The NWSL Kansas City Current Training Facility is the first purpose-built complex for a women's professional soccer team in North America. It is also the first professional training facility to be built with a cross-laminated and mass timber structure, making it historically significant, but also an innovation in environmental design.
With 50-60% lower embodied carbon than other construction methods, the design complements the glulam columns, beams and CLT panels via metal cladding and glass. The lightweight wood and prefabricated components made the structure fast to construct, taking less than two months from shipment to a completely vertical 17,600-square-foot facility.
The training center- an economic redevelopment of a prior heavy industrial site- is oriented on a north-south axis, flanked on the east by two natural grass and one synthetic turf pitches. Metal panels form a protective shell from the south and west, providing player privacy via a high-performance envelope. Glazing strategically located along the north and east reduces glare and heat gain, allowing all building occupants a comfortable visual connection to the heart of the project- the pitches and the team.
These design elements combine to create a place entirely focused on player community, health, and wellness; demonstrating an unwavering commitment to protecting the environment while providing world-class facilities for previously underrepresented athletes.
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