Login
Registered users
The new complex provides sports facilities that reflect the reputation of the prestigious school
Eton College is one of the most famous and prestigious high schools in Great Britain. Founded over 500 years ago, its former students include diplomats, politicians, and members of the British royal family.
The school commissioned the new Eton College Sports & Aquatics Centre (ESAC) to offer students facilities on a par with the school’s impressive reputation. Hopkins Architects designed the new structure, creating a complex that is high-tech, sustainable, and in harmony with its setting.
The building stands in an area previously occupied by an outdoor swimming pool, the site’s rich landscaping having partly shielded the former facility. It’s built on three levels with two main volumes, both large and geometric, while the exterior walls alternate between large closed and glazed surfaces. Inside are a 25-meter swimming pool with diving boards and a disabled lifting platform, changing rooms, squash courts, relaxation spaces for athletes and spectators, fitness spaces, physiotherapy clinics, a dojo area, classrooms, offices, and a multifunctional gym for basketball, volleyball, badminton, cricket, and indoor soccer.
The exteriors are characterized by the use of brick, which comprises large areas of the façades and clearly demarcates the volumes. Large glazed areas, including full-height and ribbon windows, then open the façades and connect outside and inside. The mood of the interiors is set by the extensive use of timber, one of the most distinctive features of the project, used not only for the load-bearing structure, but also for finishes, floors, and custom-made furniture. As well as giving the rooms a warm, welcoming feel, timber was chosen for its sustainability (one of the project’s key goals) and physical-chemical qualities. The swimming pool is spanned by a large glulam structure, for example, an environmentally friendly material that resists corrosion from the high presence of chlorine in the area while offering excellent seismic performance.
>>> Also read about Schwaketenbad Kostanz, an aquatic paradise
Cutting-edge facilities make intelligent resource management possible while pursuing the project’s sustainability goals. The complex has the latest building management systems for the swimming pool, with fully LED indoor and outdoor lighting controllable via Bluetooth.
The center also incorporates two plant rooms, one in the basement and one on the roof, with cogeneration facilities and water storage tanks.
Location: Eton, Berkshire, UK
Architects and Interior Design: Hopkins Architects
Completion: 2021
Client: Eton College
Build up area: 3.668 m2
Main contractor: Graham Construction
Suppliers
Curtain Walling: Schüco
Drylining: Knauf
Photography by Airey Spaces, courtesy of Hopkins Architects
