In the architect Alberto Campo Baeza’s recent extension of the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria campus on the outskirts of Madrid, two programs with very different needs have to share the same space. A sport pavilion and a classrooms complex. Two boxes are proposed which are opposites materially but support each other on a single base, which opens and closes to the exterior, depending on orientation and the location of other significant public spaces. The facade facing the central square is completely permeable, thanks to an uninterrupted horizontal band of doors and openable glass panes. A similar one opens a floor above to connect the tiers of the pavilion with the roof of the base, which serves as a raised plaza. The rest of the enclosure is settled with a grid of translucent glass that illuminates the interior space homogeneously.

The pavilion’s structure is built with steel: a grid of pillars and beams in facades and trusses to take care of the large spans of the roof. All painted white. The rest of the structure is reinforced concrete, with the uniqueness of thick beams over the basement space of the swimming pools, always aiming for a high degree of sobriety and formal restraint. Through its volumes the building adapts to the way the campus is arranged in terms of maximum heights and alignments.