Summary

A sports centre complex formed from a range of “inverted membrane” concrete shells, designed in 1987 by the innovative Swiss engineer Heinz Isler and built between 1987 and 1991. It is Isler’s only work in the UK, one of only three large-scale shell concrete structures built nationally since the 1970s, and is the only example of free-form concrete shell design in the UK.

Description

MATERIALS: Concrete, with a steel mesh and wood-wool insulation.

PLAN: The building consists of angled ranges of concrete shells: a three-bay range angled to the south-west (the former skating rink), a six-bay range angled to the south-east (the sports hall), and a square-plan concrete shell to the north (the swimming pool).

EXTERIOR

FORMER SKATING RINK

To the south-west is a range constructed from three adjacent, inverted membrane or “hanging-cloth” form concrete shells, each 47m by 18.6m (with movement joints along the long edges). This range bears the remains of an exterior paint scheme dating from its use as a skating rink.

Where the concrete shells meet the ground, the open space beneath them bears the impression of the timber formwork used to construct them.

SPORTS HALL

To the south-east is a range constructed from six concrete shells of identical form to those in the south-west range.

SWIMMING POOL

To the north is an inverted membrane concrete shell 35m by 35m, housing the indoor swimming pool.

INTERIOR

The hotel and the single-storey ranges joining the concrete shells to each other are excluded from the List entry.

FORMER SKATING RINK

The former skating rink is largely one internal space, open to the inside of the shell structure, containing its original wood-wool insulation.

SPORTS HALL

The sports hall is largely one internal space open to the shell structure with its wood-wool insulation.

SWIMMING POOL

The swimming pool consists of a single open space housing a swimming pool and is open to the inside of the shell structure with its wood-wool insulation panels.

All windows, side walls, internal walls (including the mezzanine in the Sports Hall) and any free standing 'rooms' are excluded from the List entry. The outdoor pool is also excluded.

History

CONCRETE SHELL CONSTRUCTION

Thin reinforced concrete shell construction was first introduced to England in the late 1930s, with the building of Doncaster Municipal Airport (demolished) and the Wythenshawe Bus Depot in Manchester in 1942 (Grade II*, NHLE 1389256) . Experiments in shell domes began after the war, including the nine relatively small shells at the Brynmawr Rubber Factory, Wales built between 1945-1951 but demolished in 2001.

Other notable buildings in England using shell construction were the main exhibition building at the Commonwealth Institute, (NHLE 1227441, listed at Grade II*) built in 1960-1962 by Robert Matthew, Johnson Marshall and Partners with engineer James Sutherland, and Smithfield Poultry Market, (NHLE 1381209, listed at Grade II) built 1961-1963 by T P Bennett and Son with structural engineers Ove Arup and Partners.

Concrete shells were a way of achieving large, uninterrupted spans using relatively little steel and inexpensive materials. The resultant buildings could therefore be aesthetically dramatic but relatively inexpensive. The technique had never been common in the UK, however, and was employed only a handful of times since the early 1970s.

In 1977, two separate “parashell” concrete domes were erected, each constructed in a single day using the system developed by the Italian designer Dante Bini: the Edinburgh Dome Sports Hall at Malvern Girls College, Worcestershire (NHLE 1393577, listed at Grade II) and the Dome Sports Centre at Mildenhall, Suffolk (NHLE 1476650, listed at Grade II). These are thought to be the last examples of shell construction nationally until the Norwich Sports Village.

Since the Norwich Sports Village, only two buildings have been erected nationally using shell construction: in 1995-1997 the American Air Museum at Duxford by Sir Norman Foster and Partners with Arup Associates (NHLE 1468998, listed at Grade II*) and the “First Light Pavilion” Visitor Centre at Jodrell Bank by Hassell Studio, built in 2022.

HEINZ ISLER

Heinz Isler (1926-2009) was born in Zollikon near Zurich, Switzerland. As an engineering student he made a special study of reinforced concrete shells and this was to become his life’s work. His first project was in 1954-1955, a concrete shell roof for the Hotel Kreuz at Langenthal, which was inspired by the form of his plumped-up pillow.

Up until this point, the design of concrete shells was based on mathematically formulated shapes such as spheres, barrel vaults, conoids and hyperbolic paraboloids. Isler’s innovative approach – presented at the inaugural conference of the International Association of Shell Structures, in Madrid in 1959, to the astonishment of the audience of eminent shell building engineers and architects - was to shape his forms by one of his three methods: using earth mounds; using inflated rubber membranes, and his inverted membranes or “hanging cloth” designs. This meant that a much greater range of free-form, non-geometrical shapes could be achieved.

Many of Isler’s most celebrated designs have been examples of the inverted membrane, where the shape is formed by gravity. Isler loosely suspended a thin latex rubber sheet approximating the plan-form of the proposed shell (for example square, rectangular, triangular or free-form shape) from the anticipated support points. Then he loaded the sheet with a uniform layer of wet gypsum-based material, which deformed the latex sheet into a highly-efficient load-carrying surface in tension. Once the gypsum had set, he then inverted the cast form, which then became a surface efficient in compression and ideal for construction in concrete. Lastly, he measured the shape precisely and scaled up the dimensions to provide the final, free-form construction geometry of the shell.

To create his structures at full size in concrete, Isler used wood-wool slab insulation, supported on thin flexible timber laths, spanning between curved, glued laminated timber beams. A thin layer of concrete, typically only 80-100mm thick, was poured over the formwork, reinforced only by a light steel mesh. Subsequently, the timber formwork could be removed and reused, leaving the wood-wool insulation in place.

Isler designed several inverted membrane tennis halls in Switzerland, the first of which was in 1978 at Dudingen, where he designed a three-shell structure. The Norwich Sports Village also employs this design for the nine shells of the sports halls. The swimming pool shell added in 1991 is a different design with a square inverted membrane, an earlier design he first used in 1978 for a swimming pool in Heimberg, Switzerland.

Isler was a prolific designer, with around 1,000 of his shells constructed, mostly in Europe, but the Norwich Sports Village is the only building to his designs in the UK. It is also the only free-form concrete shell constructed in the UK.

Four of Isler’s shells designed using the inverted membrane technique are protected by listing in Switzerland: the two triangular canopy shells of the Deitingen Süd Motorway Service Station (1968) and the Pavilion Sicli Cultural Centre in Geneva (1969), and two groups of tennis hall shells at Chaux-de-Fonds and La Tène in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel.

NORWICH SPORTS VILLAGE

The sports village was built in 1987 and opened in 1988, in response to a need perceived by the local authority for facilities for holidaymakers in the Broads for recreation in wet weather, as well as for local people. The swimming pool, built slightly later, opened in 1991 as the “Aquapark”, and included an in indoor pool and outdoor pool with flumes.

The building was known as Norwich Sports Village, although it lies slightly north-west of the city boundary, in the district of Broadland.

The project architect was Tony Copeland of Copeland Associates, in collaboration with the Swiss architects Haus and Herd, for whom Copeland had worked previously in Switzerland for 20 years, including working on other projects with Isler.

The buildings were successful and well-used when they opened. The aquapark was popular, but it is reported that it closed in the early C21 as the management company went into liquidation.

The six-shell tennis hall was used mainly for racquet sports. The three-shell range had various uses including a spectator venue for boxing matches, and for weddings and functions. In 2009 “Planet Ice” opened a skating rink in this part of the building. It closed in 2012 and remains disused at the time of reporting (2025).

The David Lloyd Sports Club opened in the tennis hall in the early C21 and also took over the swimming pools. The flumes were removed.

In 2021 the owner of the hotel, tennis halls and pool purchased the former skating rink, bringing the complex back into a single ownership. In 2024 the glazing in the tennis hall and swimming pools was completely renewed.

Plans were submitted in 2025 for an additional storey to be added to the flat-roofed hotel.

Reasons for Listing

Norwich Sports Village in Broadland, Norfolk, built in 1987 and 1991, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Historic Interest:

* As the only work in the UK by the innovative, influential and prolific Swiss engineer Heinz Isler;

* For its rare form of construction: as the only shell concrete structure built nationally in the 1980s, one of only three built since 1977, and the sole example in the UK of a free-form concrete shell.

Architectural Interest:

* For its unusual "inverted membrane" forms, inspired by hanging cloths;

* For the success of the structure as way of spanning huge spaces with the minimum of materials and with good structural, acoustic, thermal and rainwater-shedding properties.

Recommended Books

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  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
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  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)