March 25, 2020

KO/OK Architektur Scores with Sports Venue in East Germany

Cross-laminated timber ceiling panels run above linoleum and carpet in the bowling alley at Germany’s Kegelbahn Wülknitz, a sports venue designed by KO/OK Architektur. Photography by Simon Menges.

Principals of the fledgling KO/OK Architektur, Jan Keinath and Fabian Onneken were no experts in ninepin when they submitted their competition proposal for Kegelbahn Wülknitz, a sports venue in eastern Germany. But the two architects bowled a strike with their meticulously sleek and straightforward concept, beating out the 14 other firms.

The prefabricated structure’s facade features painted rift-sawn larch. Photography by Simon Menges.

The 6,600-square-foot venue centers on industrial warehouse construction, with much of the wooden structure prefabricated, which helped meet the project’s tight budget set by the clients, Wülknitz’s local council and ESV Lok Wülknitz e. V., the bowling club. Inside, where there’s a four-lane alley, café, locker rooms, and access to the 1½-acre soccer field, the sedate gray and pale-wood envelope is enlivened by swaths of Forbo linoleum in a color aptly named Berlin Red.

Up next: Odili Donald Odita Debuts New Work at Jack Shainman Gallery Spring Exhibition

> See more from the March 2020 issue of Interior Design

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