The architectural world’s most hated structures may finally be meeting their demise. McMansions, the cheaply-built, faux-opulent mega-houses that litter many of the world’s suburban communities, were born in the 1980s and quickly became the most desirable living accommodation for middle and upper-middle class families. After a slight blip caused by the financial recession of 2008, McMansion popularity returned, with the median size of homes reaching a peak of 2,488 square feet just last year. But as seen in a new study conducted with data from real estate website Trulia, the economic benefit of purchasing one of these houses may now finally be falling.
Tracking data for homes built from 2001 to 2007 between 3,000 to 5,000 square feet (a typical McMansion size), the study found that the premium homeowners were willing to part with to purchase one of these houses has dropped in 85 of the largest 100 U.S. metropolitan areas from 2012 to 2016, including drops of over 80 percent in cities like Fort Lauderdale and Miami. Instead, smaller, older homes have seen a recent appreciation in value.
While the architecture community’s frustration with McMansions has been longstanding, the Trulia study and the increasing popularity of blogs like McMansion Hell, which breaks down the specific and plentiful architectural atrocities committed by the oversized houses, seem to indicate that the general public may now be catching on.
From the architect. Resulting from an extensive visioning process exploring the evolving role of the library in the digital age, The Vaughan Civic Centre Resource Library by ZAS Architects is a visionary maker-space dedicated to community learning, gathering, creating and celebration.
Engaging new users in record numbers since opening, the transformative community centerpiece aims to empower local residents of all ages and demographics, inviting an exploration of learning in the library with the tools and technology of the 21st century.
Site Plan
The library’s ethereal façade and shifting translucent form beacon the community, making a clear statement that this is a meeting place created for the future of the city.
Revealing layers of open interior spaces, the reflective façade appears ever-changing in a constant play of light. It’s complex geometry forms a loop around the central interior courtyard, it’s pattern shifting glass panels representing the overlap of ideas and user groups who gather inside.
Marking a transformation from traditional historic library architecture, flexible spaces create an empowering community amenity, encouraging social interaction and group learning. Akin to a contemporary bookstore, the library’s marketplace café, and open reading area welcome visitors as they enter the immersive environment.
Sections
In contrast to the monochromatic exterior façade, colourful furniture and glass animate a fluid series of bright spaces, balancing open meeting areas with places for private study. Dynamic natural lighting acts as a guide throughout the space, directing visitors as they explore the collection.
Prominent and visible from the library’s entrance and also around the building is an anchoring outdoor garden courtyard and symbolic red maple “Tree of Knowledge”. Collaboration spaces, meeting rooms, a ‘teen-only’ lounge, public-access computers, a large study hall, and an extensive children’s activity area form a circle around the courtyard, representing a circle of community.
From the café to the central outdoor courtyard, the vibrant two-storey facility hosts extensive public activity space far beyond the library’s collection of books. Accessible for all, visitors are encouraged to animate ideas within the library’s maker-spaces. Computer modeling and 3D printers, a media suite, sound recording studio, video studio and green screen all creates hands-on opportunities to learn, discover curiosities and hone craft.
Site Plan
Multi-generational and diverse, each space within has been designed to foster learning for wide-ranging user groups. Students from primary school to post-secondary, new Canadian residents, teens, toddlers and parents have all been given spaces to learn and connect with one another in social interaction zones that includes flexible furniture arrangements.
Indicative of a library’s ‘function in –flux’, highly flexible, movable book collection stacks offer flexibility for librarians and visitors to use the space in multiple ways, as the needs of the community evolve daily or annually.
Exposing residents to new possibilities of discovery, public areas are transparent and visually interlinked. Expansive glazing at the street level engages all passing by to join the activity inside. Social zones, lounge seating, and individual study space also surround the perimeter windows, maximizing light and views while creating a direct connection with the neighbourhood beyond.
Project Team: Hagy Belzberg (Partner-in-Charge), Daniel Rentsch (Project Manager), Andrew Kim, Ashley Coon, David Cheung, Cory Taylor, Susan Nwankpa, Micah Belzberg, Chris Sanford, Kristofer Leese, Chris Arntzen
As modern medicine has evolved, so too has our understanding of health. More recently, there has been a shift towards a more holistic approach to healthcare that, in addition to treatment, now includes mental and spiritual well-being, and our relationship to the environment as preventative care. To reflect this change, our design of the Kaplan Family Pavilion at the City of Hope, a leading research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases, not only introduces a new architectural language to our client’s campus, but creates environments to support and encourage Wellness.
Model
Our client initially proposed replacing a building to the west of our site to mark the institution’s centennial, but our design team was inspired by the “wishing trees” found across campus; these trees hold hundreds of personal notes tied to branches with messages of hope for the health of loved ones. Instead, we suggested moving the site slightly east to both re-align an off-axis promenade on the campus grid, and to use an existing century-old camphor tree as the project’s focal point. Our 7,000sqft project comprises two buildings wrapped around the camphor that houses new space for exhibits, events, administrative offices, and storage at the heart of a more than 100 acres campus in Southern California.
The LEED Platinum certified Pavilion uses the landscape to shape the built form and vice versa. Two billowing, sinuous concrete walls protect the entrances to either side of the tree while subtly genuflecting and twisting to create seating to face an irregular, oblong bench around the camphor. The result is an outdoor sanctuary where visitors can enjoy fresh air while protected by the shade of the mature tree. 75 backlit LED plaques along the surface of both concrete walls also highlight the City of Hope’s many milestones while leaving room for future accomplishments to be added. The buildings’ openness to the north avoids excessive heat gain and exposure, but also led to additional drought-tolerant planting to draw a strong connection between the occupants and the outdoors.
The bifurcation of the program and building footprint has allowed the project to both feel grounded in its location, anchored by the camphor, but also transient, with the footpath cutting through the site to connect the project to the rest of campus. It is able to draw visitors from across the client’s community, offering respite and a place for reflection to support healing and wellness.
Scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) have developed a bendable variety of concrete called ConFlexPave, which in addition to its increased flexibility, is both stronger and more durable than traditional concrete. Working at the NTU-JTC Industrial Infrastructure Innovation Centre (I³C), the team created the material by introducing polymer microfibers into the concrete mixture.
The innovation also allows for the production of slim precast pavement slabs, increasing installation speed. It is anticipated to be used in infrastructural projects, halving the amount of time needed for road works and new pavements while also requiring less maintenance.
NTU Professor Chu Jian, Interim Co-Director of the NTU-JTC I³C, comments, “We developed a new type of concrete that can greatly reduce the thickness and weight of precast pavement slabs, hence enabling speedy plug-and-play installation, where new concrete slabs prepared off-site can easily replace worn out ones.”
Standard concrete consists of a cured mixture of cement, water, gravel and sand, which produces a strong, yet brittle product that is prone to cracking. The addition of synthetic fibers into ConFlexPave remedies this issue by allowing the concrete to flex and bend under tension. The resulting product also has demonstrated an enhanced skid resistance.
According to Assistant Prof Yang En-Hua from NTU’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, leader of this research at the NTU-JTC I³C, the key breakthrough was found by studying how the material components interacted with one another on a microscopic level.
“With detailed understanding, we can then deliberately select ingredients and engineer the tailoring of components, so our final material can fulfill specific requirements needed for road and pavement applications,” explained Prof Yang.
“The hard materials give a non-slip surface texture while the microfibres which are thinner than the width of a human hair, distribute the load across the whole slab, resulting in a concrete that is tough as metal and at least twice as strong as conventional concrete under bending,” he added.
Currently, tablet-sized samples of the material have been successfully tested at NTU laboratories. Over the next three years, the material will be scaled up for further testing in areas exposed to human and vehicular traffic.
From the architect. The Holdener family bought a beautiful property with two breath-taking views: towards the ocean and into the jungle. We decided to rest the house against the back of the steep hill of the site in order to stabilize the soil and protect the house from falling debris.
The house then transitions from a more solid and intimate construction at the back that holds bedrooms and bathrooms, towards a light-weight and ephemeral structure that points to the visual collapse of the ocean and jungle views.
1st Floor Plan
2nd Floor Plan
The result is a series of interwoven terraces that relate to each other in all dimensions creating not only an internal dynamic interaction between levels, but also varied and sometimes unexpected relationships between the inhabitants and the natural landscape. In these interstitial terrace spaces, which are never truly inside or out, architecture comes to foster the relationship, enjoyment, and appreciation of the natural world by the inhabitants.
Diller Scofidio + Renfro: Elizabeth Diller (Partner-in-Charge); Ricardo Scofidio AIA, Charles Renfro AIA, Benjamin Gilmartin AIA (Principal Designers); Anthony Saby (Project Director) Chris Hillyard, AIA (Project Architect); Chris Andreacola AIA, David Chacon AIA, Christopher Kupski AIA LEED AP, Barak Pliskin AIA LEED AP, Kevin Rice AIA, Gerard Sullivan AIA, Mary Broaddus, Charles Curran,Robert Donnelly, Amber Foo, Yoon-Young Hur, Joshua Jow, Andreas Kostopoulos, Joseph Dart Messick, Patrick Ngo, Matt Ostrow, Stefano Paiocchi, Jesse Saylor, Jack Solomon, Hallie Terzopolos, Elizabeth Wisecarver (Design Team)
Gensler: Madeline Burke-Vigeland AIA, LEED AP(Principal-in-Charge); Kristian Gregerson AIA (Project Manager); Ambrose Aliaga-Kelly AIA (Technical Director); Joanne Fernando AIA, Jinho Kim AIA, Michelle Neary AIA, Bill DuBois, Ana Espejo, Mariano Ortiz, Henry Hong RA, Scott Wilson AIA (Design Team)
Structural Engineer: Leslie E. Robertson Associates (LERA)
From the architect. Columbia University Medical Center’s new, state-of-the-art medical and graduate education building, the Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center, will open to faculty and students on August 15, 2016 for the start of the fall term. Designed by the New York-based interdisciplinary design studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro, in collaboration with Gensler as executive architect, the Vagelos Education Center is a 100,000-square-foot, 14-story glass tower that incorporates technologically advanced classrooms, collaboration spaces, and a modern simulation center to reflect how medicine is taught, learned, and practiced in the 21st century. The design seeks to reshape the look and feel of the Medical Center campus, and also create spaces that facilitate the development of skills essential for modern medical practice.
The building is named in recognition of the generosity of an initial lead gift from P. Roy Vagelos, MD, a distinguished alumnus of Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, and his wife, Diana Vagelos, an alumna of Barnard College and the Vice Chair of the Trustees of Barnard College. The Vagelos Education Center was funded through the generosity of many committed friends, faculty and alumni donors. Construction began in September 2013.
In addition to the new Vagelos Education Center, initiatives to revitalize the campus include increasing green space, creating a new gateway to the medical school, consolidating student services, renovating several existing buildings, and constructing new spaces, including the new home for the Columbia School of Nursing. The Vagelos Education Center will help define the northern edge of the campus and provide a bridge to the surrounding Washington Heights community.
“Our new education building will ensure that Columbia continues to train superior doctors and researchers, educated in the latest techniques, as medicine continues to evolve rapidly throughout the 21st century,” said Lee Goldman, MD, Executive Vice President and Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine at Columbia University. “The building also will allow us to centralize key activities in a state-of-the-art facility that reflects our commitment to providing world-class instruction and a superb learning environment for students.”
The Vagelos Education Center is a 14-story glass, concrete, and steel structure anchored by a network of social and study spaces distributed along an exposed, interconnected vertical staircase that extends the height of the building—known as the “Study Cascade”—and encompasses 100,000 square feet of advanced medical and scientific facilities. The alcove interiors of the Study Cascade, designed to be conducive to collaborative, team-based learning and teaching, open onto south-facing outdoor spaces and terraces. Other key elements of the design include:
Ground floor lobby and café, which adjoin a “study bar” with views of the Palisades.
Student Commons, which features a café, computer work area and computer labs.
Advanced clinical simulation center, a specialized space for mock examination rooms, clinics and operating rooms.
Multi-purpose auditorium, a 275-seat flexible space used for campus-wide events such as lectures, screenings and concerts.
“Academic Neighborhoods,” groups of classrooms that can be configured according to need by operable partitions, drop down screens and large-scale multi-user touch screens, suspended ceilings, and distributed power and data at the floor.
South and West Courts, outdoor spaces featuring local plant species.
Anatomy Quad, a flexible learning space with integrated screens and task lighting.
“Space matters for structured and informal learning,” said Elizabeth Diller, founding partner at Diller Scofidio + Renfro. “To support Columbia’s progressive medical education program, we designed a building that will nurture collaboration. Its defining feature is the Study Cascade–a 14-story network of vertically linked spaces in a variety of sizes, both focused and social, private and communal, indoors and out.”
“The Vagelos Education Center started with a clear vision as a place of excellence for higher learning that would also act as a much needed social center,” said Maddy Burke-Vigeland AIA, Principal at Gensler. “Because of everyone’s deep involvement, it has transformed into something that exceeds even those high expectations: a vibrant new hub for Columbia’s Medical Center campus.”
Diagram
DS+R’s design takes advantage of an incredible view of the Hudson River and the Palisades. The building also integrates a range of sustainable features—including locally sourced materials, green roof technologies, and an innovative mechanical system that minimizes energy and water use—and the façade features ceramic “frit” patterns that are baked onto the exterior glass to diffuse sunlight. All new construction and renovation projects—including the Vagelos Education Center—work toward the goal of minimizing CUMC’s carbon footprint and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2025.
This article is part of our new “Material Focus” series, which asks architects to elaborate on the thought process behind their material choices and sheds light on the steps required to get a building constructed.
The House in Lago Sur Qi 25 was designed by Sérgio Parada Arquitetos Associados firm. The project is 800 square meters and the layout is organized into 3 floors. Their volumes were defined by their use: intimate, service, formal and leisure. The project’s structure is completely made up of reinforced concrete with large openings that allow for complete integration of the exterior with the interior. We talked with the architect Rodrigo Biavati to learn more about the material choices and challenges of the project.
For the frame: steel and concrete; for the façade: brick masonry and glass; the flooring: wood and fulget; Masonry finishings: painting on rustic plaster and glass mosaics; Brises: metallic “skin” on microperforated plates made from pre-painted aluminum.
In terms of materials, which were the greatest sources of inspiration and influence when making your final decisions?
When constructing our projects we always try to get the most out of each material that we’re going to use. Starting with defining the frame we plan according to the architectural environment and its technical and financial viability, down to the choice of coating materials that are best suited for the suggestions of the architects.
Describe how the decisions on materials influenced the design concept.
In the volumetric composition of the residence, all the rooms are connected to a social living area. This area, acting as the heart of the building, has double height ceilings and a glass exterior. To protect this part from the sun, we inserted a metal microperforated ”skin”, at the end of the covering, to filter the sunlight and at the same time be able to enhance the vision of people inside and block the view from the outside. That same part, the microperforated metal “skin”, was used creating a vertical movement in which residents could pass unseen and see what was happening in front of the house.
What were the advantages that these materials offered when constructing the project?
In the case of the House in Lago Sur Qi 25, four materials were part of the architectural design of the residence. The concrete in the frame, the panes of glass, the solar protective micro-perforated metal “skin” and continuous flooring.
We used a structural system of ribbed concrete slabs, which made the work go faster and allowed for greater openings with lower structure height. That way the space between the inside slabs were kept free of beams and facilitated movement in the building.
Since the property has a great view, the house has a large glazed glass opening system. This system allowed for the double height glass façade and seals around the windows and doors.
The micro-perforated metal “skin” was essential for sun protection for the large glass openings.
Since the house is located on the ground level, the use of a solid surface to maintain the integration across the exterior was important. We used fulget as it is a non-slip coating that works very well in this situation, coating the floors, ramps, and stairs. The social and intimate interior spaces use planks of Brazilian teak to ensure the continuity between environments.
Did you ever consider other possibilities for materials for the project? If so, how would that have changed the project?
In the case of the House in Lago Sur Qi 25, the architectural team had already prepared the design with these materials in mind. The choices were built into the ideas.
How did you research suppliers and builders suitable for materials used in the project?
Representatives of the companies in the construction industry always keep us updated with their products and materials. We are always searching for new technologies to improve and facilitate our projects on the internet and in magazines.
Making the decision to pursue architecture is not easy. Often, young students think that they have to be particularly talented at drawing, or have high marks in math just to even apply for architecture programs. Once they get there, many students are overwhelmed by the mountainous tasks ahead.
While the path to becoming an architect varies from country to country, the average time it takes to receive a Masters in Architecture is between 5 and 7 years, and following that is often the additional burden of licensure which realistically takes another couple of years to undertake. Knowing these numbers, it’s not particularly encouraging to find out that the average architect does not make as much as doctors and lawyers, or that 1 in 4 architecture students in the UK are seeking treatment for mental health issues. These are aspects which architecture needs to work on as an industry. However, beyond these problems, there are still many fulfilling reasons to fall in love with the industry and become an architect. Here are just some of them.
1. Architects are able to unleash their creativity.
The most beautiful aspect of architecture as a profession is how the industry embraces the individuality of each person. Of course, designing buildings is in itself a fulfilling creative pursuit; but even beyond that you are allowed, and in fact encouraged, to have a style which can manifest beyond your work. The idea of wanting to live an “authentic life” has been a trending buzzword lately, and being an architect can certainly serve as conduit to a desire to live creatively: to wear what you want, to don unconventional eyewear, and to just express you through your lifestyle. This Oscar-nominated short film shows just how humorous and fun that could be.
2. Architects get to (very clearly) see the fruits of their labor.
Perhaps the greatest advantage of being an architect is having a lifetime’s work that remains after you’re gone to remind people of your efforts. You can ultimately live a life much larger and longer than your own mortality allows because the buildings that you design will represent you. Due to the literal “material nature” of the work, it’s difficult to second-guess your contribution to society and the value of your work when it’s 10 stories high and staring right at you. In some places, architects are even encouraged to “sign” their buildings like artists with a plaque or inscription; most recently, a new policy by the Ontario Association of Architects requires new buildings over 1,000 square meters to include a prominent credit to the architect near the main entrance or on the main facade.
Architecture school is difficult, but it is also a very fun and exciting time because of the dynamism in your experience. Knowledge and theories from other fields are openly welcomed within architecture, and these sources could be as varied as social work, philosophy and economics. Due to architecture’s wide-ranging knowledge set, many architecture programs advocate interdisciplinary learning for their students, meaning that you will either have a wide range of topics embedded within your architecture classes, or you will get the opportunity to take varied classes ranging from environmental studies, to computer science. If there is a particular topic you are interested in, you can incorporate it within your architectural work.
Additionally, there is a lot of improvisation in architectural education and this is where it gets fun. Unlike science students who have to adhere to strict formatting with lab reports, and humanities students who go through copious amounts of textual analysis, architecture students are encouraged to embrace innovation. Who says you can’t include a well-informed research component with your studio project, and when you write essays for architecture class, custom-made visuals often allow you to explain your ideas more clearly and result in very good marks. You are free to do what you think is best in communicating your ideas.
4. Architects are often specialists at everything.
As mentioned, what makes Architecture an exciting subject of study is the wide array of learning and research that you have to conduct on a regular basis—and this extends far into one’s working career. There is no such thing as having too much knowledge as an architect. Each new project is a window for inquiry into new technology, theories of organization, or methods of construction. To articulate this information in your building designs, you need to very quickly understand expert knowledge on the specific technique that you wish to include in order to collaborate with corresponding professionals. As maestros of the orchestra that is the whole construction team, architects become specialists at everything.
5. Architects learn to be very good at defending their opinions.
For every individual, there will be a set of buildings that they simply find beautiful. Many students dive into the world of architecture because they were emotionally affected by a beautiful building, but in the classroom “beautiful” is not necessarily a qualifying trait that will convince colleagues and professors. The simple rule is that if you like a form, a motif, a detail or anything really, you must go beyond “beautiful” and make a case for its existence as a “profound aspect of the experiential articulation of the built world” (or whatever phrase your colleague might offer). This gives rise to lively and stimulating debate amongst architecture professionals which also extends to written discourse. Architectural literature contains very colorful vocabulary and a rhetorical style that is nothing short of poésie.
Mental health issues plague architecture schools for many reasons that cannot be determined very clearly. But causes of stress will always linger, in any situation, in any job, and in any discipline. While the health challenges faced by many students should not be trivialized, there are at least as many people who emerge into the workforce as healthier individuals who are incredibly resilient in the face of life’s slings and arrows. Going to architecture school takes you through a very in-depth journey of introspection, understanding your needs, and figuring out how you can be successful on your own terms.
7. Architects are able to do what they love for the rest of their life.
Assuming that what you love is Architecture, there seems to be no barrier to continuing to do what you love past the age of retirement. As the saying goes: “Choose a job you love and will never have to work a day in your life.” Many of today’s architectural masters are still heading their highly successful firms decades past the age of retirement and are honing their craft just as ardently as before—as if they’ve never worked a day in their life. Frank Gehry is actively pursuing building projects at 87, Norman Foster leads more than 140 partners in his firm at 81 years old, and Zaha Hadid won RIBA’s Royal Gold Medal at 65. Most spectacularly, Oscar Niemeyer still dabbled in the occasional project right up to his death ten days before his 105th birthday.
Thanks to its origin as the “mother of the arts” and its subsequent development as an influential profession, architecture has achieved near-universal recognition as a noble pursuit. In the workplace, architects largely interact with clients from the upper reaches of society. With the many general myths and legends that surround architecture outside of the actual profession there is a certain reverence attached to architects, and you may be able to take advantage of this to impress other people while still having the opportunity to do something that you are interested in.
9. Architects improve the lives of countless people.
Modern Architecture, as we know it today, emerged from a period of social upheaval in the 20th century. In the hope of creating a better world for everyone, the visionaries of modern architecture developed a heroic rhetoric that continues to inspire architects of today – even if we haven’t exactly figured out how to recapture that spirit. For a brief moment, we lost hope on that endeavor but emerging practices are today re-invigorating architecture’s social agenda.
Architecture always wants to help people and when it does it’s an incredibly satisfactory feeling. Unfortunately, architects are the biggest critics of architecture and there is often greater focus on when architecture doesn’t work, rather than when it does. We must not forget the little slivers of success: the elderly woman that is comfortable in her transitional flat; the son that is extremely grateful to the architects who redesigned his mother’s dilapidated home in a humble neighborhood, or the lowly office worker that finds entertainment in the interesting-looking skyscrapers that populate her daily commute. Architecture is significant and the ability to touch on an integral part of a person’s life is a reason to be an architect.
feld72 has won the competition for the design of the Neu Leopoldau, a Youth Living residential complex in Leopoldau, a post-industrial area on the outskirts of Vienna. Based on the idea of creating community, the project utilizes overlaying, staggered, and connected spaces and communication areas to facilitate the feeling of a village.
Courtesy of feld72
Spaces throughout the building vary in use from a range of public to private and are flexible in their uses.
Courtesy of feld72
Courtesy of feld72
The monolithic structure with uniform window sized in a staggered arrangement [give the building] a simple and calm character. [Additionally, staggered] balconies included on each floor of the building give a more slender appearance – said the architects on a press release.
Courtesy of feld72
The ground floor of the building is essentially transparent, with outdoor trails leading into a large entrance, which opens up on the opposite side into community areas, including a kitchen.
Photographs: Courtesy of SYRA_Schoyerer Architekten
Other Participants: Centraplan Architeken Planungsgesellschaft GmbH
Courtesy of SYRA_Schoyerer Architekten
Speed Skating Arena Geisingen The arena Geisingen is a private sponsorship project. Over a period of three years the Family Uhrig from Geisingen pursued the idea of building an Inline track in Geisingen. During the planning phase the concept developed from the original intention of building only ‘a track’, which was then developed as a concept into the to the arena Geisingen you see today which is unique not only in Germany but also Europe wide.
Courtesy of SYRA_Schoyerer Architekten
The arena Geisingen is, situated on a floodplane of the river Donauwhich which entailed complex remodelling of the existing landscape. In total 50,000 m³ of earth was modulated to form the arena tribunes, the oval racetrack with the banked corners and the infield area . Because of the close proximity to the Donau River the arena Geisingen is constructed in such a way that when the river floods there is no damage to the arena.
Plan
The arena Geisingen was designed (preliminary design and details design ) by the architectural firm SYRA_Schoyerer Architekten, from Mainz. Site supervision was taken over by the company Centraplan Architeken Planungsgesellschaft GmbH from Kirchzarten.
Courtesy of SYRA_Schoyerer Architekten
By night the arena Geisingen glows like a UFO against the Geisingen countryside. The translucent walls are almost weightless and surround the arena. The flat roof constructed with wood and the same weightless material as the sidewalls covers the entire arena. The designer Monika Heiss set the sensational orange tone for the track and the radiant Magenta for the training track. These brilliant colours and the lighting concept create an exciting motivational atmosphere. It does not matter if the weather is bad, if it is a foggy day, or night time, the atmosphere in the arena is always enjoyable. For the Bistro, Skateshop and the Service areas, the natural colour ochre was chosen.
Sig Nordal 