India Gardens

India Gardens is a Sports & Community Centre in Ealing for the Shree Kutch Leva Patel Community (SKLPC UK), an organisation supporting a number of charitable facilities for sports, culture and education.

Before Martin Evans Architects was appointed, various attempts over a 10-year period were made to secure planning on the site. This task came with many challenges — not least due to the site’s location within the greenbelt — meaning that any design or development in the area is required to take great consideration of its relation to site and location. This consideration affected not only the project’s scheme, but also it’s materials: The majority of the ground floor facade is designed to be clad in rammed earth — a traditional construction technique of compressing a mixture of gravel, sand & silt aggregates — to appear as though the building is part of the earth. Enveloped in a large sweeping green roof, the building is modern and subtle, its aesthetic derived from that of the community: ornamental coloured panels clad the facade with engravings marking the many different villages that the SKLPCs have emigrated from.

The proposed facilities include a central multi-use sports and community hall bound by two smaller sports halls, kitchen facilities, a football and cricket pavilion, and appropriate services at the ground floor. A large Gym, aerobics rooms, function rooms and viewing terrace are proposed for the first floor. The SKLPC are a growing community and this site has been their home for over 20 years: the purpose of the proposal is to update the existing under-utilised facilities and adapt the site into a comprehensive sports and community centre for the SKLPC and the wider community for many years to come.

Community Centre

Located in Ealing

2018