The Olympic Ski Jump in Garmisch-Partenkirchen is one of the most renowned facilities of its kind, having hosted the New Year ski jumping competition as part of the international Four Hills Tournament for 55 years. Now, after the advance premiere in January 2008, the new Olympic ski-jumping sports facility will officially be opened in December of 2008.
In the course of designing the ski jump, the terrain:loenhart&mayr office drew inspiration from the local topography of mount Gudiberg. The connecting lines of the new ski-jumping facility are an interpretation of the gentle curved lines of the foothills of the chain of mountains. Through its integrative and linear aesthetics of undulating lines the new design of the jump ties in separate functional entities, including delivery and access points to form a dynamic landscape-building unit.
As much as the goal was to develop a topographically rooted architecture for the new Olympic ski-jumping hill, it is meant to work in a dialectical mode: Topographic integration links up with sculptural expressiveness, giving the new jump in Garmisch-Partenkirchen its unique characteristic appearance. At the same time, its architectural impression and formal dynamics also invite associations with the risk and acceleration of the ski-jumping sport. The quest to overcome gravitation, inherently linked with ski jumping, is architecturally expressed by the cantilevering inrun of the ski jump. Athletes have nicknamed the new facility the Olympic Cantilever.
The entire inrun structure is covered with translucent polycarbonate elements whose appearance changes with the daylight and respective lighting. During the day, the new jump forms a harmonious unity with the surrounding snowcovered landscape. Light and shadow on the white panels establish a suggestive relationship with the surrounding winter landscape. After sunset, the artificial light illuminates the architectural body from inside, turning the cantilevering building into an illuminated sculpture that is visible even at great distance in the valley of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
SITE: Garmisch - Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany
YEAR: 2006-2008
PROJECT NUMBER: 37 olympia
STATUS: completed
CLIENT: City of Garmisch - Partenkirchen
DESIGN: terrain: loenhart & mayr BDA Architects and Landscape Architects
STRUCTURAL DESIGN AND STRUCTURAL PLANNING: Mayr | Ludescher | Partner, Advisory Engineers, Munich
DESIGN AND PLANNING OF JURYBUILDING, TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT: Architects Sieber+Renn, Sonthofen, Germany