On June 23, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will inaugurate Olympic House, its new headquarters building in Lausanne, Switzerland, whose construction is nearing completion.
The building will allow the IOC to consolidate its staff of more than 500 people, who are currently scattered across several buildings in Lausanne. The design of the new building—by the architectural firms 3NX and IttenBrechbühl—reflects the Committee’s values and mission, according to Thomas Bach, IOC’s president.
Last week, Bach and Kim Herforth Nielsen, 3XN’s cofounder and Principal, presented a preview of Olympic House to the business press at The Plaza Hotel in New York.
The 145 million Swiss Franc (US$146 million) building, with 22,000 sm (236,806 sf) of usable space, will be located within Louis Bourget Park, one of Lausanne’s largest. Part of the park has been incorporated into the building’s design, whose key objectives correspond with the Olympics’ principles of movement, transparency, flexibility, sustainability, and collaboration.
Olympic House is situated within one of Lausanne's largest parks. Image: 3XN
“It’s important to have a story when designing a building,” said Nielsen of Copenhagen-based 3XN, whose design for Olympic House was selected by the IOC Executive Board from 114 entries.
For example, the top of Olympic House is shaped, symbolically, like a dove, representing peace. And in the building’s basement will be a sculpture of an olive tree.
The building façade’s undulating flow pays tribute to athletic movement. The building’s interior—which is supported by only four service cores and 14 pillars—speaks to its structural flexibility. Olympic House is also striving to meet international sustainability standards established by LEED, Minergie (the Swiss energy standard), and SNBS (the Swiss sustainable building standard).
A pumping station will draw water from nearby Lake Geneva to cool and heat the building. Solar panels on the roof will generate 10% of the building’s electricity use, equivalent to the consumption of 60 Swiss households. Olympic House’s shape optimizes daylight coming into the building. The facility will also collect rainwater to recycle for plant irrigation and toilet flushing. (The building’s water consumption is expected to by 60% of a comparable office building.)
A steel-and-wood-clad circular staircase is designed to suggest the five Olympic rings. Image: 3XN
One of the more striking design features of Olympic House is its steel-and-wood-clad Unity Staircase, which soars the full height of the building. Intended to reference the five Olympic rings, the staircase will unify the building’s floors. It is being presented as a visual expression of collaboration between IOC and its stakeholders. (Worldwide, there are 206 national Olympic committees.)
IOC is also collaborating with three worldwide Olympic partners: Dow, which is helping the Committee achieve its carbon neutrality goals; Toyota, which is developing a pilot program to install hydrogen stations in Switzerland for vehicles powered by fuel cells; and Panasonic, which is supplying A/V equipment for Olympic House’s meeting rooms.
IOC’s investment in this project includes the renovation of Le Château de Vidy, an 18th Century castle located within Olympic House’s public space.
Founded in Paris in 1894, IOC has undergone several significant reforms under the leadership of the 65-year-old Bach, a German lawyer and Olympic gold medalist in fencing, who became the Committee’s ninth president in September 2013. These reforms include a commitment to publishing an annual financial report, strengthening the role of its Ethics Committee, and auditing national committees that receive money from IOC. The organization is committed to redistributing 90% of its annual revenue to athletes from developing countries.
Related Stories
University Buildings | Feb 18, 2022
On-campus performing arts centers and museums can be talent magnets for universities
Cultural facilities are changing the way prospective students and parents view higher education campuses.
Resiliency | Feb 15, 2022
Design strategies for resilient buildings
LEO A DALY's National Director of Engineering Kim Cowman takes a building-level look at resilient design.
Cultural Facilities | Jan 27, 2022
Growth in content providers creates new demand for soundstage facilities
Relativity Architects' Partner Tima Bell discusses how the explosion in content providers has outpaced the availability of TV and film production soundstages in North America and Europe.
Cultural Facilities | Jan 18, 2022
A building in Times Square aspires to be a marketing and arts tool
The 580-ft TSX Broadway will have several LED signs on its exterior, and host an existing 27,000-sf theater that was hoisted 30 ft above street level.
Cultural Facilities | Dec 16, 2021
Museums and other cultural spaces reconsider how to serve their communities
Efforts to raise capital for cultural buildings became necessary during the COVID-19 health crisis.
Giants 400 | Nov 19, 2021
2021 Cultural Facilities Giants: Top architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. cultural facilities sector
Gensler, AECOM, Buro Happold, and Arup top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest cultural facilities sector architecture, engineering, and construction firms, as reported in the 2021 Giants 400 Report.
Cultural Facilities | Nov 19, 2021
Goettsch Partners completes Lincoln Park Zoo’s Pepper Family Wildlife Center
The project doubles the size of the previous lion habitat.
Cultural Facilities | Nov 17, 2021
Henning Larsen-designed Shaw Auditorium opens at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
The project celebrated its grand opening as part of HKUST’s thirtieth anniversary celebration.
Cultural Facilities | Oct 19, 2021
Niagara Falls is getting a bigger Welcome Center
The GWWO Architects-designed building will mostly sit on the site of the center it replaces.
Reconstruction & Renovation | Oct 13, 2021
Restoration of Ramova Theater in Chicago’s Bridgeport Neighborhood begins
The building was originally built in 1929.
