Pallejà Sports Center
Identity creator
Can an open-air hall redefine an entire sports area? In the Pallejà sports center, the floating roof becomes an architectural challenge to functional arbitrariness.
Design:
JPAM City Makers and Masala Consultors
An open-air hall as a new centerpiece
For a long time, the Pallejà sports center was one thing above all: functional. Playing fields were lined up next to each other, outdoor facilities were added and over the years a sporting conglomeration without a clear center emerged. It was only with the new open-air hall that the facility in Pallejà, in the province of Barcelona, acquired a distinctive architectural identity. And a real center.
Designed by JPAM City Makers and Masala Consultors, the open-air hall now functions as a connecting element of a newly organized sports landscape. Large and small playing fields were organized around the roof like a chessboard.
Color becomes a guidance system: it zones, connects and creates orientation. A clearly structured, coherent space is created from many individual parts, which naturally brings together the sports and spectator areas – open, inviting and yet precisely defined.
The floating roof
However, the real statement of the project is the roof. It is far more than just a roof, it is both an architectural expression and a symbol of identity.
From the outside, the construction looks like a protective shell without sealing off the site. Perforated metal cladding encloses the hall on three sides, but remains below the full room height. This maintains the connection to the city and landscape: Sport, urban space and nature intertwine.
Perception changes under the roof: the shell becomes a filter. It does not block out the surroundings, but lets them fade softly into the background and focuses the view on the sporting action.
In terms of construction, the hall also focuses on tension: metal and concrete form a deliberate interplay of robustness and lightness. Slender concrete slabs support the sides of the roof, while the corners remain unsupported.
This creates the illusion of a floating roof – a “floating force” that lends the building a surprising elegance despite its dimensions.
On the street side, the roof is slightly inclined, subtly reducing its dominance. Towards the open landscape, on the other hand, it rises and opens up the view of the Llobregat valley. The open-air hall thus becomes not only a shelter for sport, but also an architectural framework for the landscape.
Night Fever
As night falls, the Pallejà sports center is transformed once again. The light from inside makes the hall appear like a glowing lantern: visible from the city, present in the public space. The transparency of the construction is now particularly emphasized, its lightness is staged.
This open-air hall is therefore far more than just a functional addition. It links sport and the cityscape, creates identity and strengthens the public perception of the entire area.
A purely functional facility has been transformed into a place with architectural aspirations – a project that shows how sports infrastructure can become a driving force in urban development.
Project data
(Links are underlined)
Planner
Building owner
Pallejà Town Council
Opening
2020
Address
Avinguda de L’Onze de Setembre 1
08780 Pallejà
E – Barcelona
Photos
Jordi Surroca
JPAM
Obra
Text
Johannes Bühlbecker
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