New-look tennis stadium ready for Delhi Games
New Delhi, July 11: The new-look RK Khanna Stadium is ready for the tennis events of the Delhi Commonwealth Games. The refurbished arena was unveiled here on Sunday and the stadium’s eco-friendly features are already grabbing eyeballs.
“Since the very beginning of the project, the All India Tennis Association had emphasised on the use of green building features and we implemented the same to create environmental friendly structures,” said Gaurav Lakhanpal, the main architect and project manager of the stadia.
Herbal plants like neem, tulsi and amla have been specially grown in the campus to create a healthy environment. To add to it, eight pits have been dug for rain-water harvesting.
“We made a special effort not to cut any trees while renovating the stadium. Only three to four trees were removed, as we built a structure that could accomodate the rest,” Lakhanpal told this paper on Sunday.
Solar lighting to reduce running cost, self-closing taps and Intelligent Building Management System to help in energy management of air conditioning systems are the other environment friendly features of this venue.
As one of the venues which has hosted several international tennis events before, the complex has undergone a sea change. Earlier, there was just one main stadium court with two surfaces.
Now, it has been upgarded to provide state-of-the-art facilities for the October 3 to 14 Games and will have 14 courts (one centre court, one show court, six match courts and six for the practice).
The elements of local architecture with locally available materials such as red sandstone have been used with contemporary modern features to create an aesthetic blend, for the external facade.
“In comparison to other venues, the RK Khanna Stadium has been refurbished with a minimum budget (Rs 65 crore) and we are offering world-class facilities to the players and the media,” said Rajeev Khanna, planner and consultant of the stadium.
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