PAD Studio completes Portsmouth tennis pavilion

Canoe lake tennis pavilion opens
PAD Studio's first public building, a tennis pavilion for the Canoe Lake Leisure Centre in Portsmouth, has opened.
(Image credit: Richard Chivers)

Hampshire based PAD studio has just completed its first public building, an elegant tennis pavilion within the beautiful Southsea Seafront Conservation Area in Portsmouth. Located on the leisure grounds of Canoe Lake Park, against mature trees and green lawns, the structure stands out through its delicate presence and sleek lines.

The pavilion is composed of two distinct parts; a robust grey brick base that grounds the structure to its setting, and a lightweight upper level clad in glazing. The latter includes a spacious roof terrace, which is sheltered partially by the roof’s overhang. The outdoor areas offer commanding views of the park, ten existing grass courts, four new all-weather courts, as well as the common and the boating lake beyond.

Inside, the structure includes a café/bar on the first floor, a ground floor kitchen, changing facilities and a multi-purpose flexible space. This is cleverly designed with moveable walls that allow for different uses and configurations. The material and colour pallete inside reflect the exterior’s clean and modern aesthetic, featuring hardwearing materials, a tactile, in-situ cast concrete exposed roof, ash floors and plywood lining.

‘We are immensely proud of this building’, says PAD’s Wendy Perring. ‘It is the result of a committed and visionary client who afforded PAD studio complete freedom to engage in R&D and specialist collaborations with GreyMatter Concrete and our engineers Eckersley O’Callaghan, resulting in a refined material specification and built form.’

The Canoe Lake Pavilion launched to great acclaim, celebrated by both the local community and the architectural one,  winning two key awards; the RIBA South Award 2018 and the RIBA South West Client of the Year Award. And while the project was commissioned by Canoe Lake Leisure, ‘a small group of individuals who came together to safeguard the future of the Canoe Lake grass tennis courts following local council funding cuts’, explain the architects, the facility remains a fully-accessible public resource. 

Canoe lake tennis pavilion by PAD studio opens

The structure sits within Southsea’s beautiful Seafront Conservation Area.

(Image credit: Nigel Rigden)

Canoe lake tennis pavilion opens in Portsmouth

The two storey pavilion features a robust grey brick base, while an elegant lightweight glazed structure crowns the top.

(Image credit: Nigel Rigden)

Canoe lake tennis pavilion by PAD studio opens in Portsmouth

Inside, the pavilion includes a café/bar, ground floor kitchen, changing facilities and a multi-purpose flexible space.

(Image credit: Nigel Rigden)

Pad studio design tennis pavilion in canoe lake, portsmouth

The roof shelters a terrace on the first floor.

(Image credit: Nigel Rigden)

INFORMATION

For more information visit the website of PAD Studio 

Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).