Kidz designs Doha jiu-jitsu academy around wooden amphitheatre

A glass-walled lecture hall modelled on a boxing ring forms the centrepiece of this jiu-jitsu gym in Doha, Qatar, which architecture studio Kidz has designed to be easy for children to navigate.

The sports club is the latest in a series of venues across the Middle East, created by the Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) sports club and GMNSM to teach children the Brazilian martial art of jiu-jitsu.

Located within the J22 Mall at the Al Jaber Twin Tower, the gym uses simple, geometric forms and a pared-back material palette to create a series of highly legible spaces.

"The idea is that children shouldn't get distracted by anything and at the same time they need to understand the space easily," said Kidz's project architect Ruben Movsisian.

"Big blocks and big ideas – everything was created for children's perception of the world," he added.

Visitors enter the facility from the mall through a glazed opening in a concrete-textured wall. Directly in front of the doors is a reception desk comprising three monolithic stone-clad cubic forms, with the GMNSM logo stencilled onto the wall behind.

At the heart of the space is a rectangular amphitheatre used as a lecture hall. The room's proportions and its elevated position are intended to evoke a fighting ring like the ones used in boxing or martial arts.

The lecture hall is surrounded by stepped wooden benches that provide casual seating for parents to watch training sessions and socialise while waiting for their children.

A series of dedicated teaching spaces surround the central zone, including one for children's classes with white tatami mat flooring and another for older groups with contrasting black surfaces.

The sports centre also features a ballet studio decorated in muted natural hues. Soft, diffused lighting from the backlit wooden ceiling contributes to a serene atmosphere that supports focused learning.

The existing unit featured rugged concrete and brick walls, along with a large skylight that extends from the entrance towards the centre of the space.

Kidz's decision to retain the raw, industrial feel of the space was based on budgetary constraints and a desire to prioritise more impactful details. It also has the added value of revealing how the services work.

"There is an educational benefit to leaving the utilities exposed," Movsisian explained. "Children can visually explore and understand how various systems function, a principle commonly applied in school and kindergarten design both locally and internationally."

The facility's various spaces incorporate branding elements that emphasise the collaboration between GMNSM and the PSG sports club.

PSG's logo is used to create a gradient screen around the lecture hall that enhances focus within the space, while the GMNSM logo features on the noren-style curtains that enclose the children's teaching area.

All of the furniture used throughout the project was custom-made, including the modular cubic seating elements that can be easily reconfigured to create various arrangements.

The geometric forms, prominent branding and industrial aesthetic are all elements used by Kidz for other GMNSM sports clubs in order to create cohesion across the different venues.

Other gyms that have recently been featured on Dezeen include an underground sports centre in Chile and a Kyiv dance studio made using "leftovers" sourced from around the city in the face of wartime shortages.

The photography is by Ruben Movsisian.

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