Stožice Training Pavilion
The pavilion by the auxiliary football fields in the Stožice Sports Park is the first completed structure of the long-planned public park within the wider Stožice Sports Complex. Commissioned by the City of Ljubljana, it inaugurates a family of future pavilions, each foreseen to host a different program and to gradually populate the park with facilities that address sports, recreation, and everyday public life.
This first pavilion was built to accompany the auxilary football fields, providing players with the essential facilities they lacked until now: changing rooms, showers, and a dedicated support and recovery space. Separate areas are reserved for referees and coaches, ensuring the building responds to the full ecosystem of the sport. Compact in size yet precise in function, it allows smaller football teams to fully prepare for training and games on site.
The main design idea evokes the impact of the earth shifting—two planes of concrete pushed apart as if by a subterranean force end up framing a timber volume, almost like a precious find revealed by the rupture. This split, at once violent and precise, establishes the character of the pavilion: a simple, yet impactful gesture.
Externally, the building is wrapped in a ventilated façade of laminated panels. Arranged in a rhythmic grid, the panels create a dynamic optical effect: as the viewer moves, the lines alternately break, align, or overlap, producing subtle shifts in appearance. This interplay of order and disruption lends the pavilion a sense of stability that is never static, echoing the movement and energy of the sports taking place around it.
The interiors are equally considered. Wooden finishes bring warmth and tactility, while roof windows punctuate the ceiling to admit daylight and enable natural ventilation. These passive strategies reduce the need for artificial lighting and mechanical cooling, contributing to the building’s energy efficiency. Although built from robust materials such as concrete and laminated panels, the pavilion demonstrates sustainable principles through its compact footprint, long-lasting construction, and reliance on natural light and air.
Beyond its direct service to athletes, the pavilion activates its surroundings. Landscaping with new benches and tiled areas extends the program outdoors, creating a zone where companions, visitors, and passers-by can gather, wait and watch the games. What was previously open ground has become a place of gathering—an informal public space woven into the life of the sports park.
In architectural terms, the pavilion is both modest and assertive. Its scale is small, but its expression is strong: simple yet distinctive, functional yet symbolic. By establishing the character and architectural language that will guide future pavilions, it plays a big role. The Stožice Training Pavilion thus serves not only as a facility for football but also as a signal of the park’s next chapter—where sport and public life meet within a coherent and lively urban landscape.
