Pontevedra Municipal Sports Hall

Pabellón Municipal de los Deportes
Full name	Pontevedra Sports Hall
Location	Pontevedra, Spain
Coordinates	42°26′12″N 8°38′29″W / 42.4366°N 8.6415°W
Owner	City Council of Pontevedra
Capacity	4,000
Construction
Built	1965–1968
Opened	1968
Renovated	2016
Architect	Alejandro de la Sota
Tenants
	SD Teucro

The Pontevedra Municipal Sports Hall (Pabellón Municipal de los Deportes) is an arena in Pontevedra, Spain. It is primarily used for team handball and is the home arena of SD Teucro. The arena holds 4,000 people. It is located in the neighbourhood of O Burgo.

History

The Sports Hall was designed by Alejandro de la Sota in 1964.^[1] Construction work began in 1965.^[2] It was inaugurated on 13 July 1968 by Juan Antonio Samaranch,^[3] National Delegate for Physical Education and Sports. A month later, during the celebrations of the Pilgrim Virgin, a concert was organised by Los Bravos, Los Silver Stones, Los Dobles and Karina with Los Pekes.^[4] The Sports Hall became operational in 1969. The first major competition to be held was the Latin Handball Cup in March 1969.^[3]

Since its inauguration, the Sports Hall has hosted concerts and different shows and important sporting events such as the Junior Handball World Championship in 1987 or the Handball King's Cup in 2005.^[3]

In 2022, an improvement project financed by the Higher Sports Council was presented with the replacement of the playing field, the paving of the building's perimeter, the rectification of the access ramps, as well as the renovation of the external railing and the electronic multi-sport score and time displays.^[1] In addition, solar panels will be installed on the roof to generate energy for self-supply.^[5]

The Sports Hall will also recover the original design by Alejandro de la Sota, replacing the roof added in 1986 with another similar to the one designed by the architect.^[2]

Description

It is an outstanding example of contemporary Spanish architecture. De la Sota designed the interior of the building as a light-flooded box, with an elegant and delicate structure, which creates a weightless effect of the spatial mesh of the roof. The roof is supported by corbels, balanced like a scale. It has a flat and translucent surface, like a skylight. In 2016, the City Council of Pontevedra commissioned the renovation of the Sports Hall's roof to restore the original appearance of the exterior, which had been modified in 1986.^[6]

The whole effect was covered with thin panels, which formed the outer volume of the building. The façade is made of large prefabricated reinforced concrete panels assembled on site with minimal thickness. The building shows great subtlety in the design of the timber roof truss and small construction elements such as railings, handrails and parapets.^[7]

The building has a reinforced concrete structure and four lateral towers with stairs to access the upper part.^[3] The prefabricated concrete façade has a characteristic small pebble finish.^[8]

Gallery

Façade
New translucent cover as in 1968
Interior of the Sports Hall in 2018
Futsal match in 2018
Goal

References

^ ^a ^b "La renovación de la pista del Pavillón Municipal recibe fondos estatales". Diario de Pontevedra (in Spanish). 14 September 2022.
^ ^a ^b "El pabellón municipal recuperará su diseño original 30 años después". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 28 October 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Una joya forjada como un pabellón". Diario de Pontevedra (in Spanish). 9 November 2022.
^ "Cuando los Bravos incendiaron el Pabellón La música pop fue la gran protagonista de las fiestas de la Peregrina de 1968, con una programación que causó furor entre las fans y los ye-yes de aquel tiempo" (in Spanish). 24 August 2014.
^ "Histórica reforma para el Pavillón Municipal dos Deportes de Pontevedra". Diario de Pontevedra (in Spanish). 28 October 2022.
^ "El pabellón municipal recuperará su diseño original 30 años después". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 16 February 2016.
^ "El pabellón municipal recuperará su diseño original 30 años después". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 16 February 2016.
^ "El Pabellón Municipal generará su propia energía con paneles solares". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 28 October 2022.

Bibliography

Aganzo, Carlos (2010). Pontevedra. Ciudades con encanto (in Spanish). Madrid: El País-Aguilar. p. 105. ISBN 978-8403509344.
López Torre, Rafael (2015): Filgueira Valverde. Crónica de una alcaldía (1959–1968), Concello de Pontevedra, D.L.: PO 314-2015 (es)
VV.AA.: Arquitectura Moderna en Asturias, Galicia, Castilla y León. Ortodoxia, Márgenes y Transgresiones (1998), C.García Braña y F. Agrasar Quiroga Ed. ISBN 84-85665-31-7