Lazy Architecture

In the last day or so the ‘3D Athletics Track’ in Alicante, Spain track seems to have reared its head again on the social media-sphere.  The image of a track with a bump in it, which caused me mild annoyance earlier this year is being touted as inspirational genius.  To you I call it lazy architecture.

Designed as a novelty by Subarquitectura Architects, I believe that this overpriced $2m venture completely misses the point not only of athletics, but also of design, proven by their own words in stating their inspiration: “Designing an athletic track could get you as bored as when you are running on it: curve, straight, curve, straight, again and again.”  Additionally these comments serve to diminish running by suggesting that it’s dull and needs token gestures to increase interest.  Anyone involved with the sport will tell you that this is not necessary. 

[Aerial view of the ‘3D Athletics Track’, Spain.]

An athletics track has but a few principles to adhered to: it should be a circular, measured distance, flat, and feature an impact-absorbing surface.  Subarquitectura, however, refer to your standard athletics arena as being “…without any fissure to let your imagination soar.”  But really it is they that are guilty of this, with a piece of very lazy design.  At first glance it’s momentarily exciting, but it could be so much more.

The separation of the lanes into five orthodox, and five providing a 25 metre hill, is in concept fine, but is a starting point if you want to create a space which is both aesthetically novel and functional, something which has not been achieved here.  I can’t perform my 400m repeats using this bump, or knock out  some mile reps, and the undulation isn’t long enough or frequent enough to make it a useful hill session or provide a challenging threshold run. 

The architects have missed an opportunity to expand their concept and should have designed say four or five of these mounds of varying gradients or lengths.  Next perhaps they could maybe have explored a different surface more suitable to the application they are trying to achieve; grass for example, with a reinforced foundation to prevent wearing of the surface through constant use and allow better cushioning for athlete’s joints.  Finally, this would provide an opportunity to link with the ample grounds of this sports facility to expand into more potential routes for runners.

[Conceptual sketch showing how the design could easily and usefully be expanded.]

This space would provide a mixture of a useful orthodox track, encased by an undulating and varying terrain: a true multi-purpose track to run round, which links with the surrounding landscape and draws nature into the arena, creating both a useful and novel space to train in. 

Oh and finally, a message to those architects who still seem to refuse to consider designing using trees: the wind is a cruel mistress which we weary runners like to hide from if it’s not too much trouble!