Philadelphia power plant transformed into sports venue
Local firms Good City Studio and Hexagon Studio Architects have converted the main turbine hall of a historic Philadelphia power plant into Ballers, a sports club that includes indoor pickleball, soccer and squash courts.
Ballers is located inside a portion of the newly renovated Delaware Power Station in Fishtown, Philadelphia, which was recently rebranded into a mixed-use complex called The Battery that encompasses residential and retail spaces. The power station was constructed in the early 1900s and was in use until 2005, and the majority of the tranformation was carried out by architecture studio Strada.
Ballers is located in the building's former turbine hall, which stretches out in a horizontal volume between the original entrance hall and the backside that faces the water, which is now filled with apartments and a rooftop pool sandwiched between defunct smokestacks.
Sports courts are spread out intermittently along the ground level and a mezzanine level, while a restaurant is partially enclosed at the centre, and smaller social spaces and courts line the perimeter.
Good City Studio founder and Ballers chief creative officer Amanda Potter, who worked with local firm Hexagon Studio Architects on the project, said the scale of the building and the column-free, sky-lit 75-foot-tall (23-metre) hall "made the space incredibly conducive to court sports".
"The grand ceiling and immense stretches of column-free area made the space incredibly conducive to court sports," Potter told Dezeen
"The courts and fields almost placed themselves when we went to sketch the plans – the golf simulators and squash courts basically fit to the inch within a more narrow loggia space on the second floor."
Potter said the overall aesthetic of Ballers was informed by its former, abandoned state, where it was "overtaken by weather, vandals, and some rather talented graffiti artists".
After its update, the team decided to hire local graffiti artists such as Tiff Urquehart to tag the walls and left cladding and interior to a minimum.
For its restaurant and other areas, Potter incorporated vintage pieces and personal elements, such as a bright-yellow, steel cage that stands behind the bar, which was informed by her love for Gianni Versace as a teenager in the 1990s.
The Ballers Philadelphia outpost is one of two other locations in the works in Boston and Los Angeles.
It is backed by athletes such as Andre Agassi and Sloane Stephens and Philadelphia 76ers owner David Blitzer, according to the team.
Recently, Dezeen rounded up eight unique tennis venues from around the world.
Other power plant conversions in the United States include one in Brooklyn, New York that Swiss studio Herzog & de Meuron converted into an arts centre.
The photography is by Peter Sherno
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