Designed by BRL Architects, Braywick Leisure Centre, an exciting £34 million leisure facility, is now open to the public and is proving highly popular, with the centre already boasting a high level of membership.
This centre sets a benchmark for local authority leisure facilities and has been triumphed by council leaders. Replacing the Magnet Centre in Maidenhead, BRL has designed a striking building within the designated greenbelt through close consultation and collaboration with a multitude of stakeholders.
The unique feature of the design forms the main circulation route through the building and to the external courts and parkland beyond. The atmosphere of this space is both fundamentally and aesthetically enhanced by the rhythm of laminated timber arches, the structure of the space. The additional of a central street also divides the building at ground floor level, segregating wet facilities on one side and dry facilities on the other, making it ideal for multipurpose events, such as indoor exhibitions, gallery space and community functions.
Externally, the dramatic curved roof sits over the extensive Fitness Suite, which spans the width of the building and incorporates vertical louvres forming a brise soleil to this high-level glazed frontage. A large hairpin shaped iconic steel arch demarcates the entrance externally and reflects the form of the structure in the internal street.
The facilities include a 10-lane 25m swimming pool, learner/ fun pool with water features together with high level viewing and ancillary changing / toilet areas. On the dry side of the building there is an 8-court sports hall and a multipurpose / performance space. While at first floor level, the galleries down the street lead to exercise studios, squash courts, spinning room and the large fitness suite, the ‘shop window’ for the building. Either side of the entrance from the exceptionally large car park there is dining facilities with covered sitting-out spaces and on the opposite side a creche facility. This iconic building is a project that BRL are justifiably proud of and clearly demonstrates the ambitions of the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead and its commitment to exemplar community sporting facilities.
