The Sombra Stadium
Youth and Women's Leadership Center
January 16, 2010

Entry 5875
Team members
Randy Shear
Claudia Peres
Chris Staggs-Design Collaborative
Mike Hand
Sam Assefa

Santa Cruz, Rio de Janeiro Brazil

The Site

After close review of the site we realized that the challenge was to foremost design challenge was create both a sports center and a destination place or park within the community, with little context the project had to create a context that supports both private and public activities and a place for the community. From the beginning the design tried to relate to the existing site which was divided diagonally, strengthen already existing pedestrian movements through the site, and create a varied width ‘avenue of champions’ (AOC), the street corridor would both act as an organizer for the whole complex but also be focus for the community. The two main fields where organized both to have correct orientation to the sun having close to north-south axis, which in turn will not allow sunsets to affect the players. The competition ‘Street football Stadium’ or the Sombra Stadium-a Shadow Stadium was located to the east side of the main circulation path and the larger practice pitch to the west, with the addition of a smaller ‘kid’ field for practice or overflow o. A trellis provides need shade for spectators and players on the practice pitch and connects across the AOC to create an more hospitable space for outdoor chess tables that will be relocated from the irrigation canal. There is also an elevated concourse connecting the project together and provide a connection all the elements of the project, connecting the elevated flexible meeting room, the seating stands and the observation platform above the practice field. The design also takes advantage of the slight east-west grading by locating the practice field on the higher elevation, having a natural stone retaining wall separate it from the AOC, In turn the AOC cuts though the site ramping up through to the middle of the project and is varied in width to funnel activity to the epicenter of the whole complex.

The Sombra Stadium

The challenge was to create a stadium that is both economical to build but provide comfort to the players and the spectators. With that in mind we created a solution of having a hung shade device, a local idea used by farmers in warm climates and made from local materials such as timber posts, hard woods and sheet metal louvers. With the high solar angles in Brazil, the shade device will provide enough shade to create a comfortable microclimate within the stadium and visual enclosure, hence the name the ‘Sombra Stadium’.

Most likely the artificial turf for the Street football court will be manufactured in another country and shipped by containers to a nearby port in Brazil, transported by truck to the site, with installation on-site. Understanding the process involved with shipping containers and the surplus of containers locally in shipyards most sitting empty, we decided to take advantage of the process, recycle the containers as a major components to the Sombra Stadium and the whole complex. The stadium seating is comprised of two sections each with 100 seats, which would allow teams to have separated fan sections and grandstand. Each section can also be shipped to the site in the container and have the container re-used to support the stadium functions-in this case the separate changing rooms for the teams.

The idea of reused shipping containers also became the theme used throughout the project. The project can also support the idea of an extended expansion plans for the future if needed. The containers also were stacked and interconnected to create an elevated community room on the south end of the stadium; the base built of local stonewalls holds facility offices, men/women/family washrooms and food concessions.

The Sport Park

Park especially ‘Sport Park Complexes’ can be major stimulus to a community and they are about the creation of a sport complex but also a beautiful park, green zones and landscape place within the whole area. People are attracted to the park for several reasons and the park becomes the focus of the community, its landscape is created with the wide variety of landscape elements from the region, local trees, plants, flowers and surfaces. The complex is organized around the main AOC and the surfaces will range from a hard pave stone for the main circulation to a variety of paths of crushed granite, and fields of local low water usage grasses that can withstand harsh weather patterns.

The Budget

Understanding the very small budget we want to provide you with complete vision of what the sport park can be in its extended development. We felt that the complex should be designed with the best ideas applied, and should not be compromised by monetary concerns but should be applied into stages of development. At the same time we understood that the creation of a sustainable project is possible with tight and small budgets. We also wanted to create a building that uses local materials within 500 mile/804 km, and take advantage of local building methods and materials, keeping costs to a minimum.