“Moisés Ruiz” Sports hall. Almería. 2002

1st. Prize in Competition.

The building, of almost 6,000 m2, responds to a complex program that incorporates sports and administrative use, based on three fundamental principles, that were already present in the initial ideas of the contest:

In the first place, it should be a versatile building that would house the greatest number of sports uses and especially the competitions of rhythmic gymnastics and fencing of the XXV Mediterranean Games, Almería 2005.

Secondly, we wanted it to consolidate the urban space where it would be located, creating a powerful and contemporary urban image that would be integrated into the environment.

Thirdly, we wanted to respect the existing palm grove and integrate it into our proposal. Thus, the building is set back leaving space for the palm trees. In this way, the palm grove is maintained but integrated into the new building.

The result has been a large volume, compact and rational, that contain the sports space and the administrative uses and some exterior volumes, which embrace the former and soften the meeting of the pavilion with the urban space.

We were concerned about the large measures of the main volume, 60 x 50 x 16 meters, and their encounter with urban space. As a consequence of this, arise those outer parts, which we referred before, of longitudinal development and that function as a large base that give the necessary scale to the whole set. After all, architecture is almost always a problem of encounters and measures, and in this case it is not different.

The big box is developed on three floors in L form, from where you can see the central track of 51×32 m which will have a capacity of 1750 people. On the ground floor are the dressing rooms, heating and multipurpose room.

The first floor is intended for administrative purposes.The second floor is reserved for another multipurpose room (VIP room, archives, …) and the installation of a caffee-bar with an excellent views of the city and with the possibility of using an outside terrace. All the spaces are perfectly communicated and are easily accessible through the numerous ramps and connections that exist between them.

Architectural tours, both interior and exterior, have been emphasized in the conviction that they will contribute to the visitor and user to acquire an easy, quick and complete understanding of the whole.

Finally we would like to outline the protagonism that acquires the zenith light in the whole performance qualifying the interior spaces, which together with the different cross views give the whole a fluid atmosphere that accentuates the character of the building.

TECHNICAL DATA SHEET

Project: “Moisés Ruiz” Sports hall
Location: Road Ronda s/n, Almería
Promoter: Diputación de Almería
Finalization: Year 2007

Architect: José Ángel Ferrer
Technical Architect: Manuel Alonso

Collaborators: GMT y Secoal
Contratist: Bauen empresa constructora
Photography: Jesús Granada

Total Cost: 2.092.028,03 €
Constructed Area: 6.522,35 m2

Publications:
Magazine “Almería Guía de Arquitectura”. Almería. 2006
Magazine “Arquisur”, March 2004