The International Association of Sports and Leisure Facilities (IAKS Germany) has launched a competition for modern and inspiring sports and exercise facilities. Sport performs many important tasks in our society, including creating community and promoting inclusion and integration. Sport needs spaces to be practiced. As many of our German sports facilities date back to the 1970s, we are now looking for inspiring sports spaces for today’s society.The competition is aimed at students, but also young professionals in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning and design (graduated no more than two years ago).
“We need a profound cultural change. The perspective on our sports facilities must change – from sports functionality to architecture for people,” says Prof. Dr. Kähler, sports development planner and chairman of IAKS Deutschland e.V. With the innovation competition for students, the IAKS is pursuing a clear goal: the transformation of standardized sports facilities into needs-based, open and versatile exercise spaces.
The competition invites young architects, designers and planners to rethink sports spaces. We are looking for creative, visionary and feasible designs for sports halls, outdoor sports facilities and outdoor pools – spaces that meet the social challenges of the present and provide new impetus for public spaces.
Four cities, four plots of land, four different starting situations: The competition is based on real sites provided by the cities of Mannheim, Heilbronn, Bonn and Koblenz. This practical basis makes the competition particularly tangible – both for the participants and for the municipalities interested in the ideas. Although there is no guarantee of implementation, the planning challenges are real.
In Mannheim, the selected site is located in the Seckenheim district, on a derelict conversion area of a former US military site. In addition to a planned fire station, a sports hall is also to be built here – as part of a new district.
Heilbronn is providing a site close to the city center, nestled between schools, residential buildings and hotel developments. The aim is to design a multifunctional sports hall that can be used for school and club sports as well as for recreational sports.
In the Pennenfeld sports park in Bonn , the approximately 800 square meter area of a former shot put facility is to be redesigned. The task: to create an attractive outdoor sports facility that motivates children, teenagers and young adults to take part in individual sports.
The Oberwerth outdoor pool in Koblenz is situated in a scenic location on the Rhine island of the same name. The challenge: to design a place for exercise, recreation and socializing that meets both tourist and local needs.
Students and graduates up to two years after graduation are eligible to take part. The competition is aimed at people from the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, design and related disciplines.
Both individual and group work is permitted. There are deliberately few limits to creativity: In addition to complete designs for entire facilities, ideas for individual spatial elements are also welcome in task part B; these should offer innovative solutions to the challenges of our sports facilities through their integration into the sports space.
Entries must be submitted by July 1, 2025, and the final designs can be submitted by August 12, 2025. A total of 5,000 euros in prize money is available. An interdisciplinary jury with representatives from architecture, planning, science, municipal administration and federal institutes will be responsible for the evaluation.
The award-winning projects will be presented at FSB 2025 in Cologne – one of the leading international trade fairs for sports and leisure facilities. Architects, planners, local authorities and companies will meet there. IAKS Germany will also disseminate the winning designs within its extensive network. The ideas will thus find their way into numerous architectural offices, administrations and companies in the sports facility sector.
For the participants, this means visibility, reach and the opportunity to position themselves in the professional landscape at an early stage. The competition sees itself as a platform to make innovative minds known – and shows that good design not only has form, but also a social function.
The background to the competition is serious: many sports facilities in Germany date back to the 1970s and 1980s. They were planned according to the logic of competitive sport and hardly meet the requirements of inclusion, everyday exercise or informal meeting places.
We are therefore looking for concepts that respond to the changed realities of life: the lack of exercise in the population, social isolation and the desire for flexible use. The brief explicitly names these problems – and calls for a creative debate.
Architecture thus becomes a tool that not only reflects social change, but actively shapes it.
The IAKS competition wants more than just functional sports facilities. It is looking for ideas for sports facilities that are also recreational areas, learning spaces, meeting places and exercise areas. The real task, the expert jury and the broad visibility make the competition a worthwhile opportunity for anyone who wants to get to grips with the sports facility construction of the future.
You can find further information on registration and the full competition brief here on the IAKS Germany website.
