Press Release: Berry Sports Hall wins World Architecture Festival Award in Barcelona

6.11.09

A magical indoor sports hall inspired by the endless Australian sky has won the prestigious World Architecture Festival Awards announced today in Barcelona.

The A$1.3 million Berry Sports Hall, designed by Allen Jack+Cottier (AJ+C), beat the world renowned Wimbledon Centre Court Redevelopment and the Atlantic Health Jets Training Facility to take the sports category award.

Set on 60 hectares of rolling countryside in Berry, the site was originally an experimental dairy farm and has made way for a fun and innovative multipurpose hall for basketball, netball, rock climbing, dance and theatre.

Reminiscent of a modern farm shed, the building comprises two long sides of precast concrete panels, each pierced by 500 shards of glass in amoeba-like windows, allowing natural light to flood the halls in the day and interior lights to shine through at night, illuminating the building and making it “disappear” into the night sky.

The structure reflects this year’s festival theme “Less does more”, and shows how innovative and cost effective design can transform the architectural landscape, marrying the realities of environmental and economic necessity.

The building also features environmentally sustainable design (ESD), with a dozen wind turbines combining with panels of louvers to create a natural ventilation system which cools the structure in summer and creates an insulation blanket in winter. Roof water is tracked back from the 3.5 metre cantilevered composite roof via a steel beam to provide water for irrigation tanks.

The Festival was attended by over 2,000 architects and designers and attracted 800 shortlisted entrants from 63 countries around the world.

Berry Sports and Recreation Hall has also collected the Australian Institute of Architects (NSW) Public Architecture Award and the Blacket Award for Regional Architecture in 2008.