Mathers & Co designs new Wimbledon viewing platform

Mather & Co is designing an interactive viewing platform for Wimbledon’s Centre Court, which will allow visitors to view it from angles including the umpire’s chair, and the commentary and royal boxes.

The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum originally appointed Mather & Co in 2002 after a four-way pitch against Land Design Studio, Event Communications and Hodges Associates.

The exhibition design group scooped a contract to masterplan the museum, which opened in 2006.

The museum then retained Mather & Co, which remodelled the retail areas at Wimbledon last year, and is now designing the CentreCourt360 platform.

CentreCourt360 will project over the court near ground level, accommodating about 30 people. It will operate 11 months of the year and be disassembled for the championships. Touchscreens set below the windows will afford viewers digital panoramic photographic views of the court.

‘We had lots of ideas, including dramatic pods, but an important part of the brief was that it had to be taken down for the championships and be replaced with seating,’ says Dan Procter, Mather & Co project designer.

‘It has a drum-like structure with ten sides that slot together, and can fit through a pair of double doors,’ he adds.

Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum commercial manager Ashley Jones says, ‘This and Mather & Co’s other work here is about rebranding Wimbledon as a progressive venue, rather than the traditional place that people often consider it.’

CentreCourt360 will open on 1 August, three months after the launch of the Centre Court’s translucent retractable roof, designed by Populous, previously known as HOK Sport.