Hampshire County Cricket Club’s decision to relocate from its cramped inner-city home presented a rare opportunity to design an entirely new County ground. The result is the Rose Bowl, an ensemble of buildings, stands and pavilions arranged around a sheltering earthwork bowl. The ground sits within a public park including a golf course and all-weather sporting facilities.

The shallow bowl stretches 150m in diameter, incorporating space for 20 pitches and surrounded by a four metre high earth berm. This ridge accommodates terracing for 10,000 spectators. Topped with a ring of trees, the intimate bowl provides acoustic and visual separation from the nearby motorway to the east.

In addition to the masterplan, the first phase included a number of key buildings. A four-storey Members Pavilion contains hospitality and viewing facilities and is topped by a distinctive tensile roof canopy. The Cricket Academy - a rectangular building with indoor cricket nets and other facilities – is located behind, linked to the Members Pavilion by a double-height atrium under a translucent foil roof. A nursery ground with its own pavilion and a golf clubhouse is positioned alongside the main arena.

Other entrances are marked by further tented structures. The masterplan allowed for the space between them and the pavilion to be infilled with extra hospitality tents and stands in further phases as the ground developed. Capacity is now nearly 25,000, and the ground has achieved test match status.