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Klaff Family Sports Center
Klaff Family Sports Center
Johannesburg, South Africa
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Klaff Family Sports Center
Johannesburg, South Africa
Firm
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2024
SIZE
100,000 sqft - 300,000 sqft
BUDGET
$1M - 5M
What began as a modest sports centre with a single court has grown into a landmark campus, a dynamic ecosystem of movement, recovery, and community. The Klaff Family Sports Complex at King David High School is not merely a building; it's a choreography of spaces shaped through empathy, analysis, and architectural finesse. The story of its design is one of listening first, then building with purpose.
From the outset, Hubo Studio rooted the project in participatory design. A series of intensive workshops brought together stakeholders from across the school ecosystem, from coaches and caretakers to medical professionals, students, and donors. These weren’t perfunctory meetings. They were strategic inquiries that revealed the friction points of daily use: insufficient storage, isolated recovery spaces, awkward transitions between activities. Each “hassle” surfaced in these sessions was a seed for architectural opportunity. Storage is now neatly tucked under resilient cross-laminated timber bleachers. Courtyards aren’t just circulation spaces, they’re social arenas, extensions of play and recovery.
Conceptually, the project challenges the notion of a single, monolithic sports building. Instead, Hubo Studio proposed a campus, a constellation of specialised yet connected structures. The result is a spatial narrative of openness, visibility, and adaptability. There’s a dance studio, indoor and outdoor basketball courts, a cardio gym with double-volume views of the fields, amphitheatre seating, and even two recovery rooms with ice baths. These are tied together not only through pathways and sightlines but through carefully orchestrated interstitial spaces: terraces, spill-out zones, and shared courtyards that breathe life into the whole.
This decentralised approach also maximises the site’s natural slope. The heaviest, most voluminous elements, like the four-storey arena, are nestled at the lower end of the site. This keeps the building’s presence modest from the street while allowing each level direct outdoor access. It’s an architectural move that reduces visual obstruction while enhancing usability. From upper terraces to tunnel-connected locker rooms, every space is designed for flow, of bodies, air, light, and energy.
Aesthetically, the complex is bold without being brash. The dominant King David blue, expertly rendered in artisan-crafted plasterwork, unifies the buildings and amplifies school spirit. An intentionally warm colour palette softens the industrial language of concrete soffits and exposed steel, resisting the sterile vibe common to performance sports facilities. The palette and materiality make it clear: this is not an intimidating arena, but an inclusive and welcoming hub.
At every turn, the architecture reflects the values of the community it serves: connection, flexibility, visibility, and care. Whether it's the analysis room designed for future tech integration, or the café-viewing deck inviting casual spectatorship, the campus blurs boundaries between play and pause, spectator and participant.
Ultimately, the Klaff Family Sports Complex is not just an infrastructure project, it’s a built manifesto for how sports can be embedded into daily life. Future-proof, student-centred, and community-driven, it embodies the idea that great architecture listens before it speaks
From the outset, Hubo Studio rooted the project in participatory design. A series of intensive workshops brought together stakeholders from across the school ecosystem, from coaches and caretakers to medical professionals, students, and donors. These weren’t perfunctory meetings. They were strategic inquiries that revealed the friction points of daily use: insufficient storage, isolated recovery spaces, awkward transitions between activities. Each “hassle” surfaced in these sessions was a seed for architectural opportunity. Storage is now neatly tucked under resilient cross-laminated timber bleachers. Courtyards aren’t just circulation spaces, they’re social arenas, extensions of play and recovery.
Conceptually, the project challenges the notion of a single, monolithic sports building. Instead, Hubo Studio proposed a campus, a constellation of specialised yet connected structures. The result is a spatial narrative of openness, visibility, and adaptability. There’s a dance studio, indoor and outdoor basketball courts, a cardio gym with double-volume views of the fields, amphitheatre seating, and even two recovery rooms with ice baths. These are tied together not only through pathways and sightlines but through carefully orchestrated interstitial spaces: terraces, spill-out zones, and shared courtyards that breathe life into the whole.
This decentralised approach also maximises the site’s natural slope. The heaviest, most voluminous elements, like the four-storey arena, are nestled at the lower end of the site. This keeps the building’s presence modest from the street while allowing each level direct outdoor access. It’s an architectural move that reduces visual obstruction while enhancing usability. From upper terraces to tunnel-connected locker rooms, every space is designed for flow, of bodies, air, light, and energy.
Aesthetically, the complex is bold without being brash. The dominant King David blue, expertly rendered in artisan-crafted plasterwork, unifies the buildings and amplifies school spirit. An intentionally warm colour palette softens the industrial language of concrete soffits and exposed steel, resisting the sterile vibe common to performance sports facilities. The palette and materiality make it clear: this is not an intimidating arena, but an inclusive and welcoming hub.
At every turn, the architecture reflects the values of the community it serves: connection, flexibility, visibility, and care. Whether it's the analysis room designed for future tech integration, or the café-viewing deck inviting casual spectatorship, the campus blurs boundaries between play and pause, spectator and participant.
Ultimately, the Klaff Family Sports Complex is not just an infrastructure project, it’s a built manifesto for how sports can be embedded into daily life. Future-proof, student-centred, and community-driven, it embodies the idea that great architecture listens before it speaks
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