Project Green Gym
This project is a response to the challenge of designing a sports hall in Marineterrein, Amsterdam, with a strong emphasis on sustainability, biodiversity, and positive integration with the existing neighborhood. Our design goes beyond just housing sports activities — it aims to preserve life in all its forms, both human and non-human.
Concept and Site Integration
The central idea was to not take away from the green public space that already existed on the site. We asked ourselves: What if we could lift the green surface and slide the building underneath it? From this literal thought emerged a powerful architectural gesture — a sloped green entrance that transitions into an accessible green roof. This landscape remains open and usable to everyone, throughout the seasons. It invites people to walk, sit, play, or rest, while visually and physically blending into its surroundings.
Architecture and Function
The sports hall is organized to prioritize visibility and activity. As you approach the building, the sports field is the first thing you see, inviting community engagement and transparency. Above the sports hall sits a tribune, while directly below it — integrated with the slope — are the changing rooms, which are directly connected to the hall for functional ease.
Ecology, Atmosphere & A Place for Every Season
From its bamboo façade to its walkable green roof, every element of this gym is designed with life in mind — human, animal, and ecological. The building is wrapped in a renewable bamboo cladding, chosen not only for its natural appearance but also for its minimal environmental impact. Hidden within the façade are integrated birdhouses, carefully designed to support native bird species typical of the Marineterrein — house sparrows, starlings, and swallows. These details turn the gym into more than just a place for people — they make it a place for life.
The architecture itself becomes a layered landscape. Instead of placing a heavy footprint on the ground, the building tucks beneath a sloped hill, preserving the green surface as a living public space. This green roof isn’t just decorative — it’s accessible, usable, and always changing with the seasons.
In summer, you’ll find people laying in the sun. In winter, children glide down its slope in the snow. And even in the rain, the gentle incline welcomes locals walking their dogs. It’s a building you don’t just enter — you walk over it, rest on it, and play around it.
Whether it’s used for organized sports inside, spontaneous gatherings outside, or simply as a path through the neighborhood, the gym is designed to give more than it takes. It breathes with its environment, evolves with the weather, and remains a part of daily life — in every season.
Construction & Material Strategy
One of the most defining aspects of this design is its large-span sport hall — a space that demanded some structural thinking, especially in light of the project’s environmental ambitions. Instead of turning to mabye steel trusses, we made the conscious and sustainable choice to use large laminated timber beams (glulam) for the main structure of the hall.
These wooden beams not only perform excellently in large spans, but they also significantly reduce the building’s carbon footprint. Timber is a renewable resource, and in this case, it allowed us to combine structural efficiency, durability, and warm material expression in one move. The rhythm and repetition of the beams, clearly visible in the ceiling and structure, also give the interior a distinct architectural identity.
Handling Heavy Loads: A Living Roof
This building doesn’t simply feature a green roof — it supports an entire elevated landscape. The sloped green front is thick enough to grow not just grass, but even trees, allowing it to fully blend into the natural terrain and feel like a continuation of the park. The flat roof area behind it, while not suited for trees due to structural constraints, still supports a substantial layer of earth, making it ideal for bushes, low vegetation, and seasonal planting.
To carry this significant load, we reinforced the front section of the structure with steel beams and columns. These are completely integrated into the building and foundation, enabling the terrain to rest safely above without compromising the openness of the spaces below. The result is a roof that isn’t just green in appearance — it’s a living, usable landscape.
Hybrid Structural System
The main load-bearing walls are constructed with calcium silicate blocks, a smart choice for its excellent compressive strength, fire resistance, and thermal mass. However, to further strengthen the structure — especially around the openings and where load is concentrated — we introduced steel columns in between. This hybrid approach allows the structure to remain slim, efficient, and strong enough to bear the hill of dirt, and supports the long-term integrity of the building.
