Rafa Nadal Academy, Mallorca

David Iglesias Serret 

Manacor, birthplace of Rafa Nadal, who has just won his tenth French Open trophy, is the city that the tennis champion has chosen as home to a huge high-competition sports center specialized in technical training for young athletes. As announced some months ago, Toni Nadal will no longer be coaching his nephew after the season ends, having decided to focus on the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar, the buildings and grounds of which are a work of the architect David Iglesias Serret. Strategically located between the urban core and the main sporting area of the Majorcan municipality, the 5-hectare premises feature two buildings where Dekton is the dominant cladding material. Over 40,000 square meters of Dekton provide the final finish for different areas, from facades to walls and floors via swimming pools and the spa, showing the high resistance and huge versatility of these ultracompact surfaces that can be as thin as 8 millimeters.

Aside from the courts for training, the Academy also includes a residence and school for young tennis players, as well as an L-shaped building with other sports facilities, museum, health center, restaurant, and spa.

The facades of the buildings are constructed entirely with glass and large-format Dekton slabs. Because of its non-slip finish, Dekton is also used to clad the floor surfaces of the balconies.

Thanks to its strength, impermeability, and high-resistance, Dekton floor coverings are used on many surfaces throughout the building, combined with other custom-designed Dekton elements, as found in the round volume of access and the swimming pools.

Applied continuously on floor, wall, and ceiling surfaces, Dekton, in its new color Trilium, clads the spa creating a private and warm atmosphere that reflects the aesthetic qualities of this material. Revista C de Dekton Dekton Fernando Alda