Zero to Hero commended: Transformational venue by woo architects

There is a grand portrait of architect Aston Webb in the leather-walled room at the RIBA where the judges were meeting. As Woo Architects’ urban interjection was presented on screen, RIBAJ’s Jan-Carlos Kucharek looked up at Webb and wondered what he would have made of the circular multisport arena designed to nestle into his Admiralty Arch at the end of the Mall. Fellow judge Stephen Proctor enjoyed this formal juxtaposition and ‘diffusion of the colonial architecture’.

Design-wise, the arena is formed of 12 structural timber and board segments to form a seating ring. Various sporting components can be added to this key element as a kit of parts, allowing the circular form to offer a site for a variety of sports from archery to cycling. It was envisaged that a number of these venues could be used across the city, with Woo’s submission showing it deployed in four locations across the heart of London.

‘There is effort to progress what the Commonwealth represents,’ said judge Mark Osikoya of the approach to the setting, ‘and this could be a way of bringing those conversations to life – it is a colonial past not always addressed, but here it’s front and centre.’

See more on Zero to Hero

Introduction
This year’s judging process

Winner
Sport Climbing at Grant’s Quay Wharf by Alcove Architecture

Commended
London Skeet by Vectorprojects Kenya
Sportholder No.1 by Kashdan-Brown Architects

Longlisted
The Spike by Francesco Cuturi
The Downhill Mile by Craig Higgins
The Bykathon by Rob Pickering
Highland Stadium by Alex Jones