From highway to sports park

On top of the tunnel deck of the A4 between Delft and Schiedam, we designed the Willem-Alexander sports park. Where the tunnel once formed a barrier between two residential areas, the sports park above it is now the connecting link where people from the surrounding area meet for sports and recreation.

The program made it a complex design challenge. On top of the tunnel, there are four football fields and two baseball fields. On both sides of the tunnel, concrete canopy structures have been added, which made it the ideal width for a football field. The canopies also provided enormous water buffers for the entire area.

At the heart of the elevated sports fields stands the main building, which thus has a direct relationship with the surrounding sports activities. The building features a sports hall, changing rooms, dance and ballet spaces, and a large hospitality area with a terrace. The terrace is designed as a platform, which floats to create a transitional zone between the different ground levels.

The two-kilometer-long park is enclosed by one of the largest canvases in Europe, which we created together with Lace Fence. This screen of colorful pixels protects against the wind, which is very strong near the sports field. It also provides safety and sound insulation. Every square meter of the 1.5-kilometer-long screen is uniquely designed, resulting in a functional work of art.