The Arena Liga Portugal: aiming for SMART design

The new Portuguese Football League headquarters – Arena Liga Portugal – is a high-profile, prestigious project located in the city of Porto. LAIII was presented with a brief to deliver the architectural vision of a 'floating' cube against a challenging programme, incorporating a diverse range of uses, including office space, auditorium, museum, sports hall, and a vast green podium. The result is a striking head office whose structural design, detailing and complexity are masked by the simplicity of its concept. As engineers, we see ourselves as more than just designers. We believe true value can only be delivered if we share common drivers with other stakeholders and work together to create answers that balance our overall goals, to arrive at the most suitable solutions possible. Throughout the design process, our main goal was to ensure we reached a cost-effective solution for Arena Liga Portugal, by balancing design drivers; in particular, we sought to avoid jeopardising the project vision in any way. This mindset was particularly important during the early stages of the design process. At this point, not only are the opportunities to create an impact the greatest, and the ideas the most abundant, but the exploration of these is the most rewarding. The challenge was to find the 'best' design options for the project. The best structural design is something that is very difficult to define and achieve, since every stakeholder has its own definition of 'best'. Some might define it as the most efficient in terms of cost and time/programme, while others judge it in terms of performance or sustainability credentials. There is not a single correct definition. The best solution is the one that gathers the most value among all the stakeholders for a given project. The entire building aims to be a fluid and open space, with strong links to the city and the local community. Arena Liga Portugal HQ will be an urban beacon, visible day and night. Expected to be completed by the end of 2024 as a landmark institutional building that is simultaneously a sports, cultural and leisure facility. it will raise the profile of an area of the city that is sometimes forgotten.