Action Sports Facility

Located in Centennial Colorado this is a site-specific client design which looks at creating a first of its kind multifunction athletic facility which focuses on indoor “extreme” sports. The goal was to create a prototype that could be reconfigured and adapted to other locations. There are other extreme sports facilities in the world, but this project aspired to have a strong connection to the community by including elements like restaurants, food markets and an event space.

Design Challenge

The project was challenging because we were trying to seamlessly integrate a series of extreme sports into a single, relatively intimate structure. Each of the activities has unique physical and technical requirements, so it was imperative that we understand the technical nature of the machines and entertainment elements in order to organize them and the other programmatic pieces into a well-designed and inspiring building.

Physical Context

This first prototype sits on a 5.5 acre site neighboring a residential area and with views out to the Rockies. This design responds both formalistically and materialistically to the site and surroundings. The building was configured in a radial arrangement with a restaurant serving as the hub. This gave visitors the opportunity to see and engage in all the activates from one central spot. It allowed each of the arms of the radial design to have a different view, most of which were out to the front range. Finally, the configuration created a smaller scaled massing when viewed from the neighborhoods that surround the site, but with direct views into the unique activities housed within. Most iconic among these is the space associated with the indoor sky diving. Each of the arms had an outdoor space associated with it, that ranged in purpose from event lawns to farmers market spaces.