New Sports Center Honors Handball Player Roey Peled

A new sports and excellence center named "Ro'im" has been established in Rishon LeZion, in memory of Roey Peled, a former player for the Israeli national handball team and coach. The center, designed by V5 Architects led by Guy Canaan, integrates a large sports hall, educational facilities, and community activities. It was built on the site of a planned indoor basketball court, which was initially intended to simply have its walls enclosed.

The "Ro'im" center, spanning approximately 2,400 square meters, features a main hall designed primarily for handball but adaptable for basketball and other sports using movable partitions. It includes seating for about 400 spectators, along with supplementary spaces. The design also incorporates two activity rooms of about 100 square meters each, one of which can serve as a classroom, as well as therapy rooms, small study areas, offices, and changing rooms.

The architectural concept aims to memorialize Roey Peled, who before his death wished to create an initiative for children and youth to advance and excel. Architect Guy Canaan explained that a "broken" strip of windows along the sports hall symbolizes the great loss of Peled, while also allowing light to enter for future generations. The facade uses light trapezoidal sheet metal with incomplete geometric patterns in blue, light blue, and gray, intended to create a neutral urban center accessible to all city athletes.

Another section of the building houses study and administrative spaces, distinguished by a series of irregularly sized round windows. Canaan likens this asymmetrical arrangement to a ball in motion, adding a sense of dynamism to the building's otherwise static mass. Internally, the sports hall retains exposed steel structures and building systems, with the wooden floor and court markings creating a functional space where movement is central.