Halmtorvet sports facility

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Halmtorvet is a neighborhood in west-central Copenhagen which includes the Hvidkødby, or White Meat Market. The neighborhood was formerly seedy, but thanks to the redevelopment going on at the market, the area has become a hotspot for young people to live. In a pedestrian boulevard between two lanes of bike and car traffic sits a half-court for basketball.

The Halmtorvet sports facility is a full basketball facility which also serves as a community center for the neighborhood. The design attempts to overcome the problems inherent in the extremely small site and avoid interrupting the path of pedestrians down the boulevard. The ground plane splits into two, one sunken into the earth and one raised above it.

A pedestrian walking down the boulevard can walk up a ramp to a grassy public space, where he can dangle his feet down and watch the game through the chainlink fence. Or he can walk down into the “underground street”, whose translucent concrete walls and luminescent signage create the effect of a glowing cave.

The basketball court is the focus of the facility, in a space that rises above the rest of the building. Where a row of trees was interrupted to make room for the court, large columns are topped with tree-like space frames to support the translucent roof, casting intriguing shadows onto the ceiling. Because the court is sunken partially into the ground, the overall height of the building is lessened and it becomes more a part of the urban landscape.