Photo: Robin Fritzson
Photo: Robin Fritzson
Photo: Erik Wik
Photo: Robin Fritzson
international
Photo: Robin Fritzson
Södra Climate Arena, Växjö, Sweden Opened in 2012, the Södra Climate Arena in pioneering green city Växjö is the result of an international architectural competition arranged by Södra — the organisation of forestry owners in the south of Sweden — to design a low carbon timber building that would accommodate an elite tennis academy.
and scored a world-class airtightness test result of 0.13 air changes per hour.
The competition received 193 entries from 23 countries, and was won by Danish architect Kent Pedersen, who had previously trained as a carpenter.
The facility is now run by Ready Play Tennis, a company established by Swedish tennis legend Stefan Edberg and other ex-pros to develop the country’s tennis stars of the future. The building features four tennis courts, classroom, meeting room, office, café, changing rooms and gym, and it won the Swedish Passive House Architecture Award in 2013.
The new tennis centre sits on a grassy site that slopes downward toward Lake Växjö, right next to Södra’s own headquarters. It was principally constructed from timber frame that was insulated with mineral wool,
More recently, monitoring results show that the building’s heating consumption during the first two years was even lower than expected — and that it uses almost no energy for heating or cooling.
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