Minimalism, Technology and Opportunity: Developing a New Olympic Prototype
Abstract
It is very important as designers to make design decisions that not only effect and create results for the immediate, current situation at hand, but it is also our responsibility to create and design with the intention of fostering an always changing, constantly adapting, sustainable environment that protects, conserves and even harvests our natural environment and preserves it for the betterment of our future generations. With that being said, we designers also have the responsibility of designing a place that has the ability to move its inhabitants emotionally and physically through the space without compromising its functionality. An exorbitant amount of money and resources is invested into designing and constructing stadiums of this day and age. However, most of the time these investments are not fully recovered as the stadiums fail to remain effectively operational regularly throughout the year or even after the major sporting event has concluded. This leads to a massive structural space that is unable to generate enough of its own resources to keep the building up and running. This leads to an abandoned building with a very high embodied energy. To alleviate this situation this thesis will be focused on developing new and innovative methods of designing, constructing and utilizing large scale stadium architecture through the use of robotics and 3D printing while also taking advantage and exercising the tactics and methods of temporary venue architecture.
To mitigate the socio-economic impact of stadium architecture
on our environment, it is important to turn our
attention to self-contained, temporary venue architecture
and to rethink the future of stadium design.
As we are also moving closer to an entirely digital age,
it would deem unnecessary to even create structures of
such a large magnitude. Thus, the premise for my thesis
revolves around a more prominent digital audience. Whilst
still giving significance to a physical audience, by designing
and constructing a venue that is more temporary
and in turn more sustainable. This is achieved through
a stadium designed to be constructed, taken down and
eventually transported to the next Olympic destination,
much like a circus.