods of Ballymun, and to further link them to wider context.

Network

We propose a cycling/running network which weaves in and out of the housing estates and past the various facilities and parks, connecting them and thus forming an infrastructure for the area. The network will have strategically placed nodes which correspond to the immediate surroundings, for example, sheltered lockers/seating area at the main entrance to Santry Park. We see our site as being the central node of the network as it is beside the main road and is easily accessible by car, bike, bus and Metro.

Site

Our site was originally the location of the boiler house which heated the entire area. Our infrastructure replaces this previous network but the existing 50m chimney remains as a beacon that can be seen from anywhere in Ballymun. To the north of the site is a community garden mainly looked after by the adjacent home for the elderly.

Program

Our proposed infrastructure houses the brief and also creates a public entrance space around the chimney. A 9m high atrium space acts as the central hub as is the main information and social space. A sunken café and adjacent garden links the underground Metro access to the atrium and the bowling pavilion/flexible space.

The café continues at ground floor level and flows in to the lobby space which acts as a general hang out/social area, and then into the entrance/reception point. Toilets, changing rooms, storage and then the sports hall are located to the right of the atrium space. At first floor there is the gym, more changing rooms and toilets and a gallery space for viewing the sports hall activities. A studio, meeting room, lecture theatre, Ballymun FM, ice bath room, sauna and steam room are in the steel pods hanging from the network structure.

A community room, studio, seating areas, bike storage/parking and a bike workshop are alongside the network. We wanted the circulation to be generous and free flowing to compliment the dynamic feel of our proposed infrastructure.

Structure/Material

The network is mainly at ground level and its surface will be blue asphalt which clearly defines itself and its priority over the road system. It ramps up at our central node and bridges over the main road. Here it becomes a portal framework system. The sports hall and bowling pavilion follow this rhythm of framework but are rotated 90 degrees. A solid/loadbearing intermediate zone (which houses the toilets and changing facilities) connects the sports hall framework with the network. The steel pods will be hung from the network frame system by steel cables as will the gym, the circulation ramps and staircases. The atrium and the west façade of the sports hall will be wrapped in a skin of polycarbonate panels. These panels will be solid, opaque or transparent depending on the function of the space behind them. The atrium is an inside/outside space where the threshold can be blurred during the summer but also protect the users from the harsher weather of other seasons.