CREATING A UNIQUE ECOSYSTEM
The Sports Hub is a key project in the Singapore Government’s urban redevelopment and sports facilities masterplan ‘Vision 2030’ which aims to promote a more sustainable, healthy and active society at all levels of participation nation-wide. Designed for long-term legacy usage from the beginning, the Sports Hub sets a new standard for adaptability and social integration. By providing premier venues for major sports events and inviting inclusive public destination spaces, the Sports Hub is an elite, world-class sports destination that encourages everyday public participation.
MASTER PLAN
Building on this vision, the Sports Hub precinct master plan was designed in close collaboration between DP Architects, Arup and AECOM in order to make the very most of the site’s strategic location and to create a new landmark destination in terms of space, form and quality of experience. The extensive walkable precinct at Sports Hub links directly to local pedestrian and cycling networks and to Singapore’s island-wide park connector system. This provides excellent connectivity to the wider city centre waterfront to Gardens by the Bay and to surrounding residential areas.
The precinct master plan creates a sequence of connected public spaces that are scaled for both every day and major event modes and provide a high quality of experience. Easy access to the Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) system and other transport options are carefully considered in relation to crowd safety and management during major events. The public spaces are clearly separated from Sports Hub’s demanding servicing requirements, accessed from adjacent expressways and surrounding road network.
Around the Sports Hub’s public spaces, from the waterfront and MRT connections to the raised level ‘sports promenade’, a diverse and intense mix of sporting, community and leisure uses unfold, providing many options for both athletes and spectators alike. The precinct is unified by a consistent philosophy and design approach to landscape, shade, shelter and lighting, providing levels of comfort and quality of experience appropriate to Singapore’s tropical climate and public expectations. Individual buildings and spaces are considered together as a whole. This involves integrating a revitalised Singapore Indoor Stadium and enabling intuitive and seamless interaction between both front and back of house.
At an urban scale, an iconic new identity and place is established through the creation of powerful relationships between the great new public spaces of the Sports Hub precinct, the famous Singapore Central Business District skyline and the surrounding urban fabric.
NATIONAL STADIUM
At the heart of Sports Hub is the new National Stadium, a state-of-the-art 55,000 seat sports venue, air-cooled for comfort and designed with a movable roof and retractable seating to support a wide range of sports and leisure events throughout the year. It is the first stadium in the world custom-designed to host athletics, football, rugby and cricket all in one venue, converting from one mode to another within 48 hours.
The dome form was primarily driven by the need to provide cover from the sun and the rain to spectators both inside and outside the stadium. The covered space created presented an opportunity for the dome to become the unifying protective canopy that connects all parts of the Sports Hub masterplan, through an open public ‘Sports Promenade’.
As a new cultural icon, the design of the stadium is focused on creating a close relationship with the city by opening the interior seating bowl and roof towards the waterfront and city skyline. This provides spectators with breath-taking views to the heart of the city. This is also especially meaningful for the nation’s annual spectacle, the National Day Parade. In form and massing, the National Stadium creates a distinctive silhouette and an identity for Singapore Sports Hub, complementing the nearby Singapore Indoor Stadium.
In addition, the central National Stadium is further complemented by two other key sports facilities – the OCBC Aquatic Centre and OCBC Arena. These mid-scale venues are designed to achieve maximum flexibility, enabling them to serve both the exacting standards of a world-championship sporting events as well as a diverse everyday leisure focused sports programme. The architectural design of the three main sports venues – the National Stadium, OCBC Aquatic Centre and OCBC Arena – is led by Arup Associates.
BRIDGING COMMUNITY, SPORTS AND LEISURE
THE SOCIAL PLINTH
A distinctive plinth architecture emerges and embraces the National Stadium, incorporating the OCBC Aquatic Centre and OCBC Arena as well as the existing Singapore Indoor Stadium. This contiguous podium provides a rich mix of non-elite sports programmes and uses, unifying all community sports, lifestyle and civic facilities into a dynamic whole.
The plinth consists of a waterfront 41,000sqm-retail space – Kallang Wave Mall – that provides attractive shopping and dining experiences for visitors; the 18,000 sqm of office space – home to Sports SG and local Sports associations; the Singapore Sports Museum and Sports Hub Library, purposeful sports-themed destinations for the public; as well as the Splash-n-Surf waterpark and Water Sports Centre that provide water-based elite training and leisure activities. This collection of amenities with almost 2km of human-scaled built form and landscape, is organised within the Social Plinth to serve as a counterpoint to the monumental stadium. The array of distinctive fine-grain, warm-hued, lattice-like architectural expression also creates an interesting dialogue of shade, light and tectonics, with the materiality of the sports venues.
Bridging community sports and leisure, this community-based plinth further injects life and vibrancy through synergising the various indoor facilities with purpose-designed event plazas across the precinct, such as the scenic Stadium Riverside Walk and OCBC Square.
SEAMLESS INTEGRATION OF SPORTS AND PLACE
SPORTS PROMENADE
At the highest open public level, exemplifying the integration of sport and public space is the ‘Sports Promenade’. This inspirational civic space links the National Stadium to various key sports venues, lifestyle destinations, public rooftop spaces and green spaces within the Sports Hub, offering stunning views out to the city and the surrounding waterfront. Principally designed to provide rain and sun- protection to spectators around the stadium, the design of ‘Sports Promenade’ is developed to realise the potential of this 1km connector space for everyday use, providing a fully accessible exercise area with a jogging track and fitness centres.
GREEN PHILOSOPHY
CREATING A TRULY SUSTAINABLE AND INNOVATIVE PRECINCT
Sports Hub extensively integrates landscape, water systems and planting, creating a natural setting and high-quality public waterfront environment. At the heart of the Sports Hub design philosophy, the major public and landscape realms at the Waterfront Promenade and Arrival Plazas extend and enhance the city’s accessibility and green ambience. For comfort, character and further extending this holistic approach, sky terraces are incorporated with planting and vertical greenery at the edge of the internal concourse areas, creating a unique and tropical experience.
Beyond maximising greenery and passive cooling measures, innovative engineering solutions are integrated in the design to minimise use of natural resources. The bowl cooling of the stadium achieves a 60% reduction in energy use when compared to a conventional ‘cooled stadium’. The energy used is offset by energy harnessed from renewable energy sources – making this a ‘zero carbon’ cooled stadium. Economy of means is a key characteristic of the main dome structure itself which uses one third of the steel weight per square metre when compared to other large span structures of this scale. In recognition of these achievements, Sports Hub was awarded BCA Green Mark GoldPlus, an outstanding result for a major stadium and multi-sports facility.
Photo Credits
Images 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10: DP Architects Pte Ltd
Images 4, 5, 6: Darren Soh, Arup
Images 7: AECOM
2008
2014
Project: Singapore Sports Hub
Address: 1 Stadium Drive, Singapore 397629
Name of Client: Sportshub Pte Ltd
Site Area: 346,850 sqm
Proposed Area: 274,115 sqm
SINGAPORE SPORTS HUB DESIGN TEAM
Arup + DP Architects + AECOM
MASTERPLAN
DP Architects + Arup + AECOM
ARCHITECTURE
Sports Venues
Arup Associates + DP Architects
Retail, Leisure, Office, Museum, Library
DP Architects
ENGINEERING
Arup
M&E
Arup + Squire Mech
LANDSCAPE
AECOM
