The homegrown regeneration of a once-neglected industrial area on the edge of Kent, England is underway after Hollaway Studio revealed plans for a dynamic new “layered” public skatepark called F51. 

Billed as a full-tilt “adrenaline building,” the three-story structure includes a boxing gym and rock climbing wall in addition to the skateparks and was commissioned by the local Roger De Haan Charitable Trust to provide area youths with the “freedom and the opportunity to push both physical and mental boundaries within a safe space away from screens.”

Located in the heart of the seaside community’s Creative Quarter, Hollaway’s collaboration with renowned skatepark designers Maverick will replace an existing facility with a new tiered experience that allows users to utilize the space in a top-down way that increases in intensity as their skills and abilities build.

The mostly windowless curvilinear structure rises out of the surrounding urban landscape to give way to an interior defined by intricate geometries and an uneven distribution of skating surfaces which unravel to play mind games on the user. 

The giant undulating “bowl floor” dominates the combined spaces of all three levels, which are rendered in spray concrete and mass timber to provide both durability and the flexibility to adapt to rising trends in skateboarding. The studio is no stranger to ultra-cool projects but nevertheless sees the skatepark as an architectural dream project that will instantly serve as a font of change in the community it also calls home upon opening on April 4th. 

“It’s an incredible building. It’s extremely complicated in terms of its construction because it's a world first. It’s the world’s first [purpose-built] multi-story skatepark. We’re going to have skaters skating above your head, and you’ll be able to hear the wheels of the skateboard going into the bowl right above you,” founder Guy Hollaway explained. 

“How often does somebody come along in your career as an architect and say ‘Build me the world’s first multi-story skatepark’? It doesn't happen so much. So I understand the opportunity and the responsibility that comes with that and the opportunity to really make positive long-term change.”