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Milson Island Indoor Sports Hall

The floating steel canopy of the Milson Island Indoor Sports Hall is an inventive, poetic response to place with an inbuilt sense of fun.

Shaped by landscape The graceful curved roof of the hall is attuned perfectly to its island site on the Hawkesbury River.Reacting to prevailing winds, heating and cooling itself as required, separating leaves and branches, collecting and filtering rainwater, it is a shelter shaped by local conditions.

Elemental and exciting A narrow entrance, framed by two dark service pods, opens dramatically onto the light-filled hall. Once inside, continuous glazing beneath the floating roof provides playing children with a constant connection to the bush landscape.The proscenium arch makes a dramatic backdrop to the children’s theatre performances, both inside the hall and out by the campfire at night.

A distinctive design ethos The project is Michael Heenan’s follow up to his World Architecture Award-winning Berry Sports Hall, bearing the same hallmarks of playfulness, originality and sensitivity to site.

• Date
  2010
• client
  Sport and Recreation, Community’s NSW
• cost
  A$2.7 million
• GFA
  670 m²

• Awards
• 2013
  Silver Medal
  IOC/IAKS Award (Highest in the category)
• 2012
  National Australian Steel Institute (ASI) Awards
  Buildings - Small Projects category
• 2012
  Australian Steel Institute (ASI) Awards NSW & ACT Buildings
  Small Projects category
• 2012
  National Australian Institute of Architects (AIA)
  COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture
• 2011
  Timber Design Awards
  Commended: Interior Fitout Award - Commercial
• 2011
  Master Builders National Excellence in Building and Construction Awards
  National Commercial/Industrial Construction Award – under $5M
• 2011
  Australian Institute of Architects (AIA)
  Commendation for Public Building