Constructively, the new project is built on the old skeleton of the incomplete works of the Luis Navarro Amorós Velodrome, recycling its concrete structure, building the main pavilion with facing grandstands on both sides of the track and with an underground passage over which a pavilion for a cycling school has been included, but it is the great red piece of "origami" that folds over the track that attracts all the attention and captures the character of the project.
Description of project by Crystalzoo
Novelda is a town in the interior of the province of Alicante, which has always had cycling associations and important figures in the world of cycling. It is an area of small hills, dedicated to the exploitation of the nearby marble quarries, which have made it internationally famous.
In the '50s the local cyclist Luis Navarro Amorós won a stage in the Vuelta Ciclista a España, being the driving force behind this sport in the town until in the '80s the town council planned a velodrome, where the young local promises could compete, but whose works were never finished, becoming an unfinished concrete skeleton, one of the many that mark the Spanish territory. Where the Olympic medallist Julio Alberto Amores, every weekend, would sneak in, and after cleaning and tidying up the track from the weekend's botellones, he would start training.
To reactivate this project, we considered how to intervene in the existing construction, a vandalized and very deteriorated structure, with the remains of bonfires and overcrowded with graffiti. It had to be a minimal project and we decided not to renounce the history that had been lived in this space. The project incorporates the concept of ruin, together with that of architectural recycling, generating a new opportunity for an abandoned and forgotten building, which is given value through a tight project due to its low budget.
We showed the naked reality of the time that has passed through the velodrome, these forty years should not be ignored and we wanted them to form part of the new reality of the project. A truth, sometimes uncomfortable but it should serve as an example for future generations. We fitted out the old tunnels that connected the complex with the pelouse (the central area of the velodrome).
The concrete, which has been worn away by the passage of time and subsequent vandalism, designed to be covered, is shown here as it is, highlighting its materiality. We curated the existing graffiti and worked on top of them, using veils and layers of paint with geometric motifs, generating our own graffiti that cover part of the interior spaces, which accompany us on our inner journey.
Above the underpass, we have placed a small pavilion for the members of the cycling school. The piece is conceived as a red origami that, like a game, folds over the track, generating a shaded space that emphasizes the action by magnifying the existing ruin.
A small icon, a symbol of the resilience of the local cyclists, who with their example have managed to give value to the old ruin of the velodrome, for future generations of athletes and who thanks to their tenacity have been able to see closed a dark chapter in the history of sport in Alicante.
