The "dynamic nature of the sea" prompted the flowing, scaly forms of The National Institute of Water Sports in India, completed by architecture practice MOFA Studios.
Located on a coastal site in Panaji, Goa, the 15,000-square-metre centre provides facilities for the institute, which holds courses in water sports and tourism management.
It is formed of three curved, interlinked volumes lined in scaly panels, designed by Delhi-based MOFA Studios as a reference to the project's relationship to the sea.
MOFA Studios has created a water sports centre in Goa
"The Architecture for the National Institute of Water Sports is inspired by the dynamic nature of the sea," described the studio.
"It erupts, rises and folds into a series of trochoidal waves ready to engulf everything that comes its way." The layout of The National Institute of Water Sports sees the three curving volumes meet at a rectilinear entrance foyer and common room at the centre of the site.
The sports centre is defined by wave-like forms
This central form is constructed from concrete, while the flowing forms have steel gridshell structures covered with metal sheets and scale-like, diamond-shaped panels.
The interiors are organised into zones based on their functions, while spaces in between them are designed by MOFA Studios to be more "fluid". This includes areas of the exposed gridshell structure, used to shelter winding walkways and communal squares.
Steel gridshell structu...