Archinect - News

AIA Los Angeles pens open letter to 2028 Olympics & Paralympics organizers

2023-09-11T18:43:00-04:00

The American Institute of Architects Los Angeles (AIA|LA) has released an open letter sent to organizers of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games on behalf of its members, encouraging their strategizing with the chapter toward outcomes they say will be a “big win” for multiple stakeholders in the community.

The text states the need for LA28 to consider the importance of placemaking and the games’ eventual aftermath, calling on organizers as a whole to work together on a progressive design agenda that benefits all while enshrining the region’s diversity and enhancing the events’ sustainable footprint.

Focusing on four key areas, the chapter’s letter calls for:

Engage with the AIA and the architecture & design community.
Consider the expansion of LA28’s legacy mission.
Expand partnerships with community stakeholders and leverage their resources to advance projects already in the Los Angeles pipeline.
Increase participation opportunities in the Games planning process and be a leader in in...

Will the 2024 Olympic flame be installed on the Eiffel Tower?

2023-05-26T15:02:00-04:00

Paris 2024 organisers have been planning to install the Olympic flame on the Eiffel Tower, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Monday. The source added that the flame would not be put at the top of the Eiffel Tower, for technical reasons, and it was not clear whether it would stay on the monument throughout the Games but the combination of two such iconic images would be a dramatic backdrop to the July 26-Aug. 11 event.

The new antenna array on top of the tower is the only thing preventing the flame from alighting (pun) on its freshly-painted pinnacle. The flame traditionally symbolizes the continuity of the ancient into modernity.

Notre-Dame Cathedral, meanwhile, will not have its own makeover readied in time for the 2024 summer games' commencement on July 26, as per the French government's latest update.

SOM has been selected to design Milan's Olympics village ahead of the 2026 winter games

2021-07-16T15:24:00-04:00

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill have been selected to plan the Olympic village ahead of the 2026 winter games in Milan following a huge announcement from COIMA SGR and other local planning authorities responsible for the development.

SOM will design the games’ athletes village, which is part of a larger masterplan that will transform the Porta Romana railway yard into a post-Olympic urban hub for the Milanese people.

Image © SOM

The firm beat out 70 other submissions for an ultra-sustainable plan that will add green spaces and six residential buildings that can afterwards be converted into student dormitories and affordable housing units. The Olympic programme will also restore a pair of buildings currently on site and install a suspended forest, giving the village a permanence its designer’s placed an emphasis on during their proposal process.

Image © SOM

“Rather than ceasing to be of use after the Olympics, the Porta Romana Olympic Village will ultimately become a vibrant, self-sustaini...

Accessibility at the new U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum reviewed

2020-10-26T14:44:00-04:00

The museum’s other notable attribute is its high level of accessibility. The architects borrowed inspiration from the Guggenheim Museum, which invites visitors to take an elevator to the top floor and then descend along ramps as they explore galleries. There are no steps up or down, and the goal is to eliminate any differences in the museum experience among people with varying physical abilities.

For the NYT, Ray Mark Rinaldi reviews the DS+R-designed United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum with a special focus on accessibility. "Accommodations are the norm," Rinaldi writes. "Ramps are low-grade and extra wide to fit two wheelchairs at the same time. Sign language interpreters appear in the corner of videos. Cane guards double as benches in the building’s spacious atrium."

Previously on Archinect: Twisting forms and ramped galleries define DS+R's US Olympics and Paralympics Museum in Colorado

The 60,000-square-foot museum complex in Colorado Springs, Colorado opened to the public in July.

Twisting forms and ramped galleries define DS+R's US Olympics and Paralympics Museum in Colorado

2020-07-28T16:31:00-04:00

A design and construction team led by New York City-based architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro has completed work on the United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum (USOPM) in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The 60,000-square-foot museum complex is designed with accessibility at its forefront due to its relationship to the United States Paralympic organization, and is organized as a four-lobed gallery complex that descends from the top floor down via a continuous ramp configuration.

Top: View of the building's entry terrace. Bottom: Overall view of the museum.

Regarding the accessibility elements of the design, the architects write that "from the earliest stages of design, the team consulted a committee of Paralympic athletes and persons with disabilities to ensure that, from entrance to exit, all visitors with or without disabilities could tour the USOPM facility together and share a common path."

The museum is located next to a major park that will be accessible to the site via a fort...

Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be postponed, says IOC member, despite completed venues

2020-03-23T14:46:00-04:00

Veteran International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound told USA TODAY Sports Monday afternoon that the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are going to be postponed, likely to 2021, with the details to be worked out in the next four weeks. [...] “It will come in stages,” he said. “We will postpone this and begin to deal with all the ramifications of moving this, which are immense.”

While the IOC has not responded directly to veteran member Dick Pound's statement from today, the Committee did signal its commitment to scenario-planning for "changes to the start date of the Games" yesterday amid new outbreaks of COVID-19 in IOC member countries.

This development comes only days after Japan's announcement of the completion of all new permanent venues for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, including the Kengo Kuma-designed Tokyo National Olympic Stadium.

All construction of permanent Olympic venues in Tokyo is now complete

2020-03-10T12:53:00-04:00

Construction of all new permanent venues for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics is now complete, organizers said Friday, as preparations continue despite worries over the new coronavirus outbreak. The announcement comes as the International Olympic Committee insisted this week that a potential cancellation or postponement of the Games due to the virus was "not mentioned" at a meeting of their Executive Board.

According to Japan Today, the last venue to be completed was the Tokyo Aquatics Center for swimming, diving, and artistic swimming. It will seat 15,000 fans for the Olympic and Paralympic games. "The main pool features a movable wall allowing the 50-meter facility to be converted into two 25-meter pools," reports Japan Today.

Concerning the coronavirus, Japan Today reports that "organizers have been battling to reassure athletes and would-be spectators that the Games remain on track despite the spread of COVID-19."

L.A's Union Station is getting upgraded in preparation for 2028 Olympics

2019-05-21T18:49:00-04:00

One effort currently underway is Link Union Station, a $2.2-billion project that hopes to make the facility a hub connecting Metro Rail’s intercity subway and light rail lines to allow for a better long-term travel experience — and hopefully stem falling ridership. The project is slated for completion before the Olympics come to Los Angeles in 2028.

As Los Angeles gears up for a slew of global tourism events, including upcoming Super Bowl, World Cup, and Olympic happenings, the city's Union Station is receiving a flood of investment.

Major upgrades include the restoration of historical elements of the complex, the reconfiguration of the main train concourse to allow regional commuter trains to operate run-through service between L.A. and Orange County, pedestrian upgrades along with areas leading to the station, and the completion of several new transit lines running through the site.

When all is said and done, transportation officials hope to double rail usage in the region to 200,000 trips per day by 2040, with many of those passengers passing through Union Station's soaring Art Deco halls.

Tokyo Olympic Stadium: construction progress 'as planned'

2018-09-10T14:01:00-04:00

But so far, things have remained “on schedule,” and the Olympic stadium is on pace to be completed by the end of next year. [...] Takeo Takahashi, the general manager of the stadium project, told the media that “roughly four-tenths” of the construction has been completed, but the situation is “as planned.”

It's been deliberately quiet around the NEW New National Stadium in Tokyo after the original, winning design by Zaha Hadid Architects was publicly attacked, and eventually officially canceled by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe himself, and a replacement Olympic Stadium scheme was hastily selected from a pool of two established Japanese architects and expedited to break ground in December 2016.

Kengo Kuma's stadium design is currently under construction and scheduled for completion by November 2019.

But things appear to be going well now; the press was even invited by the Japan Sports Council this summer to tour the massive construction site and document the progress.

Tokyo launches first autonomous 'robot taxi' ahead of 2020 Olympics

2018-08-29T14:37:00-04:00

A venture firm and a major taxi company began trials of passenger-carrying autonomous taxi services on Monday with an eye on launching the full service around 2020 when Tokyo hosts the Olympics and the Paralympics. ZMP Inc., a Tokyo-based developer of autonomous driving technology, and Hinomaru Kotsu Co., said they are the first in the world to offer autonomous taxi services to fare-paying passengers in the test through Sept. 8.

Other tech companies and automakers have also been testing autonomous driving services in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. If the Tokyo RoboCar MiniVan trial is successful, officials hope to scale up the program to assist with the increased transportation demand during the 2020 Summer Olympics and, beyond that, help the rapidly ageing population in Japan's rural areas get around.

Will the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics truly be low-impact?

2018-07-12T16:04:00-04:00

The only profitable games in modern Olympic history, LA 1984 was a case study in public–private partnerships, corporate sponsorship, and municipal storytelling [...] It’s proof, say LA 2028 organizers, that the city can do it again: re-use the city’s wealth of existing and under-construction stadiums and athletic facilities, house athletes and the media at local universities, and host an Olympics that won’t require new publicly-funded infrastructure...

The Olympics have been promoted to cities as a vehicle for ushering in investment, attention, and urban growth. The reality, however, is often contradicting with failed developments and infrastructure left in the aftermath. As Los Angeles prepares to host the 2028 games, large questions remain on how this will impact the city with an affordable housing and a homelessness crisis.

Take a look at Canada's Olympic House at the 2018 PyeongChang games

2018-01-09T14:18:00-05:00

With only one month to go until the 2018 Winter Olympics officially kick off on February 9 in PyeongChang, South Korea, athletic teams from around the world prepare to represent their nations in front of an international audience. Canada isn't limiting itself to sporting competitions alone to promote all things maple leaf but just announced plans for 'Canada Olympic House,' a gathering place for the team's fans, coaches, athletes and their families & friends.

Image: Canadian Olympic Committee & Sid Lee Architecture.

Designed by Montreal-based Sid Lee Architecture in collaboration with the Canadian Olympic Committee, the 12,000-square-foot house will be located near Gangneung Olympic Park which is going to host (surprise!) the hockey competitions.

Guests can watch Team Canada compete via the CBC/Radio-Canada broadcast, kick back with some Canadian drinks and food (poutine anyone?), purchase merchandise at the retail store, and celebrate athletes and all things Team Canada at a varie...

Japan's timber industry deplores the plastic seats of Tokyo's new stadium

2017-10-19T14:05:00-04:00

Dignitaries at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games will obviously get the best seats--those made of wood--but ordinary common folk will have to make do with plastic.

Less than 1 percent of Tokyo's Olympic Stadium seats will be wooden. Those will be allocated for the best views of the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as track and field events. The country's timber industry has been advocating since 2016 to install wooden seats for all the spectators as a symbol of Japan's craftsmanship and to promote the forestry industry.

'We're very disappointed (with the decision). We will still continue to propose that wooden seats be introduced, as making use of this domestic natural resource will prove beneficial to maintaining the mountain environment and preventing disasters (such as landslides),” said Yasuhide Nakayama, head of the federation of Diet members for the promotion of Japan's timber industry.

Populous' Paris 2024 Olympics scheme striving to create “the most sustainable Games ever”

2017-09-20T17:49:00-04:00

According to the team, the designs for both the new and temporary venues and facilities ‘will seek to shape and integrate sporting spectacles in the city’s urban landscape while supporting Paris 2024’s commitment to be the most sustainable games ever’.

As seen in Rio 2016 to London 2012, sustainability is an ongoing issue for cities hosting the Olympic Games. Recently, Populous and consultancy group Egis unveiled the first rendering of their design for the Paris 2024 Olympics, stating that their concept will help create “the most sustainable Games ever”.

“Our mission was to understand how each sport and discipline could best function in existing venues, new buildings when required as legacy and temporary modular sites, identifying the best option in each case,” says Egis' Diogo Taddei, who supervised the work of the consortium. “One of the biggest challenges was to transform illustrious Parisian monuments into sports venues, adapting them to the requirements of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

Dominique Perrault reveals plans for the Paris 2024 Olympic Village

2017-09-18T19:54:00-04:00

After decades of failed bids and one particularly humiliating loss to London in 2012, Paris has officially been named the host of the 2024 Olympics. Though the city plans on making the most out of its existing facilities, some new development will take place. One of such projects is the Dominique Perrault-designed and planned Olympic Village, which helped secure Paris' 2024 bid because the city said they would be unable to freeze the project, which had already begun work, for four years had they accepted hosting duties for 2028 instead.

Along with the majority of new venues being built for the games, the Olympic Village is set in Saint-Denis—the poorest of France's 101 mainland departments—in an effort to rejuvenate the area. The development centers around the Cinema City film studios created in a disused power station by the film-maker Luc Besson which will house that athletes' dinin...

It's official - LA will host the Olympics in 2028, Paris in 2024

2017-09-13T18:26:00-04:00

Los Angeles’ rollercoaster campaign to host the Olympics — an effort marked by early defeat and last-second negotiations — reached its conclusion Wednesday when the city was formally awarded the 2028 Summer Games. International Olympic Committee members, by a unanimous show of hands, voted their approval at a session in Lima, Peru, ending an unusual bid competition that resulted in two winners as Paris was simultaneously given the 2024 Games.

Paris and Los Angeles were officially awarded the 2024 and 2028 summer games, respectively. Both cities have previously hosted the summer olympics twice, Paris in 1900 and in 1924, and Los Angeles in 1932 and in 1984. The two cities already have some of the necessary infrastructures to host the games but the Olympics will most likely transform their built environment.

Los Angeles to host 2028 Summer Olympics; hopes to cut costs by using existing venues

2017-08-01T13:40:00-04:00

After weeks of negotiations with the International Olympic Committee, Los Angeles officials have reached a deal to host the 2028 Summer Games under terms they hope will generate hundreds of millions in savings and additional revenues. The agreement will bring the Olympics back to Southern California for a third time, after Los Angeles hosted in 1984 and 1932. It also opens the door for the 2024 Games to be held in Paris.

Spiraling costs and notorious budget overruns have discouraged other cities from pushing towards being a host to the 2024/28 Summer Olympics, but Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti thinks otherwise and hopes to avoid unpredictable spending by reusing existing venues and infrastructure.

As the Los Angeles Times reports, "Olympic experts have said that L.A. could be different because its plan relies on existing venues such as Staples Center, Pauley Pavilion and the Coliseum. It avoids spending billions to construct new stadiums and arenas. Further savings would arise from housing athletes and the media at UCLA and USC rather than building expensive villages."

LA officials aren't only hoping to cover the cost of the games but actually generate a surplus — emulating the success of the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

Paris and Los Angeles to host the Summer Olympics in 2024 and 2028

2017-07-11T16:53:00-04:00

The rare decision to name the hosts of separate Games simultaneously — established with a unanimous vote of I.O.C. members on Tuesday — is an effort by the organization to counter diminished interest shown by democratic nations in hosting the Olympics amid exorbitant costs, white-elephant stadiums, widespread corruption, rampant doping and limited appeal to the youth audience.

Delegates of International Olympic Committee will vote on future hosting cities on Sept. 13 in Lima, Peru. "Paris is favored to hold the Games in 2024, the centenary of the last time it hosted the Olympics, while Los Angeles is expected to hold the Summer Games for a third time in 2028." Paris and Los Angeles remain the only cities bidding to host the 2024 Olympics after withdrawals of Boston, Rome, Budapest and Hamburg, Germany.

The cities are also expected to demonstrate efforts in reforming the Olympics in reducing prohibitive costs in staging the Games by using mostly existing and temporary facilities.

Take a look at the already-dilapidated facilities of the Rio Olympics

2017-02-14T12:17:00-05:00

The Olympics are a costly venture. In fact, they’re more like a high-stakes gamble. Countries pour money into the festivities, often going far over budget, with the hope that they’ll receive a return—either through tourist dollars or else through raising the city’s profile internationally. And, after the closing games, those hulking stadiums and sports venues are expensive to maintain. They also can be hard to find a use for. Domestic sports just don’t draw the same crowds as the Olympics do.

Some countries find creative reuses for their venues—from a water park in Beijing to a refugee center in Athens. But, even in the case of both these cities, the stadiums have largely fallen into disrepair due to neglect. The same goes, apparently, for Rio—eventhough the games ended less than a year ago. That’s not really a huge surprise considering the massive political turmoil gripping the country today.

Check out these pictures of the facilities for the Rio Olympics today, via the Guardian.

...

Kengo Kuma's Tokyo Olympic Stadium breaks ground

2016-12-13T17:29:00-05:00

Tokyo has held a groundbreaking ceremony for a $1.5bn (£1.2bn) national stadium that will host the 2020 Olympic Games. The prime minister, Shinzo Abe, Tokyo’s governor, Yuriko Koike, and other dignitaries attended the event on Sunday at the site of the demolished national stadium that was used during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. [...] The ceremony ended with a video showing how the stadium is expected to look and function once completed by November 2019.

A quick refresher, here are just a few instances of the Tokyo Olympic Stadium saga in the Archinect news:

“The Olympics are a dream that turn into a nightmare." – Rome's mayor pulls 2024 Olympic bid

2016-09-22T12:45:00-04:00

Virginia Raggi, who was elected in June and has faced a tumultuous start to her tenure, said in a highly anticipated press conference that it would be irresponsible to move forward with the bid, given the debts that it would accrue and the burdens it would place on Roman taxpayers. [...] The 38-year-old lawyer said the city was still paying debts it had accrued for the Games in 1960, and would not stand for more “cathedrals in the desert” – abandoned stadiums – that the city could ill afford.

Take the Olympics, please!

Wilkinson Eyre, designers of Rio's biggest Olympic stadium, reflect on the Games' architectural legacy

2016-09-14T05:25:00-04:00

Following the Olympics’ closing ceremony, and as September’s Paralympic Games continue, international attention has begun to shift to the future of Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic sites. These buildings must be built to evolve to accommodate Paralympic and future athletes, and the success of this change will set the precedent for Rio’s regeneration in the long term.

I spoke to Sam Wright of WilkinsonEyre, lead of their sports architecture team, about the firm’s Areanas Cariocas project: an incredible 400m long space for 3 venues and 36,000 spectators, making it the largest stadium at the Rio site. Having utilised his knowledge from the firm’s creation of London’s 2012 Olympic basketball arena, Wright spoke to me about the pressures and privileges of designing this colossal building, and to have, consequently, a huge involvement in the planning of Rio 2016 writ large and the city’s regeneration plan overall.

What have you learned from your involvement in the London 2012 Legacy that has inform...

Back when architecture was an Olympic competition

2016-08-26T14:42:00-04:00

It may be a part of the Olympics the world forgot, but from 1912 to 1948, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) handed out medals across five creative arts categories including architecture...Following the 1948 games, the IOC abandoned the Olympic art competition due to the significantly high number of professionals entering, which went against the spirit of the games being an amateur competition.

Now that the Olympics have ended, what's in store for Rio's stadiums?

2016-08-23T18:05:00-04:00

Future Arena, the handball venue, will be taken apart and the pieces used to build four schools around the city, each serving 500 students. [...] the city will turn the aquatics stadium into two community swimming centers; the media center will become a high school dorm; and the 300 acres of land on which Barra Olympic Park currently sits will go be turned over for public parks and private development.

Rio Olympics 2016: how to watch, and what to expect at the opening ceremony

2016-08-05T13:42:00-04:00

It's finally arrived: the opening ceremony for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro is tonight. Technically, the Games are already underway (soccer competitions began on August 3), but the bulk of events will take place after the ceremony. And chances are for those in the U.S., you're nowhere near attending, and you'll be beholden to the broadcasters. Here's what you can expect.

The opening ceremony will be significantly cheaper than historically has been the case—the entire budget for the opening and closing ceremonies for both the Olympics and Paralympics is $55.9 million, less than half of what it had been originally. The ceremony's creative director Fernando Meirelles, the Brazilian director of City of God (2002), has incorporated three thematic "pillars" into the show: sustainability (partially an ode to the Amazon rainforest), smiling (!), and "gambiarra"—a Portuguese expression of resourcefulness.

The ceremony is also scheduled to include legendary soccer player Pele...

Summer daze: checking ourselves before we wreck ourselves, on Archinect Sessions #75

2016-08-04T19:13:00-04:00

The last few weeks have been a bit of a downer—we had a big ol' roundtable on how Brexit is changing architecture practice and education, the Democratic and Republican National Conventions raged, and Rio is coping (somewhat) with its Olympic stress. Now, we're in need of some lighter fare. We wanted to take a moment in the summer heat to check-in with what Donna and Ken have been up to, and pass on some of our own recommendations for what to read and listen to this summer.

Also featuring: Ken dishing about Guy Fieri and vegan butchers, Donna giving us the latest on her husband's giant installation in Rancho Cucamonga, and "a really fun text book". Scroll down to see what books and music we're recommending.

Listen to episode 75 of Archinect Sessions, "Summer Daze":

iTunes: Click here to listen, and click the "Subscribe" button below the logo to automatically download new episodes.
Apple Podcast App (iOS): click here to subscribe
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How are London's Olympic grounds being used 4 years later?

2016-08-03T19:52:00-04:00

Just in time for Friday's Rio Olympics, it's time to take a look back at former Olympic villages: specifically, what good are they post-games? In London, the 560 acres of the East End that was transformed into the grounds for the 2012 Olympics have undergone the Olly Wainwright examination in his latest piece for The Guardian. As he writes,

That London has a lasting physical inheritance from its two-week £12bn jamboree is indisputable, but what kind of place is the promised Legacy-land turning out to be? So far, it’s an odd one. It is somewhere that feels more like an accidental suburban campus than a real piece of London – a place where the different functions that make up a city have been separated out, each built without much thought given to how they relate.

Good news: there is some affordable housing among the leftovers/adjacent proposed developing properties loosely branded as Olympicopolis, but there could be more (as ever).

More Olympics news:

Rio's streets clog with traffic as ...

Athletes refuse to move into Rio's Olympic Village, citing “blocked toilets, leaking pipes and exposed wiring”

2016-07-25T17:09:00-04:00

Sunday was supposed to be move-in day for many athletes, but the leader of the Australian Olympic delegation said its athletes would not be checking in because of problems with the gas, electricity and plumbing. [...] delegations from Britain, New Zealand and other countries were experiencing similar problems in the village, which is in an area of western Rio called Barra da Tijuca.

The official start to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will go ahead on August 5, despite ongoing concerns over the spread of the Zika virus, political upheaval, economic distress, polluted competition waters, and now, questionable athlete facilities.

On decentralizing the Olympics

2016-07-21T14:23:00-04:00

More broadly, this reconfiguration would make the games, for the first time, a truly global event. Dozens of countries that could never afford to host the Olympics in their current form – Kenya, Thailand, Chile, to name a few – might easily host a single Olympic sport. Rather than being an occasion for nationalistic displays by a single, powerful host country, the Olympics would become a celebration of human diversity.

With overwhelming evidence that hosting the Olympics is a huge burden for several cities, Paul Christesen, a Professor of Classics at Dartmouth, makes a case for the possible advantages of having Olympic sports competitions take place in different cities throughout the globe. He also makes suggestions on how decentralizing the Games can be carried out to other aspects of the event.

Rio Olympics "must be postponed, moved, or both" due to Zika threat

2016-05-13T18:40:00-04:00

Scientists can disagree on how much the mass migration of 500,000 foreigners will accelerate the virus’s global spread and make the pandemic worse—but none can possibly argue that it will slow it down or make things better. [...] “Olympism seeks to create … social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles”. [...] But for the Games, would anyone recommend sending an extra half a million visitors into Brazil right now?

Not to mention Brazil's ongoing corruption scandal, that just yesterday resulted in President Dilma Rousseff being kicked out of the Presidential palace, as the impeachment trial against her begins.

Related on Archinect: