KLE University’s sports arena is built into the Land, facing City
ThirdSpace Architecture Studio has completed the Indoor Sports Arena at KLE Technological University in India, designed to address both institutional and urban conditions through a spatially responsive architectural strategy. The building is situated at the intersection of a major arterial road and one of the last green areas within the 100-acre campus. This site, defined by its dual context, city and campus, informed the design’s guiding principle: to reconcile landscape integration with civic visibility. The sports arena occupies a residual site with a natural topographic gradient; the road lies approximately four meters below the campus terrain. This condition enabled a sectional approach where the building partially sinks into the ground, maintaining landscape continuity across the site while presenting a more prominent profile towards the city. The resulting mass is simultaneously embedded within the campus and projected outward to the urban edge.
The internal program is anchored by basketball and badminton courts, requiring uninterrupted spans and significant vertical clearance. These spaces form the core of the structure and are flanked by ancillary functions including changing rooms, storage, and spectator galleries. Designed to accommodate 1,300 spectators, the central court can also be converted into a convocation hall with a capacity of 3,500, allowing for programmatic flexibility. A pyramidal steel roof spans the primary courts, while peripheral volumes are designed as green roofscapes. These landscaped surfaces visually and functionally integrate the building into its context, offering informal gathering areas and continuity with the existing topography.
all images courtesy of ThirdSpace Architecture Studio
ThirdSpace Rethinks Sports center design with porous arena
Access to the arena is organized through three main entry points from the east, west, and north, which respond to site contours and tree canopies. These entrances are designed as open plazas, functioning as extensions of campus life and public activity. They serve not only as circulation nodes but also as spaces of informal interaction. The arena operates at multiple scales. Internally, it serves as a dedicated facility for indoor sports. Externally, it reads as a continuation of the campus landscape while simultaneously asserting a clear visual identity when viewed from the city. Zinc cladding and glass panels define the upper structure, offering reflectivity and material articulation. A recessed red soffit at the western corner introduces a shaded, porous threshold between interior and exterior conditions.
ThirdSpace Architecture Studio’s design team selectively uses color throughout the interior to mark transitions and create moments of spatial contrast. These interventions support wayfinding and enhance the building’s visual legibility without disrupting its overall material consistency. Rather than isolating the sports functions, the building is designed as a porous civic structure. Landscape elements, such as gardens, walkways, and open plazas, are integral to its spatial composition, blurring the boundary between built form and terrain. The Indoor Sports Arena does not present a singular visual narrative but instead balances visibility and integration, mass and lightness, enclosure and openness. Through these calibrated gestures, the project offers a spatial response to institutional needs, site-specific constraints, becoming more than a sports facility.
project info:
name: Figured Ground
architect: ThirdSpace Architecture Studio
location: Karnataka, India
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edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom
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