Caja Mágica
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| Location | Madrid, Spain |
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| Capacity | 12,442 (Estadio Manolo Santana) 3,500 (Court 1) 2,500 (Court 2) 250 (court 3-9) |
| Surface | Clay, Outdoors |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 2004 |
| Opened | 8 May 2009 |
| Construction cost |
USD $ 392 million EUR € 294 million |
| Architect | Dominique Perrault |
| Tenants | |
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Madrid Masters (ATP 1000) (2009–present) Real Madrid (2010–2011) Spanish Olympic Committee |
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La Caja Mágica ("The Magic Box'"), also known as the Manzanares Park Tennis Center, is a sports structure located at the Park Manzanares, used for the Madrid Masters tournament in Madrid, Spain. Madrid’s Olympic Tennis Centre, designed by leading French architect Dominique Perrault, was inaugurated in 2009.
There are three courts under the one structure, and a series of retractable roofs. The main stadium has a seating capacity of 12,442. There are two smaller courts in the structure, with Court 1 able to hold 3,500 people, and Court 2 to hold 2,500 people. The seating capacity of Courts 1 and 2 would have been increased if Madrid's bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics had been successful.
In the 2010–11 season, it was the home stadium for the Real Madrid basketball team. In January 2013, it was the Madrid venue for the 2013 World Men's Handball Championship.
It can also be used for concerts and shows. It was the venue for the 2010 MTV Europe Music Awards held on November 7 of that year.
The “Caja Mágica” concept [1] encloses sports and multi-functional buildings but opens up and shapes itself to the various uses projecting a changing and lively silhouette in the cityscape. Its mobile and vibrant skin filters the sunlight, serves as a windbreak and shelters the sports halls in a lightweight shell.
The “Caja Mágica” with three indoor /outdoor courts with covered area for 20,000 spectators, 16 outdoor courts, five courts with a covered area for 350 spectators each, six practice courts, a pool, headquarters for the Madrid Tennis Federation, a tennis school, clubhouse, press center, stadium boxes and other private areas and restaurants. Built areas, made of steel, aluminum, concrete and glass, are organized around a vast artificial lake over which volumes of varying sizes are scattered, like islands or fragments of nature beckoning strollers. At the lake level, there are spaces for the players and the support services: training, receptions for VIPs, press center, technical installations. Eight meters above, at the street level, there are spaces for the public and services aimed at the audiences on match days or at other events. Inside, the tennis arenas are adapted to the different uses of the complex. The roofs of the three indoor/outdoor courts are giant mobile slabs mounted on hydraulic jacks, which serve to partially or totally open the three roofs to allow for passage of air and sunlight or close them to avoid exposure to the rain or other hazardous weather conditions. The three aluminum clad roofs together provide a combination of 27 different opening positions. The movements of the roofs on the scale of the immense structure throw a giant living shadow onto the landscape. Even in the worst weather conditions, Madrid’s Olympic Tennis Centre can hold a minimum of three simultaneous matches, the first tennis premises in the world to offer such flexibility, and the only ones in the world along with Melbourne Park. This versatility allows it not only to celebrate almost any kind of sports meeting, but also a significant number of other events, such as concerts, political meetings, fashion shows, etc. Perrault’s signature, metallic mesh, which envelops the “magic box” filters, is reflective or opaque, depending on the time of the day. In daylight, it shimmers. At night, light radiates from within, signaling the events underway inside. A special mesh design has been newly developed for this project.
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