The Olympic Museum and Hall of Fame (USOM) has broken ground in downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the 60,000-square-foot building will be dedicated to the celebration and education of “the Olympic and Paralympic athlete and the unique human spirit that creates Olympians,” displaying the artifacts, media, technology and stories of American athletes and the historical power of the Olympic Games.
When complete, the USOM will join a multitude of Olympic facilities in Colorado Springs – which has been nicknamed “Olympic City USA” – including the home of the United States Olympic Committee, the flagship Olympic Training Center and more than 20 Olympic sport National National Governing Bodies (NGBs).
DS+R’s design takes inspiration from the body and movement of ‘the athlete’, resulting in a spiraling circulation path that loops through a twisting volume and around a central atrium. A large window at the peak of the path will open up to panoramic views of Pikes Peak and the Rocky Mountains.
“The design idealizes athletic motion by organizing its programs – galleries, auditorium, and administrative spaces – twisting and stretching centrifugally around an atrium space,” explain DS+R on their website. “Visitors arrive at the ground level of the atrium, and then ascend to the top of the building quickly and gradually spiral down through a sequence of loft galleries, moving back-and-forth from the introspective atrium to the building’s perimeter and views to the city and the mountains. The museum and the landscape are designed to form a new public plaza, nestling a distant view of Pikes Peak and an intersecting axis bridging downtown across the train tracks to the America the Beautiful Park to the west.”
New renderings released with the announcement show the large public plaza activated with a glazed restaurant pavilion, sloping gardens and terraces, as well as paths for cycling in the summer and a possible skating rink in the winter. A sculptural bridge will span over the adjacent railway to connect the complex to the 12-hectare America the Beautiful Park to the west.
With construction now underway, completion of the project is slated for 2019.
News via USOM.
Diller Scofidio + Renfro Reveals Concept Designs For US Olympic Museum
Diller Scofidio + Renfro has released the first images of their design for the US Olympic Museum in Colorado Springs, close to the United States Olympic Committee headquarters.
