Clubhouse for The AELTC Community Tennis Centre
to provide world class facilities for professional and community tennis players
“The All England Club is proud to open and showcase its enhanced facilities at the Community Tennis Centre, Raynes Park, providing visitors and members of the centre with exceptional sporting and community spaces that are accessible year-round. With 16 grass courts and a transformed Clubhouse that incorporates changing and medical treatment rooms, a café and a multi-use function room, the venue will continue to provide significant benefit to players who occupy these facilities during The Championships, as well as the thousands of community members who use the Community Tennis Centre throughout the year.”
Andrew Ambrose, General Manager of the Community Sports Centre at the All England Club
OUR AIM
To create an inclusive, sustainable portal to The AELTC Community Tennis Centre, welcoming professional tennis players for practice prior to, and during, The Championships, Wimbledon, as well as serving community players year round.
The Clubhouse contains the site reception, changing and recovery facilities, a café, staff areas and flexible studio space.
It also provides generous external viewing terraces, overlooking the courts.
OUR CONCEPT
The massing of the building has been designed to reduce the effect of overshadowing of the grass courts, stepped back to form terraces overlooking the courts.
The roof curves down to meet a continuous canopy that links a variety of flexible junior and community facilities with the main Clubhouse.
The form and materials promote a strong connection to the surrounding landscape.
THE DESIGN
A sustainable approach has been taken to construct the Clubhouse in simple, elegant and robust materials with low embodied energy. The materials include a glulam roof structure, weathered timber cladding, and a brick lower plinth with lime mortar.
The building has been carefully designed to minimise energy in operation through the use of natural ventilation, solar shading and exposed thermal mass internally to help regulate temperature.
A strong inside-outside relationship has driven the design, in harmony with the Wimbledon theme of tennis in an English Garden.
Clear circulation routes and carefully placed views out create a rational layout, easy to navigate. The use of natural light and a feeling of space also brings delight and freshness to the spaces.
The Clubhouse has been conceived to be flexible, with spaces able to adapt their function and intensity of use throughout the year to accommodate the busy period around The Championships, as well as the year round community access.
You can find out more about the site masterplan here.
You can find out more about the Maintenance Building on the same site here.
Location: Raynes Park, London Borough of Merton.
Area: 1780sqm
Client: The All England Lawn Tennis Club
Role: Architect and Interiors, Client Advisor
TEAM
Landscape Architect: Illman Young
Structural Engineer: Cundall
Mechanical Engineer: Cundall
Environment / Sustainability Consultant: Cundall
Acoustic Consultant: Hann Tucker
Fire Consultant: OFR
Cost: Turner & Townsend
Contractor: Beard
Photography: Jim Stephenson / Edward Bishop
