Architecture of the Games Magazine #4 – Februari 2022

This is the fourth edition of ‘Architecture of the Games Magazine’. This edition focuses on the XXIV Olympic Winter Games – Beijing 2022. We take a look to the Games from the perspective of the designer: We explain the Beijing 2022 Masterplan and give a complete overview of all the venues.

This magazine is available to read for free; (link).

 

Preview

Architecture of the Games Magazine #3 – July 2021

This is the third edition of ‘Architecture of the Games Magazine’. This edition focuses on the Games of the XXXII Olympiad – Tokyo 2020. We take a look to the Games from the perspective of the designer. We explain the Tokyo 2020 Masterplan, give a complete overview of all the venues and pay attention to Japanese urban planning and architecture in general.

This magazine is available to read for free; (link).

 

Preview

Olympic Art Competitions: Winners in Architecture and Town Planning

Olympic Stadium Amsterdam 1928. Design by Jan Wils. Photo: Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie on Flickr. (CC BY 4.0)

 

From 1928 to 1948, art competitions were part of the Olympic Games. In this post an overview of all winners in the categories Architecture and Town Planning.

Architecture

Olympics Gold medal Silver medal Bronze medal
Stockholm 1912 Eugène-Edouard Monod and Alphonse Laverrière (SUI)
Building plan of a modern stadium
Antwerp 1920 Holger Sinding-Larsen (NOR)
Project for a gymnastics school
Paris 1924 Alfréd Hajós and Dezső Lauber (HUN)
Plan for a stadium
Julien Médecin (MON)
Stadium for Monte Carlo
Amsterdam 1928 Jan Wils (NED)
Olympic Stadium at Amsterdam
Ejnar Mindedal Rasmussen (DEN)
Swimming pool at Ollerup
Jacques Lambert (FRA)
Stadium at Versailles
Los Angeles 1932 Gustave Saacké, Pierre Montenot, Pierre Bailly (FRA)
Design for a “Cirque pour Toros”
 John Russell Pope (USA)
Design for the Payne Whitney Gymnasium, New Haven, Conn.
Richard Konwiarz (GER)
Design for a “Schlesierkampfbahn” in the Sport Park of Breslau
Berlin 1936 Hermann Kutschera (AUT)
Skiing Stadium
Werner March (GER)
Reich Sport Field
Hermann Stiegholzer and Herbert Kastinger (AUT)
Sporting Centre in Vienna
London 1948 Adolf Hoch (AUT)
“Skisprungschanze auf dem Kobenzl”
Alfred Rinesch (AUT)
“Watersports Centre in Carinthia”
 Nils Olsson (SWE)
“Baths and Sporting Hall for Gothenburg”

 

Town Planning

Olympics Gold medal Silver medal Bronze medal
Amsterdam 1928 Alfred Hensel (GER)
Stadium at Nuremberg
 Jacques Lambert (FRA)
Stadium at Versailles
Max Laeuger (GER)
Municipal Park at Hamburg
Los Angeles 1932 John Hughes (GBR)
Design for a Sports and Recreation Centre with Stadium, for the City of Liverpool
Jens Klemmensen (DEN)
Design for a Stadium and Public Park
André Verbeke (BEL)
Design for a “Marathon Park”
Berlin 1936 Werner March and Walter March (GER)
Reich Sport Field
Charles Downing Lay (USA)
Marine Park, Brooklyn
Theo Nußbaum (GER)
Municipal Planning and Sporting Centre in Cologne
London 1948 Yrjö Lindegren (FIN)
“The Centre of Athletics in Varkaus, Finland”
Werner Schindler and Edy Knupfer (SUI)
“Swiss Federal Sports and Gymnastics Training Centre”
Ilmari Niemeläinen (FIN)
“The Athletic Centre in Kemi, Finland”

 

Source: Art competitions at the Summer Olympics, Wikipedia (last visited Mar. 6, 2019).

Architecture of the Games Magazine #2 – February 2019

This is the second edition of ‘Architecture of the Games Magazine’. This magazine is available to read for free (link). ‘Architecture of the Games Magazine’ is a non-commercial, educational project and all contributors have offered their work on a voluntary basis.

Exactly one year ago the XXIII Olympic Winter Games took place in the Republic of Korea. PyeongChang 2018 will go down in history for multiple reasons; not only because of the participation of North Korea and the many memorable sporting achievements, but also because of the excellent organization of the event and the South Korean hospitality.

During the first week of the Games I stayed in Gangneung and visited events in both the ‘Coastal Cluster’ as ‘Mountain Cluster’. The photo essay in this magazine documents my visit. I wanted to capture the entire Olympic visitor experience; showing the part of the Games that is often hidden to viewers at home.

 

Preview

New: Architecture of the Games Magazine #1 – January 2018

Today, Architecture of the Games announces the release of the first edition of ‘Architecture of the Games Magazine’. This bilingual magazine is available to read for free; (link). ‘Architecture of the Games Magazine’ is a non-commercial, educational project and all contributors have offered their work on a voluntary basis.

In ‘Architecture of the Games Magazine’ we take a look at the Olympic Games from the perspective of the designer. We will be paying special attention to the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang. Other topics include Rio 2016, the new Candidature Process for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games and the Olympic Legacy of Barcelona 1992 and London 2012. In the last section you will find a report of our visit to ‘Olympic Capital’ Lausanne.

 

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Tokyo 2020; Kengo Kuma, “From Concrete to Wood: Why Wood Matters”

Video by Harvard GSD on YouTube:


The Tohoku earthquake and tsunami shattered coastal cities in Japan in 2011. Kengo Kuma, taking as a point of departure his experiences in the aftermath of that natural disaster, will examine humans’ relationship with nature, questioning the perceived strength of steel and concrete and proposing the reintroduction of wood in design as a fair and practical mediator between humans and nature.

Born in Tokyo, Kuma completed his master’s degree at the University of Tokyo in 1979 and spent time as a visiting scholar at Columbia University before establishing Kengo Kuma & Associates in 1990. Among his many works, recent projects include the Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum (2010), which won the 2011 The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize; the Asakusa Culture and Tourism Center (2012), Nagaoka City Hall Aore (2012), and Ginza Kabukiza (2013). Two of his buildings outside Japan are the Besancon Arts and Culture Center and FRAC Marseilles and Aix-en-Provence Conservatory of Music (both 2013). The firm currently has some one hundred projects ongoing in Europe, the U.S., Japan, China, and elsewhere in Asia. One of the most high-profile of these is the new national stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Since 2009, Kuma has been a professor at the Graduate School of Architecture, University of Tokyo. He has also written more than a dozen books—including Anti-Object (2013)—which have been published not only in Japanese but frequently in English, Chinese, and Korean, earning him a readership in many parts of the world. Kuma is an International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and, as of 2009, an Officier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France.

London 2012; Mayor of London’s independent review of London Stadium released

© Martijn Giebels / Architecture of the Games

Yesterday, the Mayor of London (Sadiq Khan) published an independent review into the finances of the London Stadium. The review was commissioned in March 2017.

The London Stadium was built for the 2012 Olympic Games and has been converted into a multi-purpose stadium in recent years. The stadium is home to West Ham United FC and UK Athletics, but it also hosts other major sporting events and concerts.

 

Press release Mayor of London

London Stadium: Mayor publishes critical independent review
​​The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today published an independent review into the true scale of the mismanagement of the London Stadium by the former Mayor, revealing a catalogue of errors that led to transformation costs soaring and a bungled decision that has left the taxpayer to foot an annual loss of around £20 million.

Sadiq has also announced he is now taking over control of the London Stadium to put it on a more secure financial footing and – through the London Legacy Development Corporation – is putting together a plan to ensure its long-term future as a world-class multi-purpose venue and to continue providing community benefits.

The review by forensic accountants Moore Stephens, commissioned by Sadiq in March this year, reveals for the first time how decisions made by Boris Johnson led to the taxpayer shouldering the cost and financial risk – rather than West Ham United – for the transformation of the London Stadium following the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It shows the decisions to transform the stadium and to accept the terms of West Ham’s second bid as anchor tenants were made based on incorrect financial estimates and a failure to fully understand or investigate the commercial risks to the taxpayer.

 

Source / Read more

 

Press release Newham Council

Newham Council agrees future ownership and legacy benefits of London Stadium

​​Newham Council has today agreed a deal to help secure a sustainable future for the London Stadium and deliver the Olympic and Paralympic legacy promises made to its residents.​

The deal will see Newham retire from the ownership of the London Stadium in return for community and regeneration benefits for all Newham residents over the next 100 years.

The council’s long term vision of the London Stadium as a world-class, vibrant and multi-purpose stadium, has been achieved. The stadium anchors Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (QEOP), which continues to draw investment and regeneration to Newham and wider East London.

 

Source / Read more

 

Statement by West Ham United FC

Following the release of the Mayor of London’s independent review of London Stadium today, West Ham United have issued the following statement:

“As the report confirms, the Concession Agreement is a watertight, legally binding contract signed in 2013 in good faith by West Ham United, who remain absolutely committed to its terms for the entire 99-year duration.

“We have delivered everything we committed to within the Concession Agreement, and act as the primary vehicle for London Stadium’s legacy, delivering its most watched sporting spectacles, revenue driving events and thousands of jobs for local people.

“It is not in West Ham United’s interests for the Stadium to not be performing in line with aspiration and, as we have done ever since moving to Stratford in the summer of 2016, we continue to offer the benefit of our commercial expertise and substantial experience in managing successful stadia.

“West Ham United will continue to devote our absolute commitment to London Stadium, but our first priority in this sense is always to act in the best interests of our supporters.

“We fully concur that West Ham United has played a significant part in the most successful regeneration programme in the history of the modern Olympics, however the stadium itself craves renewed leadership and direction and we welcome the Mayor’s decision to step in and deliver this. West Ham United is firmly behind him.”

 

Source

Lausanne: Olympic Capital; Part 10 – Architecture Guide

 

Buildings

  1. Rolex Learning Center
  2. Under One Roof
  3. New Mechanics Hall
  4. SwissTech Convention Centre
  5. Hostel Lausanne Jeunotel
  6. Pavilion National Exhibition 1964 in Lausanne
  7. Tree Sculpture
  8. Opéra de Lausanne
  9. The Olympic Museum
  10. La Source
  11. Library La Sallaz
  12. La Sallaz Footbridge
  13. Place de la Sallaz
  14. Tour de Sauvabelin
  15. Flon Area
  16. Synathlon
  17. Bibliothèque Edouard Fleuret
  18. Tour Bel-Air
  19. Agora, Département d’oncologie
  20. Office Régional de Placement

 

Continue reading “Lausanne: Olympic Capital; Part 10 – Architecture Guide”