Andy Matthews Studio Completes Black Timber Cricket Pavilion in London

By Elena Vasquez

Andy Matthews Studio has completed a black, contemporary cricket pavilion on Dulwich Common in south London for Streatham & Marlborough Cricket Club. The building is 100 square metres smaller than the structure it replaced.

The pavilion stands alongside Dulwich Common and overlooks the club's main pitch. Its single-pitch main form holds a multipurpose hall enclosed on two sides with full-height sliding glass doors, giving views of both the main and secondary pitches.

"The concept was to create a contemporary interpretation of a traditional cricket pavilion and club room space allowing the viewing of both pitches from within whilst meeting the [England and Wales Cricket Board] ECB requirements for modern cricket facilities," studio founder Andy Matthews told Dezeen.

Why black cladding instead of white?

Traditional cricket pavilions have simple pitched roofs and predominantly white walls. The Dulwich pavilion inverts that formula: a mono-pitch roof, black Japanese burnt larch cladding, and a single white clock face.

"We took that traditional cricket pavilion form – a pitched roof – and twisted it by splitting it in two and extending the roof form to create the canopies that define the entrances and public areas while providing solar shading and little gathering spots," said Matthews.

"And there's the inversion of colour – the black cladding with the white clock face," he continued. "The black blends into the broad expanses of sky and landscape, giving the impression that it's been there a long while, part of nature just like the old willow tree."

What does the building contain?

The compact plan divides into two mono-pitched volumes:

• The main volume: a multipurpose hall with full-height sliding glass doors on two sides and a large canopy creating a protected outdoor area for watching matches
• Two changing rooms accessed directly from the pitch, each with a toilet, showers and a bench with direct views of the game
• A smaller volume housing the bar, kitchen and toilets

A large canopy overhangs the glazed doors to create a sheltered outside area for spectators.

How will the club pay for it?

Matthews designed the clubroom as a rentable, seven-day-a-week space to generate income for the club.

"A community building has to work for the whole community, so we designed the pavilion as a robust, adaptable setting for pretty much all of life, seven days a week," he said.

"The clubroom is generous and flexible, so it can hold the big occasions – christenings, birthdays, weddings, wakes – as comfortably as everyday activities like yoga classes, forest school, writing groups, and community meetings," Matthews continued.

"That versatility also makes the building financially sustainable. The revenue it generates pays for its upkeep, so the club shouldn't need to fundraise again."

A model for community sports clubs?

Matthews positioned the project as an argument against the low-budget buildings that community clubs typically accept. "Community clubs often end up with rudimentary, unimaginative buildings, or adapted shipping containers, due to limited budgets available," he said.

"Despite budget constraints, the project proposes the idea that clubs and community groups can achieve, and deserve, site-specific generous light-filled spaces rather than off-the-shelf generic design."

The building is constructed from mass timber to speed up construction and reduce carbon impact. It is clad in dark-stained timber under a black corrugated sheet metal roof.

"This contemporary response is designed to appeal to a wider and more diverse audience than might normally be associated with cricket in the UK," Matthews said, adding that the pavilion "brings a calm but joyful response to the site rather than simply meeting a functional brief for minimum space requirements."

The project team included structural engineer Constant Structural Design, planning consultant CMA Planning, M&E consultant CO2O Consulting, fire consultant Stantec and main contractor Brown Building. Photography is by Jim Stephenson.

The pavilion joins a small wave of architectural attention to cricket infrastructure, from WilkinsonEyre's new stand at Lord's Cricket Ground in London to Populous's redevelopment of Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata.