New Doha Tennis Stadium

PrizeBronze in Architectural Design / Recreational Architecture
Firm LocationLondon, United Kingdom
CompanyArup Associates
Lead ArchitectPaul Brislin
Design TeamDelivery Team: Nick Birmingham Lisa Mullan Elmar Rottkamp Abit Acharjee Alessandra Laiso Andrew Edge Andrew Wallace Ari Bar Hen ASli Genc Atilla Tasan Chris Dite Daniella Pomponio Fernando Ruiz Fuencisla Yague Giulio Pisciotto Ignavio Merrello Kei Iwamoto Ken Tagoe Laura Cox Maggie Zuniga Maja Belic Marco Bonanno Mark Simpson Michael Lin Minh Thai Niall Watters Paul Brislin Paul Thorpe Paz Horne Robinson Philip Egan Richard Willing Robin Fu Sieb Wichers Wojceich Klepacki Competition Team: Hans Brasser Luke Jarvis Nick Birmingham Pete Llewellyn Angelo Spampinato James Cheung
ClientMinistry of Culture and Sports, Qatar
Project Videohttp://

The New Doha Tennis Stadium (NDTS) is the central component of Khalifa Sports Park, an integrated, world class sport and leisure environment that combines sporting excellence and functional efficiency, captures the imagination of the world’s greatest tennis players, and creates a sustainable legacy that inspires Qatari players of all ages. The design of the NDTS is a fluid and dynamic response to the site, to local environmental conditions and to the functional requirements of a tennis focussed multipurpose stadium. The design is characterised by the simple, elegant expression of its two primary functional elements: the bowl, and the base. The pure form of the conical bowl balances gently on a ribbon of concourses and other accommodation at its base, which sweeps upwards from the surrounding earth to create a dramatic opening, focussed on the heart of the new tennis complex. Together, the two components form a memorable and yet completely functional sculptural shape that it is imbued with the fluid movement of a ball in flight. The simplicity and elegance of the two components creates a sense of timelessness in the design. The intention is to provide an enduring building that clearly expresses its tennis- focussed nature -- but which is unique. This is a building unlike any other tennis stadium in the world. Our aspiration is that this building will become a distinctive, universally recognised representation of Qatari tennis at the highest international level, located at the heart of an outstanding new sports precinct; itself an intrinsic part of Doha’s new world class public and cultural realms. Our aspiration too is that this venue and its surrounds will lift the spirit and inspire the highest levels of attainment, whether in the professional sportsman, or the youngster taking his or her first sporting steps.