Sport Society, Mirdif

When you step into Sport Society, you enter a new world of color and light, wide open spaces, and raw materials. This is an urban playground, an Arena where every day different events take place within and around it. Flexible, always moving, and continuously evolving, Sport Society offers an authentic ambience that always feels fresh, novel, and natural.

Raw materials normally hidden in a traditional mall concept such as concrete, steel, and distressed timber play a vital role in transporting visitors to a new, yet familiar place, embodied as a natural urban playground. It stays true to the grit and steel that it takes to go the extra mile and build a stronger and healthier self.

Sport Society, in its simplicity, is unashamedly raw and uncomplicated. DLR Group have created a community that displays the virtues of honesty – nothing is concealed. From the mechanics of the elevators whose inner workings are completely exposed, to polished concrete floors and visible mechanical structures and services, visitors see behind the scenes and behind the façade.

Sport Society is spread across 5 levels and 800,000 square feet. Two basement levels provide 750 parking bays for customers. The main three levels offer 260,000 square feet of Gross Leasable Area for a wide variety of public offerings.

How can they create a leisure and retail destination without transforming it into a mall? The design brief stemmed from this challenge. For this reason, Sport Society has been designed as an arena but having all the amenities and functional elements of a leisure and entertainment destination. A multi-purpose arena in the center of the project becomes the beating heart around a racetrack with single loaded sports, leisure, retail and F&B units.

The project was conceived from the outset with sustainability in mind. The building’s efficiency was highly considered to work with the main racetrack circulation and back-of-house spaces in this combined modest building layout. Ultraviolet heat gain was neutralized using the balanced roof system limiting east/west exposure to the sun. The air quality rates were tested with new state of-the-art low emission systems to improve comfort levels for its customers. The project uses low emission materials on its facades to reduce heat gain in the building. The project also benefits from regionally sourced materials to reduce carbon emissions.

Drawing on the values of central pedestrianized community living, a one-stop-shop for sports and entertainment helping to create and improve a lifestyle in the area with this iconic destination.