Zanatepec Sports Centre

Zanatepec Sports Centre 

AIDIA STUDIO

Zanatepec Sports Centre
© Rolando Rodriguez Leal

ARCHITECTS
Aidia Studio

CLIENT
Sedatu

PROJECT LEAD
Jose Luis Mulás

MANUFACTURERS
Acerocid, Cemex, Comex, Construlita, Grupo Joben, Innovacero

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Rolando Rodriguez Leal, Natalia Wrzask

PHOTOGRAPHS
Rolando Rodriguez Leal

PROJECT TEAM
Nitze Magaña, Ernesto Pinto, Aranzazu Sánchez, Cecilia Simón, Rodrigo Wulf

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Project & Calc

PROGRAM
Plan Maestro, Deportivo

SITE AREA
629182.86 Ft2

AREA
75056 Ft²

YEAR
2022

LOCATION
Santo Domingo Zanatepec, Mexico

CATEGORY
Recreation & Training

Zanatepec Sports Centre
© Rolando Rodriguez Leal

Text description provided by architect.

This intervention consisted of restoring the facilities of the sports centre in the municipality of Santo Domingo Zanatepec, Oaxaca, in the Istmo of Tehuantepec Region.

The site is characterized by fields of fruit trees, especially mangoes, and views of the western mountains of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas.

Zanatepec Sports Centre
© Rolando Rodriguez Leal
Zanatepec Sports Centre
© Rolando Rodriguez Leal

The local soccer league maintained a professional field and an amateur field; however, they did not have the basic services that should accompany sports spaces such as a grandstand for spectators, locker rooms, public bathrooms or commercial premises.

The objective of the project has been to provide this complementary equipment, as well as an access plaza, a 400m athletics track around the football field and a 1km perimeter path for runners and visitors.

Zanatepec Sports Centre
© Rolando Rodriguez Leal
Zanatepec Sports Centre
© Rolando Rodriguez Leal

Children's play areas and spaces to practice calisthenics were also provided.

The main building houses dressing rooms for two teams on its ground floor with showers, lockers and bathrooms, with direct access to the field.

Zanatepec Sports Centre
© Rolando Rodriguez Leal
Zanatepec Sports Centre
© Rolando Rodriguez Leal
Zanatepec Sports Centre
© Rolando Rodriguez Leal

Likewise, on the ground floor there is a cafeteria and bathrooms for spectators connected through a portico that provides shade and protects visitors from the sun.

The grandstand at the top is accessible via centralized stairs and via side ramps for wheelchair users.

With capacity for 400 spectators, the grandstand is roofed with a modular metal roof made of hyperbolic paraboloids. 

Zanatepec Sports Centre
© Rolando Rodriguez Leal
Zanatepec Sports Centre
© Rolando Rodriguez Leal
Zanatepec Sports Centre
© Rolando Rodriguez Leal

This geometric configuration provides rigidity and lightness at the same time, providing unobstructed views towards the soccer field in front and the basketball court in the back.

The project plays with the contrast between a massive base made of pigmented concrete from which a light metal structure rises.

The final touch is provided by the parquet finish of the concrete, the lightness of the white ironwork railings and the parota wood details of the lattices and pivoting doors of the lower portico.

Zanatepec Sports Centre
© Rolando Rodriguez Leal


Zanatepec Sports Centre
© Rolando Rodriguez Leal
Zanatepec Sports Centre
© Rolando Rodriguez Leal
Zanatepec Sports Centre
© Rolando Rodriguez Leal


Zanatepec Sports Centre
Plan - Ground floor
Zanatepec Sports Centre
Plan - 1st floor
Zanatepec Sports Centre
Plan - Roof
Zanatepec Sports Centre
Plan - Site


Zanatepec Sports Centre
Elevations 01
Zanatepec Sports Centre
Elevations 02


Zanatepec Sports Centre
Section 01
Zanatepec Sports Centre
Section 02
Zanatepec Sports Centre
Section 03


Zanatepec Sports Centre
Details 01
Zanatepec Sports Centre
Details 02