Built | 2007 | Jaca (Huesca, Spain) | The City of Jaca Hockey Arena has been the most representative facility of the European Youth Olympic Festival of Jaca 2007, the first Olympic event in the Pyrenees. Two ice rinks allow the pavilion to celebrate hockey, figure skating, short track and curling competitions, being simultaneously a recreational ice center.
The building has reinforced the relevance of the ice in the city of Jaca. It has regenerated an undeveloped area of the city and it has become a successful reference of the Future of Jaca.
Through the spirit of the First Winter Games, held outdoor at the foot of Montblanc in Chamonix in 1924, the project suggests the idea of natural landscape recovering its great relevance in the current indoor sportive activities.
The Dome takes the strength of the nearby Oroel Mount and the Pyrenees peaks, and meets directly the ground without any sort of façade. As a drop of water, the content is contained by no container at all.
The membrane is perceived as a soft crystal of Ice, and it must be crossed to accede, like a natural experience.
This membrane groups roof, facade, structure, lightning, electrical, security and air conditioning systems (the latest included into the main structure), and organizes the movements and uses of the pavilion.
Under that delicate efficient shell there is only concrete, brick and ice, with no constructive details.