Architecture: a running commentary

For a long time I regarded a pair of running shoes to be only thing that an athlete requires.  And of course socks, shorts and a polyester top of some description.  Then my mother informed me that it might actually be polite, and that I should, wash these garments.  So throw in a washing machine.  But essentially, the landscape is there, roads, hills, grass, trails.  Granted this is dependant on where one lives.  I’m fortunate enough to come from the countryside, where a grassy forest is 5 minutes round the corner.

But it was a tutor at university who encouraged me to expand my thinking.  Yes we don’t fundamentally need anything else, but what might we like, and how can the experience of exercise be heightened?  After all that’s what architecture is all about.  A flat and measured surface perhaps?  A room full of heavy iron weights to improve our static strength?  These facilities exist, they are called a track and a gym, and contrary to popular belief, they vary considerably.

There are some shocking examples out there.  My local track for example feature no protection from the wind, so the benefit of having a measured distance is instantly gone, and no protection from the chavs: they’ll play football on the adjacent grass and not unreasonably expect you to get their ball back when it goes over the fence.  There is the modest upside that in a post-maximal workout haze, you can stretch the imagination to pretend that the adjacent drab building is a beautiful modernist Le Corbusier library. 

Today, however, I had a brainwave and drove the extra 4 miles to the Loughborough HiPAC, the High Performance Athletics Centre at Loughborough University campus, and it was well worth it.  This place is designed, and I mean thought out.  A modest £4 got me not only the use of an indoor and outdoor track, a weights room, a extensive array of useful equipment and changing facilities, but the additional feeling of physical inadequacy; that my Type 1 muscles were vastly inferior to the giant GB sprinters who were also training there.  But it also afforded me the opportunity to experience a place that I’d have to call architecture. 

The 2012 Olympic Stadium which I look forward to running in (fingers crossed) in May features a continuous wind envelope boasting the minimalistic sustainability associated with running, with a high performance track installed to produce fast times and in my opinion is the perfect way to compete, or rather not compete with the Beijing Birds Nest.  The HiPAC on the other hand runs the length of the stout Loughborough Uni track straight without any unnecessary enclosure of space, and blends with existing tall surrounding trees forming a public/private perimeter, and complete shelter from the wind.  The site is well chosen, tacking advantage of the level change to produce a track which is recessed to compliment this shelter, but also allows for a 3-storey structure which is submissive to the surrounding architecture, even framing the 1937 Hazlerigg Building, which forms a focal point of the campus to the South.  Upon entering the HiPAC, one find themselves on a small mezzanine level, greeted with a wide open view of the primary indoor spaces, enclosed by a large glazed façade offering a view of the track, and achieving a sense of community, which – possibly by chance – also provides a reflective surface for one to self-analyse their gait and form while training.

 [Loughborough HiPAC, adjacent to the Athletics Pavilion]

[Inside the HiPAC from above]

While I feel that the use of some masonry to add character by better-relating to the adjacent heritage-rich athletics pavilion and other campus edifices, while providing a some thermal mass to absorb what I hear is massive summer solar heat gain, this is the first facility that I have experiences that actually speaks to the holistic needs of athletes, both through function and design. 

The country-wide absence of suitable facilities is well documented, and with David Cameron recently announcing that an additional £41m would be allocated to the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, thus shattering the concept of not trying to compete with Beijing, and indeed undermining possible investment in grass route sports.  Obviously the functionality of the HiPAC is designed for the elite, and would not realise its potential should it be used predominantly by the average person, nor do we need to many more of these facilities. 

At uni, I explored an alternative idea, and designed a retreat to educate and empower the everyday individual - in this era of growing obesity - in how to lead a healthy lifestyle, a societal need which is being continually neglected.  A fat camp if you will.  This, I feel, is far more beneficial than token gestures, such as the funky, but predominantly aesthetic sprint straight at the Evelyn Grace Academy by Zaha Hadid.  Saying that, through its sheer novelty this may ironically interest a few school children in athletics, which cannot be a bad thing.

 

[Urban Retreat : university project]

[Evelyn Grace Academy : Zaha Hadid]