WAF World Architecture Festival 2008 - category sport

Sports Hall Bale won the first prize in Sports category at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona on October 23rd 2008. Next to the strong competitors such as the Wembley arena, Water Cube Olympic Swimming pool and the Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Centre, the small sports hall from Istrian town Bale has won the harts of the jury.
Sports Hall Bale is an example of contemporary architecture well embedded into traditional context. The local dry stone wall motif has been reinterpreted in new technology - RC prefabricated elements used for the whole surfacing of the sports hall. Being the second largest building after the church, besides as a sports venue, sports hall is used as a public facility for various social gatherings and community meetings.
According to the jury quality in architecture exists at all scales, so they did not consider that physical size was crucial to a projects' success, nor was iconic status or global recognition. The most important question to ask was this: which project, irrespective of its scale, can have the greatest positive impact on the life of the community that it serves, no matter how small or how big that community? 
By winning this prize Sports Hall Bale entered the competition for the World Building of the Year award, along with 16 other category winners. The award ceremony will be held today at 8:00 PM, and followed by World Architecture Festival closing ceremony.