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3XN releases new renderings of the International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne

Medal House

3XN releases new renderings of the International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne

The International Olympic Committee is getting a new home, and the accommodations don’t look too shabby. Danish firm 3XN has just released new renderings for the Committee’s new headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Olympic House, as it has been dubbed, features a curving facade of glass and steel and is nested into a green surrounding landscape adjacent to the Committee’s former home, an 18th-century castle dubbed the Château de Vidy. Vidy, a neighborhood within Lausanne, sits near the shores of Lake Geneva and within direct view of the cascading, snow-capped Swiss Alps.

95 percent of the materials from the administrative buildings formerly occupying the new building’s site will be recycled into the new structure, as part of the firm’s efforts to incorporate sustainable construction techniques. The building’s interior is based on open space and concentric circles—a double-flight staircase on the main floor leads up to an ascending sequence of circular balconies arranged at staggered angles, crowned by a skylight above. The exterior, an undulating pattern of paneled glass, is inspired by Eadweard Muybridge-like photographs of athletes in motion and is intended to appear different from every slight shift in angle.

According to 3XN senior partner Jan Ammundsen, the design is based on principles of flexibility, movement, and sustainability, with shared spaces in the building able to be programmed for adaptive usage as it ages.

Just this past April, 3XN was selected from a group of architects vying for the commission, which included Toyo Ito, Amanda Levete, and OMA.

 

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