Blowing bubbles

An ambitious, competition-winning sports centre in Scunthorpe challenged the contractor to build five pods each with a different roof covering. Martin Spring reports. Photographs: Ben Clarkson

An ambitious new £26m sports centre nearing completion in Scunthorpe puts several exciting new spins on geodesic dome construction. The concept design is by Lord Rogers protégé, Andrew Wright Associates, which beat 44 other entries to win an RIBA architectural competition in 2006. Its informal name, the Pods, refers to a cluster of five shallow domes that make up its single roof and flow into each other like soap bubbles floating on water. (read more in the enclosed pdf)