Sports Hall near Milan by Giulia de Appolonia

A basketball court, a retractable stand for 350 spectators, changing and storage rooms and a bar for spectators on the upper floor: the spatial programme of the new sports hall in Olgiate Olona, near Milan, was rather unspectacular. Nevertheless, architect Giulia de Appolonia from Brescia found a concise form for it. She divided the building into two parts: The lower part, reserved for the athletes, is made entirely of fair-faced concrete, while the upper part is a steel structure with a delicate plastic skin.

The division of the structure into two sections also characterises the interior. The grandstand seats up to 350 spectators. © Filippo Poli

The two parts are also staggered: On the entrance side, the steel structure cantilevers over the facade, forming a kind of portico over the two main entrances to the hall. One of these leads to the dressing rooms on the ground floor, while the other gives access to the bar on the floor above. At the rear of the building, we find the reverse image: Here the plastic facade recedes behind the ground floor to make way for a roof terrace.

View through the facade on the entrance side. The spectators' bar is located here. © Filippo Poli

There are four changing rooms and showers in the lower part of the building. Further changing rooms, including those for the referees, are located in the entrance area of the building. On the upper floor there is a small warm-up room next to the bar. Giulia de Appolonia describes her design as follows: „The two levels represent the relationship with the earth and with the sky: a heavy and opaque basement constructed in prefabricated concrete that roots the building on the ground and protects the sport space and a translucent volume realized in polycarbonate and glass that enters diffused light and establishes the relationship with the sky, also thanks to its high camouflage value to reflect the different colors of the sky and transform chromatically depending on the hours of the day.”