Indoor Cricket Centre, Exeter

Client: University of Exeter
Area: 1,500 m²
Stage: Completed in May 2009
Building costs: £1.5m
Description: New Build

The indoor Cricket Centre is sited alongside the Indoor Tennis Centre also designed by us. The new facility is laid out following the same orthogonal principles as the remainder of the Indoor and Outdoor sports facilities within this part of the Campus. The principal route relating to the new facility is an indoor pedestrian link which connects it with the shared facilities located within the Taylor Pavilion and main Sports Hall. The floor layout of the new facility was generated in response to the use and flows patterns that it needed to accommodate.

The area comprises 4 practice nets to ECB standard. It is enclosed by a tensile netting system with a 1 metre safety zone. The general form of the development took its lead from that of the Tennis Centre so the two elements form an integrated overall architectural composition. The increased articulation of the elevational treatment and use of openings is reinforced by a change in the use of surface materials to a crisp grid of orthogonally arranged whitish panels penetrated by geometry of windows and other glazed areas.