La Sagrera Sports Center, Barcelona
1st PRIZE Competition

The volumetric proposal of the complex aims to establish continuity with the urban approach of the island, with volumes aligned to the street, freeing an interior block as an empty, public and recreational space. The idea is to align a low-rise building (PB + 2) on Bonaventura Gispert street, freeing the maximum space on the south façade, well sunny, for the solarium beach area and swimming pools. A prudent distance is established with the volume of the new Campo del Hierro facility and the existing housing block.

The implementation strictly follows the guidelines of the competition rules regarding the location of the building within the buildable areas given the existence of the electrical substation.

A compact, sustainable, economical, functional, flexible and energy efficient building is proposed. With the minimum footprint on the plot to free up useful outdoor space.

The building adapts to the existing topography and the resulting different platforms reinforce the independence of the main uses; swimming pool area, paddle tennis area and gym area.

A plinth of ceramic material is integrated into the dominant materiality of the environment and supports the light and compact prism containing the sports halls. This lightness allows a smaller volumetric presence in the built environment.

The main access is from the highest level of the plot, from the newly created public space that communicates with the new Campo del Hierro sports facility. This fact favors the concentration of people at the entrance of the center, with greater road safety (by access of minors) in the absence of road traffic, better visual control of access and at the same time reinforce with citizen activity a space that will serve as a new public square of the various facilities. It is through use that the new facility is opened up in the neighborhood.

There is no vertical movement of the great mass of users of the swimming pools, these users remain at the same level of the street and the subscribers go up to the first or second floor according to the use.

Inside the Sports Center, the accesses are generous and intuitive, with a ladder for subscribers and another one that allows direct evacuation, both in a single vertical core. The internal circulation circuits are planned with adequate dimensions and all of them with natural lighting, including those on the first floor at the level of the changing rooms.

The program is resolved in a single, compact and energy-efficient volume, with the relevant clearances appropriate to the surroundings.

The arrangement of the program in height ensures better lighting and natural ventilation given its depth (15 m) and better passive climate regulation, through a double facade with protection to the south, which incorporates more or less presence of vegetation depending on the seasonality and needs of use.Vegetation in areas where sports activities take place is a highly recommendable element, a trend that is leading to a whole generation of bio-healthy gyms (light-ventilation-nature).