Sports 05
Padel Court Design
The padel court itself is a manufactured product — you buy it, you do not design it. Which means the entire design job is everything around it: where the courts sit, which way they face, how people watch, and whether the clubhouse is big enough to make the place profitable.
Padel clubs and multi-court facilities · rooftop and podium installations · courts added to existing sports and hospitality campuses · indoor and covered facilities · clubhouse and social space. Concept design, siting, planning and 3D visualisation.
A padel court is 20 m long and 10 m wide, enclosed by glass and mesh walls that are part of the court system rather than the building. Net heights, wall heights and the clear height required above the court are set by the International Padel Federation and vary with competition level — take them from the current edition before you fix a roof height or a canopy. Everything that decides whether the club works sits outside that 20 by 10 rectangle.
In most racquet sports the back wall stops the light. In padel it does not — the enclosure is glass, so low sun passes straight through the court and into a player’s eyes from behind the opposite baseline. A broadly north–south axis is the starting point, and where the site forces another orientation, screening or planting on the low-sun side has to be planned rather than added after complaints. Reflections in the glass are a second, related problem: light sources and bright surfaces behind a court appear in play.
Courts placed side by side need genuine separation, not a shared wall line — players and balls both use the space between. Because spectators watch padel through the glass rather than over a fence, viewing positions are a real design decision: a raised deck or a first-floor lounge overlooking two or three courts is worth more to a club than seating at court level. Lighting masts must stand outside the playing envelope, on foundations coordinated with the court slab, and must not appear in the players’ sightlines through the glass.
Padel is a social sport with short, four-player bookings and high turnover. The revenue does not come only from court hire — it comes from the people who arrive early and stay afterwards. A club with excellent courts and a cramped clubhouse underperforms a club with the same courts and a proper lounge, café and terrace. Get the ratio right at concept stage: court count sized to the catchment, social space sized to the court count, and changing capacity sized for the overlap between one booking leaving and the next arriving.
Open courts are cheapest and lose sessions to weather and heat. A canopy buys back playing hours and introduces structure over the court, which brings clear height and lighting into the same decision. Fully enclosed padel is loud — glass, hard surfaces and a hard ball — so acoustic absorption at high level belongs in the concept, not in a later complaint. In Indian conditions the covered option usually pays for itself in usable hours.
Site test and court capacity study · orientation and glare strategy · court layout and circulation · viewing and clubhouse planning · lighting and canopy strategy at concept level · conceptual architecture · 3D visualisation and boards.
Pickleball Court Design
Sports Facility Planning
How Much Land Does a Sports Complex Need?
How much space does a padel court need?
The court is 20 m by 10 m including its glass and mesh enclosure, but the facility needs more: genuine separation between adjacent courts, circulation, viewing positions, and lighting masts standing outside the playing envelope on foundations coordinated with the court slab.
Indoor, covered or open?
Open is cheapest and loses hours to weather and heat. A canopy buys those hours back and brings clear height and lighting into the same decision. Fully enclosed padel is loud — glass, hard surfaces, a hard ball — so acoustic absorption at high level belongs in the concept rather than in a later complaint.
How many courts make a padel club viable?
It depends on catchment, but the ratio matters more than the count. Padel is a social sport with short, four-player bookings and high turnover, and the revenue comes from people who arrive early and stay afterwards. Courts sized to catchment, lounge sized to court count, changing sized to the overlap between bookings.
Which way should padel courts face?
Broadly north–south. Unlike most racquet sports the back wall is glass, so low sun passes straight through the court into a player's eyes from behind the opposite baseline. Reflections in the glass are the related problem — bright surfaces and light sources behind a court appear in play.
Confidential Capability
Detailed Design & Technical Documentation — developed for selected client engagements and kept strictly confidential. Working drawings and client-specific technical documents are never published online.