路易斯·纳瓦罗·阿莫罗斯自行车赛车场丨西班牙丨CrystalZoo

Architect：CrystalZoo

Location：Camino Azud, 9C, 03660, Alicante, Spain; | ;View Map

Project Year：2022

Category：Exhibition Centres

Novelda is a town in the interior of the province of Alicante that has always had cycling associations and relevant figures within the sports world in this discipline. It is an area of small hills, focused on the exploitation of marble quarries that have made it internationally known. In the 1950s, local cyclist Luis Navarro Amorós won a stage in the Vuelta Ciclista a España, becoming the driving force behind this sport in the town. In the 1980s, the City Council planned a velodrome where local young talents could compete, but the construction was never completed, turning into an unfinished concrete skeleton, one of many scattered throughout Spanish territory. Olympic medalist Julio Alberto Amores sneaked in every weekend, cleaning and tidying up the track from weekend gatherings, and then started training.

To revive this project, our studio considered how to intervene in the existing construction, a vandalized and highly deteriorated structure with remnants of bonfires and covered in graffiti. It had to be a minimal project, and we chose not to give up on the history that had been experienced in this space. The project incorporates the concept of ruin, along with architectural recycling, generating a new opportunity for an abandoned and forgotten building, highlighted through a budget-friendly design.

We showcase the naked reality of the time that has passed through the velodrome. These forty years should not be overlooked, and we wanted them to be part of the new reality of the project. Sometimes uncomfortable but serving as an example for future generations. We opened up the old tunnels that connected the complex with the pelouse. The concrete, bare from the passage of years and subsequent vandalism, originally meant to be covered, is presented here as it is, emphasizing its materiality. Existing graffiti were preserved, and we worked on them using veils and layers of paint with geometric motifs, creating our own graffiti that covers part of the interior spaces, accompanying us on our inner journey.

On the underground passage, we placed a small pavilion for the members of the cycling school. The piece is conceived as a red origami that, like a game, folds over the track, creating a shaded space that emphasizes the intervention by magnifying the existing ruin. A small icon, a symbol of the resilience of local cyclists, who with their example have managed to highlight the old ruin of the velodrome for future generations of athletes and, thanks to their perseverance, have been able to close a dark chapter in the history of Alicante sports.

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