AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.12.2003, Side 45

A Sporting Field
in Tussols-Basil, Olot, Spain by the
Architectural Practice RCR
Halldóra Arnardóttir, Art Historian, and Javier
Sánchez Merina, Architect
The architects of this recreational
and sporting field remember that
they „carried out this project in the
face of considerable opposition from
athletes on one hand, and environ-
mentalists on the other. The former
did not want dny trees and the latter
did not want any tree to be cut
down.“
The small town Olot, north of Girona,
Spain, is surrounded by nature and
volcanoes. Tight oak forests have
prospered there for hundreds of
years. The plan for this area, from a
time when environmental issues had
not yet come to fore, called for a
sporting field in a tight woods of
white, slow-growing oak trees. This
is where a confrontation between the
sporting union and the environmen-
talists took place.
One party, the sporting union, want-
ed a sporting field where trees would
not prevent a clear view of the
judges over the area. The other
party, the environmentalists, wanted
the trees to be left unharmed. The
sporting union then reiterated that if
the relevant rules were not adhered
to, the result would be that organ-
ised competitions would not be
recognised within the union. The
group of architects, RCR (the archi-
tects Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem
og Ramón Vilalta) were faced with
this dilemma when the mayor pro-
posed that they should find a solu-
tion which could intermediate
between these two opposing groups.
Properties of The Games
Instead of trying to reach a compro-
mise, and before marking the first
line in the woods, RCR Architects
decided to study the behaviour of
people towards sports. With this
objective in mind, they went back to
the origin of the ancient Olympic
Games in Greece. The Games were
held out in nature on Mount
Olympus, to the glory of Zeus, for the
first time in 776 BC. From that time,
all the way to the reign of
Theodosius the Great, who banned
the Olympic Games in 394 AD, the
Games emphasised two aspects:
religion and health. When the Games
were revived towards the end of the
19th Century, the emphasis was only
on bodily health, in the belief that
moral and mental development was
based on a healthy body.
RCR Architects set to recapture the
original atmosphere of the Games
and developed a proposal for an
area for modern sport and social life.
Their first undertaking was therefore
to look for a site where a dialog
between these two roles intended for
the sporting field could take place,
creating an environment where
nature and sport could not be sepa-
rated.
New Value of the Oak Forest
The architects found a suitable clear-
ing in the woods for the location of
the sporting field, where cultivation
had formerly taken place in two
areas separated by tall trees and
vegetation. They were sufficiently
large for two 400 m. rings, with six
lanes and necessary equipment for
sporting practice. Although the origi-
nal brief went against the demands
of the environmentalists, it was pos-
sible to plan the competition tracks in
such a way that the oak trees could
be protected, simultaneously meet-
ing the strict demands of the sports
union for good visibility over the
tracks. The seats of the judges were
placed in certain positions along the
track so that they could perfectly
supervise the contestants. This also
added to the excitement of the spec-
tators to see the contestants appear
and disappear in turn between the
trees.
This play - to appear and disappear -
already existed at the edge of the
town when the project had been left.
Although the sporting field was not
visible from the footpath, visitors
are guided along through other sens-
es - vision, hearing, smell and touch
- preparing them for an unusual
experience. Spectators sit on basalt-
coloured concrete steps that both
look like small planes and small
benches in the clearings. Tall towers
give off interesting light where they
stoop and carry on a conversation
with the trees, giving the site focus
at the same time. Concurrently, a
small steel unit opens, containing a
small bar and storage. The oak
wood is a place that can be enjoyed
both by spectators and sportsmen
viewing sporting practices and com-
petitions. They can even take a bath
in the river Fluvia by a changing hall
designed by the same architects.
The changing hall has another simple
support structure of iron and steel,
with a small bar and changing
rooms. This opens out, permitting
the trees to form their natural eleva-
tions.
The woods contribute to the experi-
ence of the sporting field. This
aspect guided the design develop-
ment of RCR Architects during the
project. The spectator cannot give
a definite answer as to what is natu-
ral or man-made untii deciding on
the place where he or she watches
practice and competitions out in
nature and fresh air, or comes with
his or her family to enjoy the running
tracks amongst the oak trees. The
trees are participants. They play in
the wind and change with the sea-
sons. At the beginning of October,
the trees distribute cones on the run-
ning tracks. Then they loose their
wave-formed leaves, green on top
and silver-coloured on the underside.
The old oak trees are the material
used for this project. They have cre-
ated a new reality which combines-
the attitudes of their visitors to the
environment and sport. ■
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