Sports facilities stand out from any environment due to their "isolation" and significant dimensions, and the Sports Block in Groningen is also located on a street with small-scale buildings, which would be particularly affected by such an "invasion".
So the architects placed the two gym building blocks on top of each other. This coordinated the height of the building with its neighbors, and also reduced the building area. The vacated area was used to create two small "squares" with a tree on each side of the street on the sides of the main volume of the building. Also for the main façade, a "contextual" material was chosen - the red brick characteristic of Groningen. At street level, the sports complex is equipped with a long bench - a friendly gesture towards pedestrians.
The undulating façade hides the glazing that provides indirect sunlight to the gyms: it could have done without the sun, but rooms without natural light, according to the architects, are harmful to the biorhythm.
The rear facade of the sports complex is sheathed with aluminum panels of different colors: the selected range echoes the color of the surrounding buildings.
