Educare Sports Facilities
TEN Arquitectos

Photo: Jaime Navarro

TEN Arquitectos were commissioned to design a new, multipurpose gymnasium, that could be easily converted for ceremonies and celebrations, a swimming-pool, spaces for exercise, dressing rooms, and restrooms.

The master plan for the Educare Sports Facilities was influenced by the site's pre-existing structures, an old "adobe" warehouse and cistern, and the programmatic needs of Educare high school.

The project embraces the site and its history; the swimming pool occupies the void left after the removal of the cistern, the gymnasium was built on the pre-existing foundation.


Photo: Jaime Navarro

Photo: Jaime Navarro

The gymnasium is clad in white metallic panels that are automatically activated by climatic changes. Their response to the elements, to temperature, wind and rain, transforms the building, as they "breathe" and adjust to current environmental conditions.


Photo: Jaime Navarro

The upper part of the gymnasium volume is wrapped in a frosted glass membrane, which together with a dropped ceiling, filter and control the quality of natural light, reducing significantly the building's energy usage. The glass box serves as a night light for the pool and the school's adjacent soccer field.


Photo: Jaime Navarro

Photo: Jaime Navarro

The swimming pool is located to the south of a glass-block, bar-building that houses the exercise spaces, dressing rooms, and restrooms. A series of stone-clad walls define the other three edges of the pool enclosure, protecting it from strong and dusty northern winds, while providing additional privacy from people passing by.


Photo: Jaime Navarro

Photo: Jaime Navarro

The glass and aluminum aerobics volume hovers over part of the pool, visually illustrating how the diverse exercise spaces are linked programmatically. The various spaces and levels in the bar-building are linked by an exterior ramp.


Drawing courtesy TEN Arquitectos


Drawing courtesy TEN Arquitectos


Drawing courtesy TEN Arquitectos