Mpiletso Motumi
A sunset Chapel in Mexico, a bamboo office in India, a tree hotel in Sweden and a theatre made of straw in Estonia are all in the running to becoming the World Building of the Year for 2011.
And now, alongside them will be the Nike Football Training Centre in Soweto. All of them are contenders in the world’s biggest architecture competition, which will take place in Barcelona from November 2 to 4.
The training centre has been shortlisted along with 283 other projects. This year alone, 704 entries came from 59 countries, the highest number of entries that the fourth annual World Architecture Festival Awards has received.
The training centre, which was built in six months by the architects at RUF (Rural Urban Fantasy) Projects, was launched in June last year.
“It took three months to build and another two to fix and furnish; the past month was spent tweaking it up,” said Seruscka Naidoo, the communications manager at Nike SA.
The awards will be divided into three main sections: Completed Buildings, Structural Design and Future Projects (for designs in progress).
Up to 16 categories are included in each of the sections.
Sean Pearson, director at RUF, speaking about their entry, said: “It is a world-class facility, with its design inspiration taken directly from the community of Soweto and the surroundings, and football.”
Footballers at the centre have access to two Fifa-accredited pitches available to play on at any time of the day, in addition to the two regular fields.
Locker rooms are equipped with showers and lock-up facilities, and there are football club-themed locker rooms to further inspire the youth.
A full gym is available, while a boot trial room allows for footballers to try out new boots during a game.
The main hall is multi-functional – it is filled with inspirational and motivational quotes from legendary footballers from the around the world and South Africa.
“Nike is very proud and excited to be nominated for this prestigious international award, and having made the shortlist is testimony to just how world class the Nike Football Training Centre in the heart of Soweto really is,” said Naidoo.
The RED centre is inside the main hall, and is dedicated to Nike’s partners Grassroot Soccer and Right To Care, who provide the HIV/Aids awareness programmes and voluntary testing.
“We are up against some of the best firms in the world, and some amazing projects from around the globe,” said Pearson.
If the centre does win, it will join fellow South African, the Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre in Limpopo, by Peter Rich Architects in Joburg, which won the prestigious title in 2009.