Georgia Bills

This community sports centre in Porto is a socially driven architectural response to the city’s pressing health challenges, where 65% of residents over 15 are physically inactive and cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of death. The project seeks to promote long-term behavioural change by embedding physical activity into daily life through thoughtful spatial design.

Architecturally, the scheme integrates a pre-existing rockface into the building, using it as a natural anchor point for a triple-height climbing wall that defines the main entrance space. The building navigates a complex level change on site, using terracing, voids, and carefully composed circulation routes to create dynamic spatial relationships between programmes. Visitors are drawn through the building via a sequential journey that reveals each sport - climbing, squash, badminton, and paddle - allowing for layered visual and spatial connections between active zones.