The latest architectural feat ofdesign and innovation office Carlo Ratti Associati: 8 tennis courts stacked in a tower 300 feet (almost 100 meters) high.
Carlo Ratti has created an ambitious and advanced concept entirely dedicated to the sport of tennis. Playscraper, this is the name, is the project of a tower almost 100 meters high.
Playscraper (the horrible translation would be “Grattagioco”?) is a “skyscraper” that does not have a residential but a recreational vocation, and the declared objective of making tennis courts more accessible in urban areas where space is often a problem.
The tennis skyscraper
What makes Carlo Ratti's project more interesting is its flexible nature. Playscraper can be quickly assembled and disassembled, which makes it very suitable for hosting competitions all over the world, reducing construction costs and space required.
Playscraper provides 5.500 square feet of total play space with a system of stacked tennis courts. The structure designed for the tower is made of lightweight stainless steel: it looks like the outer shell of a spacecraft. Carlo Ratti's creation would be developed by Broad Sustainable Building.
This project wouldn't just create a new icon for sports lovers. It would also give way to a new type of vertical public space. The tower is easy to install and dismantle and can be easily moved. Beautiful and elegant like other projects by Carlo Ratti Associati.
This flexible approach suits the itinerant nature of today's sporting competitions, which move from location to location throughout the year.
Carlo Ratti, architect and engineer – founder of CRA and director of the MIT Senseable City Lab.
How Carlo Ratti's Playscraper is made
The “tennis skyscraper” is not just designed for those on the court. The long side of each of the "boxes" that make up the tower incorporates an electronic facade that can stream match phases and other digital content.
On the short side the transparent walls offer a panoramic view of the outside. The project is part of a study carried out for RCS Sport, the sports and media branch of the main European multimedia publishing group RCS mediagroup (which includes, among others, Corriere della Sera, Gazzetta dello Sport and Marca).
