The City of Jaca Hockey Arena in Spain was originally conceived as a facility of the European Youth Olympic Festival of Jaca 2007, the first event in the Pyrennes.
The new pavilion, designed by the architectural team of Coll-Barreu Architects, stands out due to its innovative, avant-garde and emblematic character. Coll-Barreu’s proposal won the Ideas Tender summoned by the Jaca 2007 Foundation to which 17 prestigious firms in the country had been invited to participate. Five teams reached the final phase, all of which had an extensive trajectory in designing sports facilities although the winning preliminary plan obtained the unanimity from the judging panel.
The arena is housed in a low dome, which is formed by a membrane that alternates with an opaque, glass and steel surface. The creators have defined it as a ‘drop of water’ that evokes typical elements found in Pyrenees weather and which harmoniously integrates itself within the mountainous surroundings of the nearby Oroel Mount and the Pyrenee peaks.
The façade drops out of sight and the roof flows to the ground. In order to avoid the abrupt reductions of the need for acclimatization, the dome displays greater transparencies towards the north and is more protected on the south side. The pavilion has an ice surface of 2706 square meters, divided into two tracks; one for hockey, figure skating and short-track curling competitions with Olympic measurements and the other, smaller in size, for recreational and complementary uses.
“Through the spirit of the First Winter Games, the project suggests the idea of natural landscape recovering its great relevance in this kind of indoor activities,” said Coll-Barreu.
The project was completed in July 2008.
