David Chipperfield Architects and Barcelona-based b720 Arquitectos completed the new centre for the America's Cup - the Edificio Veles e Vents in Valencia - within a remarkable 11 months of receiving the commission. Design, construction drawings and the construction of the project have all been carried out since their appointment in June 2005. The building and its accompanying park were successfully opened in time for the preliminary regattas, staged in May and June 2006. The building and park will be the social focal point for the world's premier offshore racing competition, to be staged in Europe for the first time in over 150 years following Swiss Team Alinghi's win over Team New Zealand in 2003 and the selection of Valencia as host city. The climax will be the Louis Vuitton Cup and the 32nd America's Cup Match in 2007. The centrepiece of the reorganisation of Valencia's industrial port, the Edificio Veles e Vents provides a central base for all America's Cup teams and sponsors, as well as being a venue for the public to view the cup races. The Edificio Veles e Vents connects directly to a new park built above car parking, a 'tail' of elevated public spectator decks stretching out from the building into the port, with bars, restaurants and information points. The decks overlook a newly excavated canal that will link the port to the offshore racing courses. To the north, a new 100,000m2 park links the city to the new seafront. The 10,000m2 four-floor building is composed of a series of stacked and shifting horizontal planes that provide shade and uninterrupted views extending out to sea. The ground floor acts as the reception area for the VIP facilities and has a canal-facing restaurant open to the public. The first floor is public and open to the air with retail facilities and a generous viewing deck that connects to the park. The second and third floors house the VIP facilities; the 'Foredeck Club', a restaurant, a wellness centre and lounges for America's Cup management, Louis Vuitton and the Consorcio Valencia 2007. The building is a concrete structure with deep cantilevered floor slabs creating the unobstructed and shaded viewing decks that surround all the floors. The building utilises a reduced palette of materials - white painted steel trims the edges of the concrete structure, the ceiling is of white metal panels incorporating linear recessed lighting, the external floors solid timber decking and the internal floors, white resin. The predominant whiteness of the building is offset by simple brightly coloured furniture.