Community-scale sporting grounds carry a lot of weight. They host senior fixtures, junior development, training, social functions, and - more often than not - they become the public face of a club and its suburb. This project approached that responsibility directly: design a multi-code grandstand with the material quality and spatial generosity of a civic building.
The design responds with two grandstand structures flanking an oval - a Main Stand and a North Grandstand - connected by a material language of off-form concrete, engineered timber, and full-height glazing. Below the terracing, an integrated hospitality level with bar, members lounge, and player facilities elevates the everyday experience of the ground, not just the match day one.
Player medical facilities at ground level, seating above, and the Main Stand pavilion framing the far side of the oval — every level of the grandstand is working. More Than a Grandstand
The temptation with sporting venues is to treat everything below the seating as back-of-house - corridors, storage, and service areas that nobody thinks about until something breaks. We took the opposite approach. The undercroft of the North Grandstand is designed as a working ground floor: player medical and treatment rooms with direct pitch access, administration spaces, and ground-level entries that orient you the moment you arrive.
By building these functions into the concrete terracing structure itself, the grandstand earns its footprint. Nothing is wasted. The medical rooms sit behind full-height glazing at ground level, visible and accessible, while the tiered seating above steps up and away beneath the timber canopy. Two buildings - the grandstand and the Main Stand pavilion beyond - frame the oval without competing with each other.
The members bar - timber, leather, and concrete, with a sightline straight through the canopy to the playing surface. A Bar With a Sightline
The members bar sits directly behind the glass line on the first-floor concourse, looking out through the timber canopy and across the full width of the playing surface. The intent was to design a bar you would visit even if there was no game on.
The material palette drops a register from the raw concrete of the structure into something warmer: a timber-clad bar top with polished concrete counter, tan leather seating, polished concrete floors, and a timber-battened ceiling that continues the rhythm of the external roof.
Full-height glazing frames the playing surface from a climate-controlled interior — the game is right there without leaving your armchair. Room With a View
Adjacent to the bar, the members lounge takes a different approach to the same view. Where the bar is upright - stools, standing room, a place to lean - the lounge is horizontal. Deep tan leather armchairs and sofas are arranged to face the field through full-height glazing that frames the playing surface and the timber canopy beyond.
The effect is a room that feels connected to the ground without surrendering its comfort. You are watching the game from a climate-controlled interior, but the scale of the glass and the direct sightline to the pitch mean the experience never feels removed from it. The concrete columns, the timber roof overhead, and the green of the field ahead are all part of one continuous picture. It is a hospitality space designed to feel generous without being ostentatious.
The concourse wraps the Main Stand - wider than it needs to be, because a good circulation space is also a place to stop. The Concourse as Civic Space
The first-floor concourse wraps the perimeter of the Main Stand, connecting the bar, lounge, and grandstand seating along a single, generous circulation spine. It is deliberately wider than it needs to be for crowd movement alone. The intent was to create a concourse that functions as a public room - a place to pause, look out across the ground, and orient yourself within the building.
Wayfinding is handled through bronze signage mounted directly onto the off-form concrete walls - simple, legible, and consistent with the material language of the rest of the building. The curved geometry of the grandstand gives the concourse a natural sweep that draws you along it, with the timber canopy overhead providing shade and rhythm through its repeating batten structure. It is a utilitarian space elevated by material quality and proportion.
A Ground That Outlasts the Season
The Southern Gold Coast Stadium was designed around a simple conviction: a community sporting ground deserves the same architectural attention as any other public building. The cantilevered timber canopy, the off-form concrete structure, and the hospitality spaces behind the glass line are all part of a single material argument - that robust, honest materials can elevate the experience of a suburban ground without overcomplicating it.
What remains is a design for a grandstand that would age well, host well, and represent a club and its suburb with the seriousness both deserve.
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