The Can Ricart Municipal Sporting Complex is located in the heart of the Lower Raval, in Barcelona, a zone that has undergone several important renewal projects in the past few years.  The installation, important for the revitalization of the neighbourhood in its traditionally most degraded zone, was designed by the architects Pere Buil and Jordi Fornells, of VORA Architecture and the design won the 2006 Bonaplata Prize for intervention in Industrial Heritage.

One of the characteristics of the building is its main space, open and well lit, where the pool is located.  It establishes intense visual relations one side with Sant Pau Park , which is slightly elevated with the old Sant Pau del Camp Church; and on the other side a generous interior patio which opens to the back façade of the building.

The Project team’s concern about an excess of direct solar radiation inherent to the use and proposal of the main spaces of the pool at Can Ricart, required a detailed analysis and specific proposals to reduce the possible effects of overheating while minimizing the loss of the abundant natural lighting.

Taking as a basic setting the design of the architects Pere Buil and Jorid Fornells, AIGUASOL carried out various dynamic simulations of thermal behavior for the main spaces and the skylights, in order to find the optimal solutions in terms of energy savings and economic investment.  Specifically, the types of transparent enclosures, the types of window films needed to act as solar protection as well as the ventilation.