Sports Centre in Gorky Park: Nike BOX by Kosmos Architects

Nike BOX MSK, the new sports centre, is located in Gorky Park, one of Moscow’s most important catalysts for current architectural experiments. In recent years, one of the most remarkable buildings erected in the park is OMA’s Garage Museum, which stands near the Nike BOX.

The Box MSK was developed to improve the park’s sports infrastructure on the one hand and as a reflection of the modern lifestyle of Moscow’s young visitors to the park on the other. The complex, which measures 4,700 m², will be open year-round and offer free access to sports facilities such as outdoor soccer fields and both indoor and outdoor areas for working out and yoga. The appearance of the building was inspired by anonymous structures, but also by Russia’s prefabricated apartment houses and fenced-in playing fields, which are known as “boxes” (korobki).

Kosmos Architects defined five principles for their design: transparency, openness, the activation of the grounds as a whole, inspiration and integration into the park. The grounds around the building have been treated with a magenta-coloured rubber floor covering which serves as a frame for other sports activities and continues into the inside of the structure. Even the roof of the building with the striking flooring is used as a playing surface. The transparent metal-grid façades refer to the openness of the building, which is also thereby integrated into the surrounding park.