THE ARCHITECTURE OF SPORT

If we were to design a new museum to celebrate our nation’s sporting feats, where would we start, and how would it look? 

Sport is a dynamic, daring endeavour of ever-changing parameters, yet it often requires a cool calmness of being in control. 

For Kiwis, there is a strong history of achieving greatness beyond the odds, and often with a typically New Zealand modesty. Our sportspeople are a part of us all, and they are normally quite accessible to the public. 

So the design by Dalman Architects of the proposed National Sports Museum in Christchurch starts with a solid stone base, signifying how grounded our athletes are and representing the huge amount of training that is undertaken before the performance on the day. Sharp, dynamic forms explode upwards from this base like our elite sportspeople striving for peak performance. This dramatic exterior form would be mirrored inside, creating lively exhibition spaces that house our sporting stories and memorabilia. 

This is no passive building for static displays only. It would combine the latest technologies of virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and laser projection, all creating an exciting world of learning and adventure. 

Voluminous spaces would allow for interactive displays such as kicking rugby balls between posts, facing 200 kilometre per hour tennis serves, and slam-dunking basketball hoops like Steven Adams. 

The building’s exterior would reflect our main national colour, black, with a floating ‘silver fern’ entry canopy. A wide and generous entry and large windows linking the inside to the outside would open the building up to be highly accessible to Cantabrians, New Zealanders, and overseas visitors alike, providing a great boost to our tourism, and the strong and dynamic architectural form would be a positive addition to Christchurch’s ever growing collection of contemporary buildings. 

The design of the proposed National Sports Museum responds positively to the great sporting endeavours of our elite athletes across all sports, utilising bold forms enclosing vibrant spaces for the dynamic presentation of our sporting past and future.