Houtrust squash

One of the largest squash centres in the Netherlands, realized in a well-considered choice of materials and careful finishing with a relatively small budget. The complex is situated in the dunes area near the former Houtrusthallen in The Hague. Besides eighteen squash courts, it also contains an aerobics area, a Finnish sauna, Turkish steam bath, a restroom, solariums, dressing rooms, sanitary rooms, a canteen, and a technical installations space. The building has a simple structure consisting of two interconnected rectangular buildings. The courts have been accommodated in a closed box twelve metres high with façades of black-coated profiled steel plate. The corridors are also contained in this volume. They run along the front of the courts and lead to all the other functions, which are accommodated in another two-storey box at the street side of the complex. This volume is transparent, only half as high and radiates an agreeable liveliness that wards off the derelict character that the location once had.