The new Roig Arena, designed by international firm HOK and Valencia-based studio ERRE on behalf of the client Licampa 1617, forms a key part of a wider urban intervention in the Quatre Carreres district of Valencia, Spain. The 58,500-square-metre multipurpose venue is home to the men’s and women’s Valencia Basket Club teams and adjoins a two-hectare public park. Financed entirely by Spanish entrepreneur Juan Roig, founder of Licampa 1617, the project aims to create a civic and entertainment centre intended to support development in Quatre Carreres, promoting the district’s evolution as a destination for sporting, music, cultural, and corporate events.
Urban integration and public realm
Designated a pedestrian-priority zone, the approach to the arena incorporates stepped terraces that connect interior circulation with outdoor spaces. The main entrance is accessed through a newly urbanised 20,000-square-metre boulevard leading to a grand staircase framed by “The Eye” — this large-scale dynamic media display on the north-west facade measures 48 metres wide by 10 metres high.
Terrace-like corridors wrap around the building at different levels, creating open-air gathering spaces and reinforcing the connection between the arena and its surroundings.
“Roig Arena is a celebration of place. The design embraces Valencia’s distinctive culture and climate, creating a shared civic anchor and metaphorical living room for the city,” said John Rhodes, director of Sports + Entertainment at HOK. “Inside, the building’s unprecedented flexibility, intimate seating bowl, and technological innovation create a truly immersive experience.”
Ceramic facade and elevated circulation
Roig Arena is the first sports venue to feature a fully ceramic exterior. The facade comprises 8,600 project-specific ceramic fins designed by ERRE and locally manufactured by Pamesa Grupo Empresarial, arranged like scales over a double-curved steel structure.
A full-scale prototype demonstrated the feasibility of the system. The fins were developed in the studio as a single modular element measuring 1 metre by 1.2 metres, with a dotted relief referencing a basketball’s surface and finished in three blue glaze tones. Parametric modelling defined the placement and inclination of each fin, with angles between 10 and 63 degrees. During the day, the fins provide shade, reduce heat gain, and allow natural ventilation for the terraces. At night, the RGB-White LED video-lighting system can interact with real-time data to generate dynamic lighting effects.
“From the very beginning, we were clear that we wanted an architecture that engaged with the city and could be experienced even before entering its interior. This vision is materialised in the design of the wide corridors that wrap around the building like terraces, protected by the iconic ceramic fin facade that filters sunlight while maintaining visual connections with the surroundings,” say Jose Martí, Amparo Roig, and M. Ángeles Ros, partner architects at ERRE. “The result is a fluid and organic circulation that creates pleasant outdoor gathering spaces where people can meet and share the excitement of the event before stepping into the court.”
Sustainable strategies
The design responds to Valencia’s warm Mediterranean climate, where summer temperatures exceed 30 degrees Celsius. Passive cooling strategies reduce reliance on mechanical air conditioning: large overhangs and shaded terraces minimise solar gain and building orientation supports natural ventilation. An underground reservoir manages excess stormwater runoff, while landscaped zones are shaped with slopes that guide water towards central basins. The building incorporates 1,742 rooftop photovoltaic panels and the project prioritises locally sourced materials, including ceramics characteristic of Valencian craftsmanship.
An optimised seating bowl
The seating bowl was optimised using Scrum, HOK’s proprietary parametric design platform developed in Grasshopper, the integrated parametric modelling environment for Rhino 3D. The platform enabled rapid configuration of seating geometries, court proximity, hospitality areas, and sightlines. The arena accommodates 15,600 spectators in basketball mode and up to 20,000 in concert mode, with multiple tiers, premium boxes, and VIP areas.
Flexible interiors and operations
The interior programme includes meeting rooms, a press area, kitchens, and a 1,200-square-metre auditorium with dedicated technical infrastructure. These spaces allow the building to accommodate a range of event formats beyond sports. Four column-free loading bays and direct truck access to the main court are integrated into the plan, supporting large-scale production requirements. Facilities for the men’s and women’s Valencia Basket teams are provided in duplicate, with equivalent layouts for training, recovery, and operations. The seating bowl incorporates integrated audiovisual infrastructure, including a central video scoreboard and perimeter LED displays.
Structural and acoustic systems
The roof structure comprises eight prefabricated trusses, each 123 metres long — assembled at ground level, they were lifted into place by cranes. Each truss can support up to 180 tonnes, enabling the arena to host large-scale international productions. A one-metre-wide insulated cavity separates the seating bowl from the exterior walls to reduce sound transmission. The team collaborated with international consultants on acoustic optimisation, with a focus on optimising the sound system according to the spatial geometry of the main court and minimising areas of acoustic reflection.
A wider urban project
Roig Arena forms part of a broader urban intervention designed by ERRE. Adjacent projects include the two-hectare Parc de l’Afició, the 8,000-square-metre public school CEIP Les Arts, and the 32,000-square-metre Roig Arena high-rise parking building with 1,034 spaces.
