Cantilever Stands – Athletics field

date: 1995 – 1996
client: Atletica Lecco
Colombo costruzioni spa, Lecco
object: Cantilever stands – athletics field at the Sports Centre “Bione” in Lecco
size data:
Module length 2.20 x 6.00 m
project stage: Preliminary, definitive, executive project

The project proposal for the new cantilevers can be interpreted as a first strengthening intervention both on the functional and on the image level of the Sports Centre itself. The project is based on the idea of integrating the cantilevers with the nature of the site and at the same time on the need to give the structure a strongly communicative image.
We thought of linking the cantilevers to the idea of playing and of the sports activities tied to the natural elements marking the site (sailing, hang-gliding, pole-vaulting, hurdles): sunny, recreational, but tough activities, to be carried out using light, but resistant tools. Main vehicle of this message are the structures of the roofing themselves. They are conceived like big light wings, resting on the existing “shoulder” stands, made up of a “vertebral” structure, marked by the rhythm of constant strides and protected by a translucent membrane that reacts against light and wind (toughness and lightness).
The shelter modifies its static attitude as a function of the single or double stands, without changing the underlying structural approach. The “bridge vertebral” solution is necessary also to the ends of integrity of the existing stands. It namely allows leaning to the ground only in four points, inserting itself into the existing structural framework, thus avoiding complex adjustment interventions on the structures.