During the worldwide celebration of Olympic Day, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) inaugurated its new headquarters, Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland. Designed by Danish architecture firm 3XN, the project aims to bring together the IOC staff – 500 employees currently spread across Lausanne in four locations - under one roof at a single site. The new headquarters was made to further the mission of international cooperation, transparency and sustainability.
Traditionally, Winter Olympics stadiums have stuck to a design that obscures the sky and protects against the elements in order to keep the guests warm. This year, the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics organizing team wanted to try something different. Guests will watch the three-hour opening ceremony at the PyeongChang Olympic Main Stadium – and it will be roofless.
Pyeongchang, located not too far from the border of North Korea, is notorious for one of the worst winters in the country. Temperatures in PyeongChang are forecast to reach minus 14 deg C (about 7 deg F), partly due to the powerful, biting winds that barrel down from Siberia and the Manchurian plain. This may be the coldest Olympics since the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. And because of the curious roofless architecture, the roughly 35,000 spectators will be completely exposed.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced 3XN as the winner of the competition to design the IOC's new headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. The decision to choose the Denmark-based firm over eleven other firms, including OMA, Toyo Ito, and Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R), follows a unanimous recommendation by the IOC Architecture College.
The 14,000 square meter Headquarters will be part of a greater 'Olympic campus' of administrative buildings, located on a 24,000 square meter site on the banks of Lake Geneva.
The entire shortlist and more from 3XN, after the break...
