Title: Virginia Beach Sports Center
Location of Proejct: Virginia Beach, Virginia
Project Completion Date: 2020
Firm Name: Hanbury

Short Description: The new Virginia Beach Sports Center is a vital part of an overall Central Beach District Master Plan to diversify offerings at the beach, complementing recreational and regional historic options/venues as a year-round destination. The design uses color, form, and materiality to reflect a sense of place unique to the area’s beach culture and community and celebrate a prominent identity and ever-changing presence to the community and visitors. Within the first month of opening there were 54 events already booked and it appears the new VBSC is destined to secure Virginia Beach as a prime sports tourism destination.

Architect's Statement: Established as a vacation and tourism destination, the Virginia Beach Oceanfront is a vibrant area during the warm spring and summer months but lacks activity in the colder shoulder
seasons. The new Virginia Beach Sports Center is a vital part of an overall Central Beach District Master Plan to diversify offerings at the beach, complementing recreational and regional historic options/venues as a year-round destination. With
this new facility sports tourism is poised to deliver significant benefits to the Hampton Roads economy.

Winter athletic events will put “heads in beds” during the normally slow tourist season. Adding national-level sports tourism to the Convention
Center Campus and the adjacent Vibe Creative District—which includes a growing mix of farm-to-table culinary experiences, locally sourced artwork, and a future four-block Entertainment District centered around a world-
class surf park—creates a sustainable urban beach lifestyle for the local community and a cultural destination for the out-of-town visitor.

The design uses color, form, and materiality to reflect a sense of place unique to the area’s beach culture and community. The combination of metal panel finishes, glazing types, and orientations are intended to create a prominent identity and ever-changing presence to the community and visitors. The site as a community resource is intended to communicate at all scales.

The Sports Center, as its top priority, is intended to support and empower the local community: as a year-round economic driver, as a positive site remediation to an existing parking lot, and as a destination to be proud of. Bringing accessible athletic and cultural events to downtown Virginia Beach offers the opportunity for local residents to participate and be inspired by new experiences. As the Center’s community intent is realized, the hope is that the integrated relationship between the Sports Center and the community continue to grow and reinforce local opportunities.

The design reinforces community access with a focus on transparency - activities are not ‘hidden’ behind a solid exterior wall but become an active presence along the façade. Physical activity become an accessible and integrated part of the community fabric.


The Sports Center’s design approaches well-being with two primary strategies: access to daylighting and a connection to nature. Indoor and outdoor environments incorporate these values with a strategic combination of view and translucent glazing.

The daylighting strategies are not isolated a few high-impact areas, but used consistently throughout circulation, gathering, and event spaces. This holistic approach creates an equitable and pleasant environmental for all occupants. Also, a seamless approach to building and site planning enables a continuous connection between indoors and out. The relationship is set up with the plaza and entry sequence and reinforced throughout the central gathering and amenity spaces.

Together, these strategies provide a holistic approach to well-being that is flexible for a variety of user experiences both throughout the year and on long event days.

In response to both civic and fiscal responsibility, the design was developed with community involvement – finding efficiencies wherever possible and creating unique experiences within that context. Vibrant gathering, amenity, and plaza areas stitch the larger event spaces in a way that activates and engages visitors.


The new Sports Center has already placed Virginia Beach among the top national sports tourism destinations after just a few months. Designed with NCAA Track & Field organizers to facilitate hosting NCAA and World Indoor Track & Field competitions with seating for over 4,500, the event center is the largest multipurpose basketball/volleyball/wrestling indoor facility on the East Coast. The venue, designed in congruence with the City of Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau, Public Works, Planning, Economic Development and the City Manager’s office is already placing Virginia Beach at the top of every indoor tournament sponsor’s list. Within the first month of opening there were 54 events already booked including the NCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championships for Divisions I, II and III between 2021-2025, and it appears the new Virginia Beach Sports Center is destined to secure Virginia Beach as a prime sports tourism destination.