The space for users is covered with the projection of the roof of the stand, which dematerializes becoming a pergola. The management and administration area is arranged at a height to visually control all the activities on the premises. In this way, in its final section, large horizontal openings are projected, that allow us to observe the playing fields The locker room, gym, and infirmary area is concentrated in a single module, whose interior, divided into two levels, adapts to the topography of the land.
During the design process, several premises in terms of environmental sustainability have been followed, such as the use of pre-existing structures, the use of reversible and recyclable systems and the incorporation of passive conditioning or low-consumption strategies. Likewise, the construction of the set has been raised from an industrialized model using quick-assembly prefabricated systems and light envelopes.
San Juan Bosco stadium by Nd Arquitectos. Photograph by Nd_Arquitectos.
San Juan Bosco stadium by Nd Arquitectos. Photograph by Nd_Arquitectos.
Project description by Nd_Arquitectos
(1) A stadium that creates a city.
The stadium is located in the northeast of the city of Utrera, next to the Consolación Boulevard, bordering the municipal sports center and the fairground park. Following a recent intervention, the boulevard has been consolidated as a fundamental axis of public space that provides continuity to the urban fabric towards the new fairground and the Consolación Sanctuary.
The state of conservation of the existing facilities made a complete renovation necessary. Thus, a comprehensive renovation of the previous stadium is carried out, in which practically only the playing field is maintained. The new complex is conceived as a multifunctional center that develops a broad program that allows for the management of activities both at the level of municipal schools and football clubs, sports practice, and leisure areas.
The project is based on a design strategy that responds to the urban environment in which it is inserted, through the use of elements, each with their own shape, that solve the intended program, conveying continuity, opacity, transparency, and theatrical background, as appropriate. Formally, it has three external façades (Consolación Boulevard to the southeast, Soleá Street to the southwest, and Camino de la Espiritista Street to the northwest) and a separating wall between the playing field and the municipal sports center.
San Juan Bosco stadium by Nd Arquitectos. Photograph by Nd_Arquitectos.
The facade facing Consolación Boulevard is configured from an appropriate series of elements with a clear sense of order defined by a starting element (a wall covered with profiled sheet metal) and a development defined by an inclined visor made of smooth sheet metal with a curved surfaces top textile wall that alternate their geometry with perforated sheet metal planes. This modulation provides movement and breaks the linearity of the vertical plane. The formal unity of the complex is defined by its geometry and the continuity of the materials used, becoming a visual element of appeal and definitive configuration of the public space.
The façade facing Soleá Street is similar to the previous one, although the lower part is configured with an almost transparent enclosure (mesh), in order to give visual continuity to the system of open spaces and the fairground that borders the stadium.
The façade facing Espiritista Street, a secondary road for vehicle traffic, serves as the background of the complex, closing off to the exterior and opening to the interior, with the incorporation of a new building for changing rooms and a gym for the club.
The separating wall with the sports center is resolved with the creation of the new administrative building, elevated above the secondary grandstand and toilet modules, whose image corresponds to that of an open capsule towards the stadium, allowing it to always be a reference point.
San Juan Bosco stadium by Nd Arquitectos. Photograph by Nd_Arquitectos.
(2) Design strategy.
The new façades, designed as differentiated and independent elements that respond to the urban environment, inserted in the inherited limits of the original plot, generate free spaces for circulation/interaction between the playing field and the pieces that make up the new program. In this way, connections are established between the program elements, the interior circulations and the accesses, thus forming a unit that provides coherence to the whole. The use of similar construction systems and an uniform color palette supports the previous idea.
A direct relationship could be established with projects such as the Convent of the Dominican Sisters in Media, Pennsylvania, designed between 1965 and 1969 by Louis Kahn or the Social Science Research Center in Berlin designed by James Stirling in 1998. In both, as in the stadium, a series of buildings are connected in a chain and enclose a space like a "courtyard". A circulation is established between the different buildings that closes a complete ring, enabling the joint use of the different pieces, despite their formal singularity or independent uses.
San Juan Bosco stadium by Nd Arquitectos. Photograph by Nd_Arquitectos.
San Juan Bosco stadium by Nd Arquitectos. Photograph by Nd_Arquitectos.
(3) Spaces, Forms, and Materiality.
A zoning based on singular elements is established, which accommodates the different facilities and installations necessary for the proper functioning of the stadium. The following basic spaces are proposed:
Space for users.
Delimited by the main entrance, the covered grandstand, and the visually permeable façade, it borders C/ Soleá. This space houses a store and club facilities, ticket booths, restrooms, a cafeteria, and accesses to the grandstands. It is the public gathering space prior to matches or other public activities when there is no match.
The space is completed with the projection of the grandstand roof, attached to the façade on C/Soleá, which is dematerialized and becomes a pergola reminiscent of a long tradition of public circulation spaces that began with the great metal structures of the 19th century.
Industrialized construction systems, lightweight and quick to assemble, based on metal frameworks and sandwich panel and textile membranes, have been used. Through the use of parametric software, both the necessary materiality and the manufacturing and assembly processes have been optimized.
San Juan Bosco stadium by Nd Arquitectos. Photograph by Nd_Arquitectos.
Management and administration area.
Located on the boundary with the sports center. It is arranged in height to have visual control over all the activities of the venue and to establish a relationship of transparency with the neighboring sports center.
Thus, in its final section, large horizontal openings are projected that allow observing the two playing fields of the nearby venues.
Under the first-floor slab, the lattice structure that solves the floor is observed along with the lines of double supports that continue to propose visual relationships both with the tradition of large metal galleries and with contemporary forms.
At ground level, secondary grandstands and public restroom modules are located. The press area is located in the first-floor gallery, including the installation of television broadcasting equipment for matches, public address systems, etc.
Although the building can be understood to have a design aligned with the mid-20th century Modernity (building on supports, horizontal openings, etc.), it has been constructively equalized to a contemporary capsule in the same way as in other buildings such as the Lord’s Media Center designed by Future System between 1994 and 1999 in London or the Botín Center by Renzo Piano built in 2017 in Santander.
Through an industrialized process, it has been designed as a lattice platform raised on supports, on which a light roof is supported, solved with a framework of tubular profiles and lightweight industrial and in situ sandwich panel envelopes. For the slabs, systems based on wood-derived products have been used, avoiding the use of reinforced concrete and thus contributing to the sustainability of the solution. As indicated, the materials chosen for the outer leaf of its envelope, lacquered smooth sheet metal, contribute to providing a futuristic image of the whole.
San Juan Bosco stadium by Nd Arquitectos. Photograph by Nd_Arquitectos.
Locker room, gym, and infirmary area.
Located next to C/Camino de la Espiritista, on the corner with C/Soleá, it concentrates all the space for supporting sports practice in a single built module. Externally, it solves one of the entrances to the venue, giving continuity to the textile façade visor. Inside, divided into two levels, it adapts to the topography of the terrain. On the first level, 4 equipped locker rooms are solved, and on the highest level, a gym-fitness room and an infirmary room.
The elevation of the gym has been designed to be completely transparent so that the playing field is the visual reference at all times. Construction-wise, it is resolved with a framework of steel tubular profiles that are wrapped with metal sandwich panels on both the façades and roofs. Skylights arranged on the roof provide an adequate level of lighting during daytime hours. Six vacuum tube plates are included, which, along with an aerothermal pump, provide hot water to the entire facility with minimal energy consumption.
San Juan Bosco stadium by Nd Arquitectos. Photograph by Nd_Arquitectos.
(4) Environmental sustainability strategies.
The following premises in terms of environmental sustainability have been followed since the design process:
- Reuse of pre-existing structures (part of the main grandstand, part of existing facade walls, and lighting towers) in order to extend their life cycle as much as possible.
- Use of lightweight, quick-assembling, reversible, and recyclable systems: spatial meshes with textile membranes, frameworks with sandwich panels with backings and self-supporting partitions of laminated plaster panels and frameworks with textile membranes, and folded sheet metal visors on façades. The use of these indicated systems of materiality and optimized construction procedures reduces the energy incorporated into the different processes compared to traditional construction systems (masonry works).
- Incorporation of passive conditioning strategies in all elements: natural lighting, avoidance of direct sunlight, natural ventilation, and insulation and air chambers with ventilation control. In this way, the demand for energy during the use of the different projected spaces is reduced.
- Incorporation of low-consumption active conditioning elements: forced ventilation in the roof, incorporation of evaporative coolers, and use of solar accumulators supported by aerothermal equipment. As in the previous point, the demand for energy during the use of the different projected spaces is reduced.
The calculation of the environmental impact (GWP, risk of global warming in Kg CO2 equ) that occurs during the Life Cycle of the projected buildings demonstrates that it is reduced by 48.68% compared to other conventional and/or habitual construction systems.
San Juan Bosco stadium by Nd Arquitectos. Photograph by Nd_Arquitectos.
San Juan Bosco stadium by Nd Arquitectos. Photograph by Nd_Arquitectos.
(5) Construction definition. Industrialization process.
Both the construction design and assembly process have been conceived based on an industrialized model, following the premises below:
- Definition of the final form of each element from optimization processes based on parametric software.
- Choice of structural systems based on lightweight meshes and metal grids, which are optimally compatible with lightweight envelope systems.
- Use of lightweight envelopes based on metal sandwich panels in building façades and roofs, and textile membranes in grandstand façades and roofs.
- 3D modeling (Cad/BIM) of all elements, including installations, with a high level of definition.
- Collaboration with the industry for the fabrication of the different elements in a workshop, requiring the workshop to have structure definition software such as Tekla Structures or similar.
- Definition of element seriality in the workshop according to fabrication, transportation, and assembly possibilities.
- Fabrication of as many elements as possible in the workshop to minimize excessive assembly of parts on site.
- Assembly of fabricated elements on site through primarily bolted connections.
