To enhance its belonging to the green world the new Olympic Golf Camp Headquarters aims to become a landscape icon merging with the nature of the site. Designed by Group8, the buildings are made by cutting the ground at different points and then by lifting it up at some corners. The newly created landscape is oriented according to the context and the program offering good protection from the ‘superblocks’ complex next to them. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The new golf camp is on the area of Barra which is composed by two very different sceneries, a high density of construction and a large green “protected” stripe which goes until the sea. The limit in between these two very distinctive works is very decided. The new golf camp is situated in the limit of this natural area. As a spectator of the game, the new complex is situated on the front of the plot to be directly in contact with the golf course and its activities.
The main shaded façade of the building face the golf course and offer directly to the players its iconic aspect. In a opposite way, when the visitor entrances on the site, the landscape is immediately presents. To discover the heart of the golf, the visitors will first go through an initiatory green promenade crossing the site and its outdoor equipments. The feeling to live in the landscape is present all along the project. Once in the middle of the complex the floor is like lifted to invite to go in the buildings. The public programs are directly connected in one side with the exterior and on the other with an interior courtyard which offer an interior connection and can be used as a representative lobby, an extension of the program, or a multipurpose space.
The new golf camp is organized around a main Public plaza call the “Olympic plaza”. It’s the heart of the complex, the starting point of the golf camp. It acts as a connector for the different programs, a social “density” and create the representative area for the different events., The Olympic plaza is not only an outdoor space, from the center of the complex, the plaza goes into the different buildings creating a large and complex network of plazas who can be link to specific programs or work independently offering a huge potential of temporary activities or events both inside and outside. Playing with the new iconic landscape, the plaza starts at the entrance with the visitors, and end up as balconies, face to face with the golf course providing a perfect platform-balcony for the spectators.
The landscape of the project is composed by the existing natural landscape of the site and by the extension of the golf course. These two landscapes are mixed to blur the limit between the landscape of the natural site and the one of the golf. The existing species on the site are reorganized to give qualities and diversities to the project.
The high bushes are used as a wall to stop the visual continuity and create inaccessible borders, the low bushes channel are used to create a clear limit between the road and the golf camp. The high trees works as well as signage to indicate the entrance of the parking to create shadow along the street and on the Olympic plazas. Some other trees are used to provide some pocket shadows, where the spectators can sit, rest, and watch the game.
Architects: Group8 Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Client: Department of Rio de Janeiro Institute of Architects of Brazil Program: Headquarters of the Olympic Golf Camp Project Type: International Competition Site area: 40,000m2 Project Year: 2012
