olympic landmark paris

team:
architecture: www.damirmasek.net,
damir masek dipl. arch. eth/sia, till joachim

engineering: www.acs-partner.ch, acs partner ag dipl. bauing. eth sia usic
matteo cogliatti dipl. bauing. eth sia

visualization: luca tomasi

THE GLOBE CONNECTING INSIDE OUT

OLYMPIC LANDMARK, PARIS, FRANCE, 2004.

international competition for the realization of the olympic landmark paris, france.

motto
turning the external inwards, opening the internal outwards, and bringing together the many to create one, "des jeux de toutes les couleurs."

the five outwardly turned spherical segments are attached to one another at their tangent points, creating a common central area using the external surface are of the segments and presenting themselves with their interiors facing outwards. the segments all originate from the same sphere.

idea
during the olympic games 2012 in paris, the five continents of the world will come together to participate in friendly competition in the spirit of the olympic games. africa, america, asia, australia, and europe present themselves with all of the colors and cultures of our common world. they will meet in paris and together they will create the olympic spirit of these unique games. the rotation of the sphere segments' outer surfaces inward, their mutual physical support, and the common central area characterized by the outer surface of the segments translates into the momentum of the olympic spirit on location. the olympic flame, the symbol of the games, can be found in the atmosphere of this space. the center is both the scene of the matches, as well as the fulcrum and crucial point of paris' bid for the olympic games of 2012.

sport
the interaction of individuals is the foundation of the community. however, in friendly competition there will always be winners and losers. this tension between community and victory expresses itself in the towering spherical segments, each individually pointing in different directions and rotated 15 degrees from each other. even during the moment of victory, the 15-degree-positioning of the segments also highlights the source of all sportive activities, namely group interaction.

history/culture
according to ancient traditions, the time of the olympic games has always been closely linked with peace. this holds true for future olympic games, especially for the games of 2012. through the sensibility of their positioning (the interior facing visitors from the outside), the spherical segments (seen from an urban context) make reference to the importance and fragility of this ceremonial time. the cultures present themselves. they open up their interiors to the world.

urban planning
from an urban planning point of view, the site features passageways, entrances, and exits pointing in five directions. if the main entrance, as stated in the competition rules, is located at the junction of rue cardinet and rue truffaut for safety and control reasons, then visitors will be filtered through the organizational entryway on the perimeter of the premises from where they can move freely in all directions once inside. if more security entrances are allowed on the premises, then the site would be directly accessible from all parts of the city. the visitors could fill the central area from all sides.

on location
the upward-expanding interior spaces offer the visitor a continually expanding view of paris with each new step upwards. visitors come together as they ascend the structure where they can view information relating to the substance of the games of 2012. this can be best experienced from half way up the center of the interior space where the segments are at their widest. the stairway's curved structure positions visitors near the middle of the segments. after climbing further, the vista point at 24 meters above ground level can be reached. from here visitors can direct their attention to the panoramic views of the city and take in new views of the parisian cityscape. the vista point with an area of 57mē faces the north towards the park "batignolles," which will be opened in january 2005. the longitudinal sides of the vista platform will provide a complete view of the area where the olympic village will be built.

production
the object is by means of form, design, and choice of materials a complex, double-curved projection screen. "des jeux de toutes les couleurs" come alive at dusk through the possibility of individual light projections realized by the city on the interior surfaces of the spherical segments. together, they represent the character of competition and the olympic games. the light in the interior space of the object, characterized by the outer surface of the segments, is white. white is the sum of all colors and in this sense represents the union of all the cultures of the world during the olympic games of 2012.