Italian design and innovation office Carlo Ratti Associati (CRA) unveils their latest concept design, a 300 ft tall (90 meter) tennis tower. In collaboration with Italo Rota, the project was developed for sport and media company RCS Sport. Besides its intent to house eight tennis courts, what makes the design intriguing is its structural design, which CRA shares, "a solution inspired by the outer shell of a spacecraft."
The stacked tennis courts are layered vertically using a lightweight stainless-steel sandwich structure. Its design approach aims to promote safe and efficient deployment practices thanks to its prefabricated construction.
CRA found Carlo Ratti shares in a statement, "This project would not just create a new icon for sports lovers, it also experiments with a new type of public space, extending vertically instead of horizontally. The tower is easy to install and dismantle and can be easily moved. This flexible approach fits the circular nature of today's sports competitions, moving from location to location throughout the year."
Enticing tennis fans worldwide, each of the eight structures will contain a stand-alone tennis court with transparent walls that provide panoramic views of the city. On its exterior, each stack's longer sides will include electronic facades that plan to stream digital content like sports matches. The design team explains that the tennis tower's overall look will engage with the players and those surrounding the structure.
From a design perspective, the tower explores a new take on the traditional horizontal tennis court layout. Each court isolated within its own "box" will aid in keeping players "in the game" by eliminating distractions from other players from surrounding courts. However, I'm curious as to how this design will satisfy spectators from watching play.
While the tower is still in its conceptual design phase, no official construction date has been announced.
7 Comments
Architects branded as "Innovators" always face the danger of running out of genuinely groundbreaking big ideas and turning to quick diagrams to keep up their media profile.
Are there enough rich people to support such ventures?
Yes. But, do enough of them play tennis?
This is an interesting concept, and the kind of visioning that architects are good at (and one of our primary functions that other fields have yet to yank away from us).
Some of the rationales are specious, though. 8 courts = 16 occupants; 32 if all doubles. (Not sure who all those terrace occupants are.) Cost-per-user would be astronomical.
The temporary, demountable aspect of the big, (mostly) empty boxes is intriguing. But what about vertical circulation and services-- factors more concentrated and needing stability and safety, meaning relative permanence?
It's easy to pick apart conceptual work, of course. But the big idea here is worth thinking about. And for concepts to become realities, sooner or later the bean-counters and nit-pickers must have their say.
Really? MIT pays his salary? I can only hope he printed this conceptual masterpiece on Bounty.
Skydivers for scale?
I'll repost my limerick:
A Ratti paisan, name of Carlo
stacked tennis courts up very far. Though
lose rackets and balls
took very steep falls,
he managed to still keep the bar low.
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.