General Programme

Technical Centre

Being the main core of the complex, the Technical Centre is a building that assembles distinct functions: technical, administrative and sporting.

The main entrance is located in the intermediate storey of the building and is designed to promote a screening of the accesses referring to the different types of users.

This floor allows access to the distinct storeys and it is also meant for the administrative and technical/sporting direction block.

Therefore, the first floor is meant for continuing users and visitors, with an access to the grandstand, computer rooms and to the press boxes.

It is also provided with a covered tribune for 65 individuals, as well as with a restricted room with bar support.

All the sports related facilities are installed in the specific entrance for athletes: athletes’ changing rooms, toilets, and locker rooms (6), trainers’ (2) and referees’ (2). It also encloses a first-aid cabinet.

Besides this programme, the same floor also comprises a gymnasium.

All teams present at the complex are supported by several linen rooms. The remaining floor area is used for technical facilities and support services, such as a laundry room and a workshop.

The building has a vertical access column, designed for users of reduced mobility, where all the lawful safety rules were ensured, and it is the object of a specific project, which is to be subsequently delivered.

Outdoor Sports Facilities

Besides the main field, the outdoor sports facilities include an athletics track, an artificial lawn field, a Futsal field, two tennis courts, a multi-sports covered complex and two paddle courts. All these fields and courts are served by connecting pedestrian paths.

The main field (105x68m), is composed of natural grass and it is directly articulated to the Technical Centre, it has two rows of seats and it is surrounded by an eight lane’ athletics track.

Located in the southern area of the complex, the artificial lawn field has the standard dimensions of 90x60m, rows of seats that accommodate 80 sitting people and an independent outside access.

The remaining sports fields are located north from the main field; they develop in different portions so that the platforms can coexist in harmony with the surroundings in naturally drawn slopes, thus making the most of its magnificent framing.

Parque da Ribeira (Ribeira Park)

In conceiving a garden for the outside areas north from the Sports Centre, one has attempted to avoid an excessive visual partitioning of the different spaces.

The open space, with its recreational and leisure areas and the marking of paths (pedestrian and cycle track) with arboreal and shrubby alignments, constitute the main principles of the intervention.

Supporting the outside activities, a bar with an esplanade and sanitary facilities was built as well.

Auto-silo da Ribeira (Ribeira Parking Lot)

From the municipal road, one accesses the Ribeira Parking Lot through a ramp. The car park has a capacity for 123 parking spaces (including four spaces for users with impaired mobility), and it is expanded in the subsoil in one single sloping storey.

The site’s topography has allowed assimilating the volumetry of the building; its covering is gardened and paved, thus retrieving a new leisure spot for the urban park.

The site moulding expresses a principle to which the vegetation responds, and it ends in a transitional space – the water mirror. With an area of approximately 450 m2, this ornamental fountain has coloured lit sea motifs.

The garden area is thus bordered by water in a lower level and by a shrub line in a higher level, which, in turn, concludes the transition from the garden to the outside car park (25 parking places). Inserting shadow casting species in the parking area portrays the basic principles of this intervention.

 

Building Aspects

 
In a general way, only the latest building techniques and quality requirements were employed in the building of this complex, always bearing in mind its longevity, as well as the extreme comfort conveyed to its users.

All rules and regulations applied to the conceiving of a sports complex of this nature were observed, namely the rulings of the Instituto do Desporto de Portugal (Portugal Sports Institute) and the binding safety rules.

 

Conclusion

 
The distinct levels of practicality and the plain reading of several space employments are articulated in a consistent whole and add up advantages, thus contributing to the implementing of a Sports Centre that is fit to account for a large number of needs and expectations.