House of Football

The new «House of Professional Football»

Description
Considering the limitations of the current headquarters, the Portuguese Professional Football League decided to develop a new building, "The House of Professional Football", increasing its responsiveness, existing functions and creating new sources of revenue. The new headquarters will be built on a plot of 6172 m2, located at Rua Padre Diamantino Gomes, in Oporto, with an incredible sun exposure, which allows to fill the interior spaces with a quality natural light. The proposal is based on three key concepts :
1 — Implantation of a playing field, at the level of Floor -2, covered with wood

and glass veneers. This field is not closed, being surrounded by the buildings foreseen in the program and extending to the exterior green space of Floor 0, privileging the connection with the community and the public use. To reinforce this idea, the plot is fully open to the public, allowing the walking/exercise throughout the perimeter of the building (spaces for receiving the buildings) that touch Floor 0;
2 — Unification of the volume of the buildings listed in the Program Concept, enhancing the interconnection of spaces with similar uses and reducing maintenance costs of the building.

At the same time, different accesses are implemented at Floor 0 level, through different volumes, reaching the desired programmatic division;
3 — The use of a "skin" to surround the façades of all sizes, above Level 1, in response to the need to shade the glass spans of the façades and to strengthen the idea sought in the previous point. In this way, the introduction of the openings in the façades of this volume is concealed. Sometimes, the skin is interrupted to allow access to balconies/terraces or to highlight an area of the façade.