The covering of the sports fields of Can Butjosa aims to respond to an old complaint from the neighbors and users who only had an open track to carry out their sports activities. The general urbanization of the surroundings is carried out through a system of ramps that connect the levels of the street and the school with the existing changing rooms, ensuring the total accessibility of the equipment. Due to its nature as a building-canopy, the project opens volumetrically towards the main facade of the school and towards the northern pine forest, while reducing glare for greater comfort of use. The most protected area of the elements is located on the side that gives access to the changing rooms and a series of curved stands.
The existence of a reduced budget, a result of the general political situation, shaped the geometry and project solutions from the beginning. The principles of optimization of materials, sections and geometries have been sought to be the identifying characteristics of the project as a public work. The structure is a formally and structurally unitary set that adapts to a pre-existing context. The roof, made of folded sheet metal, is supported by a system of large-span Fink beam portals, made with prefabricated metal profiles in the workshop in order to reduce the execution time on site. These beams are supported by a large triangular longitudinal portal that allows one of every two transverse beams to be stilted, which significantly reduces the mass and cost of the structure while configuring the main facade of the facility.
The roof project incorporates passive and active measures in the design to promote a more sustainable relationship with its environment. The height of the roof was established to allow proper ventilation and prevent overheating of the playing area, without being subject to excessive glare. Two facades with sun protection have been provided to allow optimal use of the courts: on the southwest facade, an extension of the roof avoids the afternoon sun, while on the southeast facade a vegetated facade is provided to screen the morning sun. Specific energy improvement and control measures have also been planned, such as a system for collecting and reusing rainwater for irrigation. In its manufacturing and construction process, the recycled steel structure has been certified by the UNE-EN ISO 14021 certificate, guaranteeing sustainable production and construction, thus reducing the generation of CO2 on the site. The subsequent request to improve the acoustic performance of the Can Butjosa sports equipment led to a reflection on the urban fit between the new acoustic screen required, the existing equipment and the environment, in order to provide an ideal material and geometric response to the location, both in the functional and formal language areas.
The roof was an open construction with a desire to open up to the surrounding environment, which made it advisable not to use the standardized screens available on the market, forcing innovation with materials and solutions with the dual objective of guaranteeing the correct levels of insulation and acoustic absorption of the wall, and at the same time, integrating it into the nature of the pre-existing building to form a unitary and coherent whole.
