Football Village

The Football Village is a prototype for a community center Strawn.Sierralta developed for Architecture for Humanity and sponsored by FIFA, streetfootballworld, and Greenfields. The 2010 FIFA World Cup initiative, 20 Centres for 2010, is building twenty Football for Hope community centers in Africa. Strawn.Sierralta's Football for Hope Center is designed to behave like a village, with community spaces formed between the planned structures and the green gardens. Football Village is part of Strawn.Sierralta's commitment to work on pro bono projects that can affect change in Developing Communities worldwide.

Concept Statement:

 

"The Football Village is composed of organic clusters of structures, organized in plan like unfolded footballs. The structures are built with the least amount of material possible to contain the greatest volume of space, just like a football. The structures are made of local wood poles, simple metal connection hubs, concrete slabs and skins built of a variety of materials. These structures can each be built in less than a day and can be built very cheaply. They do not all have to be enclosed at once. This community can grow over time. It is economy of material and speed of construction that make this system work."

Project Data

The Big Issue:  

The objective of the “Football for Hope” movement is to bring together, support, advise and strengthen sustainable social and human development programs in the areas of peace promotion, children’s rights and education, health promotion, anti-discrimination and social integration, and the environment. These programs are aimed at children and young people, and use football as an instrument to promote participation and dialog. The aim of “Football for Hope” is to create a better future through the medium of football.

Project Description: 

A prototype facility utilizing football as a tool for empowerment and social change.

Concept: 

To create a sense of community and increased safety by clustering program elements closely together. The visual connection between structures, as well as, the variety of programming elements will generate a vibrant setting filled with multiple user types.

Year: 

2008

Location:  

20 disadvantaged African communities, five in South Africa and 15 in other African countries.

Client/Sponsor: 

Architecture for Humanity, Football for Hope, streetfootballworld, Nike, 2010 FIFA World Cup

Site: 

Varies by country.

Environmental Strategies: 

Rainwater collection, maximized solar protection and collection, total natural ventilation.

Program: 

A football pitch with a stadium, photovoltaic array for energy production, community center, soccer clubhouse, schoolrooms, shaded outdoor classrooms, gardens and a health care facility.

Scale: 

Scalable

Budget: 

$80,000

Team: 

Architecture: Karla Sierralta, Brian Strawn

In the fall of 2008 the Architecture for Humanity “Siyathemba Girl’s Soccer Pitch” project was incorporated in the 2010 World Cup community outreach program “Football for Hope” sponsored by FIFA. Entrants in the 2004 Request for Proposal were invited to re-visit their concepts with a larger scope and hopefully provide a prototype that could be utilized all over Africa and developing nations around the world.