SPORTS CENTER - FRANCISCO DE VITORIA UNIVERSITY -

POZUELO

While the larger box houses a sports halls, the smaller volume contains multi-purpose teaching rooms, a gymnasium and a basement swimming pool.  

Alberto Campo Baeza designed the "restrained" building to align with the existing campus buildings, observing maximum height restrictions. The sports pavilion, which has a footprint of 60-by-50 metres is described by Baeza as "a large translucent box of light".  

While the walls on the southern dihedral of the sports pavilion, which are more exposed to sunlight, are enclosed in a prefabricated panel of glass fibre-reinforced concrete, those of the northern dihedral are realised in translucent glass. Meanwhile, the southwestern facade features a low strip of transparent glass, creating a link with the main square of the campus. This feature is repeated on the north eastern facade facing the upper patio, creating a visual relationship between the square and the sports complex. 

A grid of white-painted steel pillars and beams on the building's facades and trusses support the enormous roof span. The remainder of the structure is in reinforced concrete with wide angled beams installed over the swimming pool area in the basement. 

Photo credits: Javier Callejas.