Olympic architectural plans frequently prove divisive, with the Games’ infrastructure and shiny new builds often being the subject of ongoing debate, both before and after the always-anticipated tournaments. Either way, the Olympic Park’s main stadium is always its crowning jewel, an emblematic centrepiece that swiftly becomes representative of each year’s Games – and this is exactly what a new season of events at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne focuses on.
Looking into the giant sport structures, the museum is rolling out an extended stadium-related programme, titled ‘Stadiums Past and Future’ – it comprises a temporary exhibition, public talks, a magazine and educational activities. ‘It is about looking at stadiums as a whole, and not only architecturally,’ explain the organisers. ‘Building a stadium is about building the future – modifying a city’s urban landscape and leaving a legacy.’
Developed by architect Geraint John – vice president for innovation and technology transfer at EPFL Pascal Vuillomenet – and sports historian Nicolas Bancel, the exhibition makes useful notes for the future but also travels back in time, exploring everything from the Ancient Greek stadium in Olympia, through to the modern-day games. Addressing questions of legacy, urban planning and sustainable development, the exhibition guides the visitor into a journey through the different incarnations of the stadium within the Olympic context.
Highlights include a look into Roman arenas and the Athens Panathenaic Stadium of 1896, designed by Ernst Ziller and Anastasios Metaxas, which launched the Olympic Games as we know them today.
INFORMATION
Stadiums Past and Future’ is on view until 7 May 2016. For more information, visit the Lausanne Olympic Museum’s website
ADDRESS
Olympic Museum
Quai d'Ouchy 1
1006 Lausanne
-
Vestre’s neo-brutalist furniture will bring ‘a little madness’ to Paris Fashion WeekBound for Paris Men’s Fashion Week this month, Norwegian furniture brand Vestre reveals a sculptural bench and mirror created with designer Vincent Laine and fashion creative Willy Cartier – the latest outcome of its risk-taking ‘a little madness’ initiative
-
For its latest runway show, Zegna creates a serene oasis in DubaiThe Italian fashion house took over the Dubai Opera for a S/S 2026 show that proposed a lived-in elegance, drawing inspiration from Dubai’s sunbaked landscapes and Zegna’s birthplace of Trivero
-
Time-travel to the golden age of the cruise ship at Sea Containers LondonThe South Bank hotel celebrates its tenth anniversary with four new suites inspired by period cabin design, from Edwardian elegance to 1980s glamour
-
The best gyms around the world for design buffs in 2018 -
Skate park design goes to the British seaside with Guy Hollaway’s F51F51 is Folkestone's brand new, dedicated, multistorey skate park, courtesy of the Roger De Haan Charitable Trust and Hollaway Studio
-
Community centre architecture redefined: Holborn House by 6a and Caragh Thuring opensHolborn House by 6a Architects and Caragh Thuring opens for the Holborn Community Association in London, bridging art and community architecture with people at its heart
-
Pink concrete skatepark is a striking urban landmark in the Chihuahuan DesertA team of architects, landscape designers, sociologists and urban planners came together to create La Duna, a fine example of skatepark architecture on the northern border of Mexico
-
Last chance to play: Yinka Ilori's colourful basketball court in Canary Wharf is a slam dunkArtist and designer Yinka Ilori applied his signature colourful geometries to his design for this new public basketball court in Canary Wharf, London
-
Building muscle: London architecture walks and runsTry these London architecture walks and runs for some physical and intellectual edification
-
Janne Tuunanen captures modernist architecture of renovated Helsinki Olympic StadiumPhotographer Janne Tuunanen captures the sharp modernist architecture of the recently renovated Helsinki Olympic Stadium in Finland in his latest series
-
Yinka Ilori’s colourful skatepark in France is a pillar of the communitySport, street art and community merge in Yinka Ilori’s skatepark in Roubaix, project that is part of Lille’s World Capital of Design 2020
