It’s a well acknowledged fact that sport plays a fundamental role for social cohesion. The following project upholds a vision for a sports center in a deprived area of Dhaka City. The proposed facility runs program for individuals of all ages and reaches. It will also serve as a central sporting hub for the surrounding schools.

Design and planning of citizen’s recreational facility in a high density urban environment poses a very special challenge. In order to achieve a balance between needs and resources, efficient use of the available land is often argued as a viable strategy.  The following exercise explores the potentials of this strategic approach to develop a design proposal for a vertical Sports Complex in the context of Dhaka-one of the densely populated cities in the world.

Gulshan, Banani, Badda, Niketan, Boshundhara are the core residential areas in North Dhaka. Although this half of Dhaka comprises the recent development, but it severely lacks the essential public amenities. However, the regeneration of Hatir Jheel has created opportunities to cater the need of citizen’s long awaited recreational facility. The project site is located along the Hatir- Jheel and firmly connected with the community and the city by a system of road networks and public transports.   Hatir-Jheel – the largest watershed in the city – is a popular destination place for the citizen. So it is expected that the proposed sports center will complement with the genre of  place.

The main concern of this project is to promote sport as a means of social cohesion and youth development. Sports center has the potential to serve as a focal point of citizen engagement, pride and achievement. The diversity of sports and sporting activities makes it an ideal medium to reach men and women from every age group and socio economic background. The complex is envisioned to provide a variety of enjoyable leisure opportunities including indoor and outdoor sports facilities. In addition to that it will create opportunities to find out the new talents in sports through its academic and training program.

Every sport requires its own type of playground, so it is obvious to ensure proper grouping of them. In the heart of the complex, there is an open ground large enough to host annual sports program of the local schools in surrounding area. Indoor functions are stacked vertically leaving the ground free.  The ground can be also used for fair and festivals and thus flexible enough to serve as an extension of existing public realm of Hatir Jheel.  Central arena in the built structure is a triple height, lofty space where people can enjoy indoor sports on a large scale. The impact of the large volume of the superstructure has been reduced through perforation and slanted roofline.

| Image Gallery |

CONTEXT Contributor : Arup Nag , student , Dept of Architecture , Khulna University Architecture Discipline