For over 100 years, The Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, England has been an iconic event, and since the advent of television, it has been watched by tens of millions of viewers all around the world. Almost as well-known as The Championships of course, were the many interruptions for rain, causing problems for both the competition organisers and television schedulers.
The Architect, Populous’, brief was to accommodate increasing visitor levels and give players and members an improved level of facilities they expect, while maintaining the unmistakable atmosphere has required a careful balance of innovation with the retractable roof for Centre Court. The main challenge for the design team was to create a technologically unique system, whilst maintaining the feel of ‘tennis in an English garden’ for spectators and players alike.
Members of our team developed the acoustic and PAVA designs for the Centre Court project. The acoustic impact of the new retractable roof required careful design assessment and measurement in order to predict the change in acoustics, atmosphere and noise levels on court.
