Eight tennis courts on top of each other. Playscraper is the name of the new, ground-breaking project designed by CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota in collaboration with RCS Sport, the sport and media branch of the leading European multimedia publishing group RCS MediaGroup.
The design is made possible by an innovative construction technology based on a lightweight stainless-steel sandwich structure, developed by the company Broad Sustainable Building (BSB).
The 90-meter (300-foot) high Tennis Tower consists of eight courts, totaling 5,500 square meters (60,000 square feet) of playing space: the courts are layered vertically rather than horizontally, using BSB’s B-Core slab structure, a solution inspired by the outer shell of a spacecraft.
Playscraper contains eight sandwich structures piled on top of the other, each containing a stand-alone tennis court: the narrow sides of each “box” feature transparent walls offering panoramic views, while the two long sides incorporate an electronic facade that can stream sports matches and other digital content.
In this way, the tower’s unique design engages not just the players on the court, but those in the surrounding area who can view the action on its wide screens.
“This project would not just create a new icon for sports lovers,” says architect and engineer Carlo Ratti, founder of CRA and director of the MIT Senseable City Lab. “It also experiments with a new type of public space, extending vertically instead of horizontally. The tower is easy to install and dismantle and can be easily moved. This flexible approach fits the circular nature of today’s sports competitions, which move from location to location throughout the year.”
With Playscraper CRA explores the use of unconventional materials in architecture again, after the newly-inaugurated MEET Digital Arts Center in Milan and waiting for VITAE, the innovative building block scheduled to open in 2022.
