Architects: Espaço Cidade Arquitectos Location: Lisbon, Portugal Architect In Charge: João Silva Vieira Project Year: 2010 Photographs: Courtesy of Espaço Cidade Arquitectos
Collaborators: Diana António Muralha, Mónica de Freitas, Luís Portela
The Center for High Performance Athletics Jamor, for professional athletes, was planned taking into account the various forms of athletics sports, and in order to centralize the training activities with a high standard comfort to the user.
The functional program includes a speed track, long jump track, high jump track, pole vault track, shot put and discus throw field, plus a gym for maintenance and physical preparation, computerized physical monitoring office, social support and medical support.
The building is implanted in a 3.690m2 at the base of a slope in terraces which bear 50 feet high, and that due to its geological origin, forced a rigorous support and consolidation, which affected not only the accesses to building, but also the space available for the development of the building.
The formal and volumetric aspect of the building translates its interior and the specific conditions imposed by the different modalities, resulting three volumes, one is a longitudinal volume, with 10 meters high opened to the landscape, another with variable height that projects the interior of the racing track and the last one a “box” that articulates the other two and defines the entrance.
The materiality results in the dialogue of textures and color contrast with the diversity of the building, enhancing its opacity and transparency.
The materials employed were face brick in sight, representing the texture and color of the pre-existing clay soil, concrete in sight, pointing the structure materiality, and glass, allowing transparency and permeability to the building, especially natural light.
Integration into the sports complex of Jamor results in a series of interventions that have been developed over the last 6 years, involving not only the buildings but also equipped urban spaces providing an environment that reinforces the formal existence of the building.
