Pan 2007 - Modern Pentathlon Center

The Deodoro Sports Complex was designed for the 2007 Pan American Games considering, from the start, as its legacy, that the competition venue and program would be appliable to similar competitions – such as the 2016 Olympics.

We sought to minimize the double-function spaces (in other words, spaces that needed to be adapted for the event and that would subsequently take on another function). Thus, the program was defined as a cluster of buildings and definitive equipment that would enable other official competitions to take place there (reginal and world championships, Olympics, etc) as well as ordinary, easy to maintain, day-to-day use (training center, sports school, etc). The temporary installations, which would have their structures and equipment stripped away after the Games, were to be linked to an infrastructure network of accesses and installations to be designed along with the definitive installations, making the complex able to host further sports events in the future.

Therefore, the National Shooting Sport Center, the National Equestrianism Center and the pool from the National Modern Pentathlon Center already meet the requirements for international competitions, and only need small adjustments and additions.

The project deals with complex matters in a unique suburban context, that involves, in the same region, an organized and neatly-planned military neighborhood, a highly dense low-income urban agglomeration, an industrial area amongst middle-class neighborhoods and a vast and exuberant natural landscape. With its new installations and infrastructure betterment, the Deodoro Sports Complex will undoubtedly become a formidable patrimony for high-performance sports practices, stimulating local usage and with the potential to catalyze a general revitalization of a suburban area of great significance to the city.

Modern Pentathlon Center

The Modern Pentathlon Center is basically the complementation of Deodoro Complex’s program with the construction of the olympic pool and its supporting areas (changing rooms and technical areas), since the other trials of this modality (racing, shooting, equestrianism and fencing) happen in the Shooting Center and the Equestrianism Center.

The pool was implanted in an available area in the same existing club that will be responsible for maintaining the Hockey Center, where there was already an existing pool and social infrastructure for its users.

Because of the distance between the groundwater and the surface, the pool could not be buried and had its bottom elevated relatively to the existing ground’s level (previously a soccer field). Thus, the apparent concrete volume rises as another edification within the landscape, with its ground floor sheltering changing rooms and technical facilities. A series of ramps, embankments and stairs give access to the pool itself, circulating existing trees and integrating into the club, thus redefining its borders.