The design of a centre for water sports in Newlands, Cape Town

Abstract

This treatise focuses on the design of a Water Sports Centre in the sporting precinct of Newlands in Cape Town. The building is concerned with the redevelopment of an existing facility that is underutilised and outdated, compared to the 21st-century sporting arena. The purpose of this treatise is to investigate the processes and issues involved in the design of a Water Sports Centre that is located in a public park environment, and to better understand the contextual, spatial, physical, and theoretical influences on the nature of such a project’s architectural resolution. The process begins with an analysis of the two separate typologies, namely, water sports centres and sports stadiums, to better understand the spatial and physical nature of the combined building types. Various precedents are investigated of which the materiality and physical nature of the buildings are uncovered to identify an appropriate architectural language. Moreover, the spatial nature of these buildings are divided into categories of which the inter-relationships are analysed. The nature of the site is then investigated to identify and develop constraints and design informants. The site-defining elements are analysed individually, and a corresponding set of issues is established through the study of particular precedents. With an understanding of the physical and spatial attributes of the typology, combined with an appropriate response to the site, the design resolution for the Water Sports Centre in the Newlands sporting precinct is presented