“We envision a potential new stadium that makes our community proud and enhances the reputation of our great city and state,” says Titans president and CEO Burke Nihill. “We’re focused on designing a stadium capable of hosting a prestigious international event on a Sunday and a steady flow of impactful community programming later that same week. This is a building that would serve Nashville and Tennessee for generations.”

The new 1.7-million-square-foot stadium will have room for roughly 60,000 guests, a decrease from the current venue’s 69,000 capacity and a move that would make it the smallest in the entire NFL. However, the reduced size is a strategic business decision. “It’s an industry best thinking at this point,” Nihill explained during a recent Metro city council meeting. “It’s a little bit of a painful experience because it’s my job to make sure we sell out the stadium. We don’t sell out the stadium for most of our games.”

Additionally, the NFL has adjusted their requirements when it comes to where the Super Bowl can be held. It is no longer simply a matter of seat capacity, but also whether the local area has nearby hotels, venues, and other fan experiences to support any travelers to the game. By building a newer stadium, lots of prime riverfront real estate will be freed up for the city of Nashville to develop into exactly those types of spaces.

Even though there will be fewer seats at the Titans’ new stadium, they will all have excellent visibility. “Every seat has been pulled further forward and slightly steeper. That means the views are closer and better to the game or the concert than they are in the existing building. In fact, the entire upper deck is pulled about 30 feet closer,” says David Manica, head architect at Manica Architecture, the firm tapped to create the initial design and mock-ups for the stadium.

Manica Architecture is no stranger to designing professional sports venues. In March, David and his team were commissioned to lead the initial design for the Chicago Bears’ new NFL stadium. The firm previously designed the Las Vegas Raiders’ “Death Star” stadium, as well as the team’s headquarters and training facility.

The rest of the $2.1 billion Titans stadium specs include exterior terraces and porches with panoramic views of the city that will offer prime mingling space during events. The stadium will also be weatherproofed with a circular ETFE (lightweight glass substitute) translucent roof. Immediately adjacent to the new stadium will be a 12,000-square-foot community plaza that can be used for “educational opportunities, non-profit events, and other community-minded purposes,” according to the Titans.

It looks as if the Titans’ stadium is already attracting the notice of non-NFL groups. The WWE has reportedly made a verbal agreement to bring Wrestle Mania (its biggest event of the year) to Nashville as long as an enclosed stadium is constructed.

The post New Tennessee Titans Stadium Will Be State of the Art, but Smallest in the NFL first appeared on Dornob.

Next time you watch those stunning triple axles and gnarly tricks from the skiers and boarders, take note of the following architectural marvels:

The Beijing National Stadium

Built ahead of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, the Beijing National Stadium (also known as the Bird’s Nest), was conceived by the inventive Swiss architecture studio Herzog & Meuron.

Following the Olympic Committee’s decision to start reusing venues for a more eco-friendly, sustainable approach, the National Stadium has the distinction of being the only stadium to host both winter and summer Olympics. In addition to its unique shape and dynamic design, the Bird’s Nest also just so happens to be the world’s largest steel structure — making it the ideal place to host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2022 Olympics within its illuminated latticed walls.

National Speed Skating Oval

Designed by architecture studio Populous (themselves no strangers to spectacular stadiums), the National Speed Skating Oval is one of only a few new structures built for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Built on the former site of the 2008 hockey and archery fields, the Oval’s mind-bendingly melty shape (designed to let the spectators hear even the faintest ice scrape) is certainly distinctive — but it’s the 22 strands of electric blue light circling the stadium that really make it a showstopper. Dubbed “The Ice Ribbon,” the Oval is destined to be one of the highlights of this year’s Winter Games.

Big Air Shougang

Completed in 2019, the rollicking ramp Big Air Shougang marks another new addition to the Beijing Winter Olympics roster. Designed by TeamMinus, the structure is “the world’s first permanent big air structure” and will, not surprisingly, host skiing and snowboarding’s trickiest, most extreme big air events. Set on the site of a former steel mill, the ramp itself has an industrial feel to it, while the colorful aluminum side panels add bravado and flair to the scene.

National Sliding Center

Located in the Yanqing Olympic Zone north of Beijing, the National Sliding Center is yet another new addition to the Winter Olympics’ stellar architectural lineup. Designed by Atelier Li Xinggang, the over one-mile-long sliding track is topped with an impressive tiled wooden roof covering the winding trails below.

The primary site of the bobsledding, skeleton, and luge events at the 2022 Olympic Games, the Sliding Center is the first of its kind in China — and only the third to be built in Asia.

National Ski Jumping Center

Another inventive TeamMinus creation, the National Ski Jumping Center hosted the ski jump and Nordic combined events during the 2022 Winter Olympics. Now, it’s set to become an athlete’s training facility and luxe tourist resort post-games.

Nicknamed “Snow Ruyi” because of its resemblance to a ruyi, a traditional Chinese talisman representing power and good fortune, the center is located in the Zhangjiakou Zone northwest of Beijing — itself already a popular ski destination. Topped with an over 100-foot-high circular viewing platform complete with a panoramic restaurant, the Ski Jumping Center will surely be a destination for years to come due to its fabulous location, stunning vistas, and proximity to a new intercity railway.

While many of the structures at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics were repurposed faves from the 2008 Summer Games, we also saw an impressive new lineup of structures built expressly to host this year’s exciting events.

Next time the games roll around, take a moment between cheering Team USA and catching some curling to get a glimpse of some of the most inventive new architecture out there. You’ll be glad you did.

The post The Architecture of the 2022 Winter Olympics Gets a Gold Medal in Cool first appeared on Dornob.

The new year will bring the completion of a pretty dazzling array of architectural projects, some of which have been in the making for a decade or more. Major firms will be cutting the ribbons on career-defining structures, and some of them are record-breakers, too.

These five exciting examples include a new super-tall tower for Chicago, the posthumous completion of a striking hotel designed by Zaha Hadid herself, an Olympic stadium, and two examples of buzzworthy concepts looking to prove themselves in the real world.

Opus by Zaha Hadid Architects, Dubai

The first and only hotel in Dubai to be designed inside and out by famed architect Zaha Hadid herself, the “Opus” is a cube-shaped volume with a “carved” central void, bringing some of Hadid’s signature curvature to the project. Located within the city’s Burj Khalifa district, the building will contain a “ME by Melia” hotel as well as 12 restaurants, a rooftop bar, and 56,000 square feet of office space. Each side of the cube is conceived as its own separate tower, connected by narrow bridges at the top and bottom.

“The Opus will be aligned with Omniyat’s vision of treating each project as if it were a unique work of art,” says Mahdi Amjad, Executive Chairman and CEO of Omniyat. “The design conveys the remarkably inventive quality of ZHA’s work; expressing a sculptural sensibility that reinvents the balance between solid and void, opaque and transparent, interior and exterior.”

There’s no word yet on exactly when the hotel will open to its first guests, but construction is nearly complete as of early 2020.

Nanjing Zendai Himalayas Center by MAD, China

When architects first began proposing futuristic-looking developments resembling mountains years ago, they seemed like fantasy concepts that would never actually be built. MAD Architects is proving that theory wrong with its Nanjing Zendai Himalayas Center, which is quickly nearing completion in China. The mixed-use development occupies over 560,000 square meters of building area and will host residential, hotel, office, and commercial facilities, and it’s all characterized by mountain-like towers around the edge with glass screens that “flow” like waterfalls.

The firm explains that “these features provide interior spaces with energizing light and wind to form a subtle, calming ambiance. The project mimics the site’s surrounding mountains and meandering rivers that are essential parts of Chinese aesthetic philosophy. Towers along the edge of the site act as a mountainous backdrop, while water features such as ponds, waterfalls, brooks, and pools connect buildings and landscapes to integrate all of the center’s elements. This integration goes beyond form, with the water features functioning as reservoirs to collect and recycle rainwater for irrigation.”

Vista Tower by Studio Gang, Chicago

It’s not every day that a city gets a new landmark that dramatically alters its skyline. In Chicago, the tale of the failed Spire super-tower has become legendary after what was supposed to be the tallest building in North America never made it past the construction of its giant foundation hole. That hole has now sat empty for well over a decade. The new Vista Tower by Studio Gang may not fill the literal hole in the ground, and at 1,186 feet, it won’t be anywhere near as tall, but once completed, it will be the city’s third-tallest skyscraper.

“Residential and hotel amenities combine at the upper levels, creating a vibrant social center,” say the architects. “At ground level, the building creates an essential pedestrian connection between the Chicago Riverwalk and the nearby community park’s outdoor recreational facilities.”

1,000 Trees by Heatherwick Studio, Shanghai

A lot of concept architecture over the last decade has featured full-scale trees adorning the facades of buildings. While it certainly looks cool, there have been a lot of good questions raised about the weight of the soil, the impact of the tree roots as they grow, and lots of other potential problems. As Heatherwick Studio completes its 1,000 Trees development in Shanghai, we’ll finally get to see how it all works out. Heatherwick’s design differs from others in a few crucial ways, like the use of concrete structural columns to support the trees. The mixed-use project also resembles an artificial mountain from afar, adding some interesting topographical dimension to an otherwise flat city.

National Stadium by Kengo Kuma, Tokyo

Japanese architect Kengo Kuma’s National Stadium was technically completed in November 2019, but this summer, we’ll get to see it in use for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Kuma is a master of wooden architecture, and the new stadium is one of his largest and most complex projects to date, made with over 70,000 cubic feet of larch and cedar wood sourced from all of Japan’s 47 prefectures. The stadium was originally set to be designed by Zaha Hadid, but her firm’s predictably curvy design was deemed too expensive.

Which one of these projects are you most excited to see finished?

The post 5 Buildings We Can’t Wait to See Completed in 2020 first appeared on Dornob.

The architecture of older stadiums would often mirror the shape of the field, whereas contemporary ballparks allow for greater deviation from that norm. That creates extra nooks in the field where hit balls can get lost for an extra second or more, often giving runners enough time to get a whole extra base. The architecture of the new Diablos Rojos Stadium in Mexico City may mirror the field like the stadiums of old, but it still presents a refreshing departure from the standard ballpark template. The stadium was (mostly) completed in March of 2019, just in time for the start of La Liga Mexicana de Béisbol season in April.

The most obvious departure here is the design of the roof, which covers 11,500 seats and stretches outward over the exterior plaza almost to the street. Designed by the Chicago-based FGP Atelier, the roof is employed predictably to protect the fans from the sun and the rain, and also to cover the plaza. But the material of the roof, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), sets Diablos Rojos Stadium apart by only diffusing sunlight during the day rather than blocking it completely.

Anyone who’s ever been to a baseball stadium and sat under a solid roof has experienced sitting shade, which is even darker at night. By using a translucent material for the roof, the Mexico City stadium is able to cover seats without giving the fans the feeling of having a roof casting a shadow over them when the sun starts to set. On top of that, the roof also acts as a large light at night, reflecting the stadium lighting downward rather than all around.

For some people, the fun part about going to a sporting event is not the game itself, but the atmosphere. For instance, just outside of a baseball stadium prior to the first pitch is an exciting moment of activity. As lines begin to form at concession stands, families play in-stadium games for team-themed prizes, while other fans wait for their friends. The sound is that of a carnival, with the constant digital pings of tickets being scanned at the gate punctuated by hawkers peddling programs and snacks. This activity happens at all high-level sporting events, but at Diablos Rojos Stadium, it’s extra special. The presence of the roof over the plaza brings the festivities that animate the pregame moments into the stadium itself. This removes the tension that fans usually have when they attend sporting matches, as most want to take in the ambiance outside the stadium but also want to get inside the building to be ready for the start of the match. At Diablos Rojos, fans can enter the stadium without feeling like they’re missing out on the pregame party outside, because the party has already been brought inside for them.

The concessions, restrooms, shops, and other amenities are kept inside six volcanic rock pyramids, which themselves are a nod to the Pre-Columbian temples of Mesoamerica. Between the pyramids and the home plate part of the stadium is a wide pedestrian pathway that runs under the roof. Older baseball stadiums often used architectural styles of the late 19^th or early 20^th centuries. Even contemporary stadiums try to create a faux imitation of those styles. It’s extremely rare that the architecture of a stadium reference ancient architecture, but FGP and their stadium collaborators Taller ADG knew they wanted to give fans a deep connection to Mexico’s rich history.

What is most laudable about the Diablos Rojos Stadium is the way it uses architecture to enhance the enjoyment of the overall baseball experience. It doesn’t just focus on the enjoyment of the spectacle inside the diamond, but also on the fun that occurs outside it during pre and post-game moments.

The post A Refreshing Design for Mexico’s Newest Baseball Stadium first appeared on Dornob.

This is the upside-down world of the late 2010s. A time where we have become experts at compartmentalization. What we should see, we choose not to see, and what should not monopolize our attention, does just that. We love our silos, we love hot takes, and we are absolutely transfixed by spectacle.

The spectacle that sadly commandeers our architectural discourse may give us the what, why, who, and the technical how of things, but only when a key player dies do we actually learn about the human how. For Qatar’s Al Janoub Stadium, the game plan is for the human how to be forgotten altogether, buried under layers of positive press regarding its retractable roof and large attendance capacity. And while it may be the home of the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup, are we really so willing to get lost in the spectacle that we lose sight of the human how?

Al Janoub Stadium was commissioned specifically for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, with a design by the world-renowned Zaha Hadid Architects. It officially opened in May 2019. Today, it stands as a 40,000-seat stadium, with plans to become a 20,000-seat venue after a tournament that some critics are predicting will be the worst ever. As a matter of fact, all the stadium’s seats and facades are temporary, but they still have to be built for the sake of the event.

From the outside, Al Janoub looks like any other modern marvel of world football. Its swooping facade and roof recall the maritime traditions and decorative patterns of the area. The inside is decidedly more run-of-the-mill, even with the roof pulled back during scorching afternoons, or in the middle of the Qatar winter.

It feels wrong to celebrate the design of Al Janoub Stadium without acknowledging all that was lost leading up to its opening. Not the technical how that makes us marvel, but the human how that should make us uncomfortable.

The human how is how many of the stadiums for the 2022 FIFA World Cup are actually being built. It is the migrant workers from South Asia and other countries being forced to work long hours and live in squalor as they cobble together subsistence for their families back home. The human how is the claustrophobia those workers experience after being lured by the chance to support their families, which they can never leave to visit because their passports have been confiscated by their employers.

Somewhere within the facts about the number of trusses in these venues and the ingenuity of their architecture is the close to 4,000 migrant workers that will be killed to build them in time for the event. Then there are the tears of family members whose loved one sacrificed for them. When people laud or like the designs of these stadiums on social media, or even stand to celebrate a goal scored in the quarter-finals, it will be because of this human how.

Should the architects care? And what about us, the public who supports and lives for such events?

Construction is dangerous, and one or two workers dying on a large site is unfortunate, but not abnormal. 4,000 workers dying to build soccer stadiums for a one-month tournament, however, is way beyond that. It’s a massive cause for concern.

As a soccer fan, I enjoy watching the sport and the thrill that accompanies big matches, both at the club and international levels. However, knowing what I know about the human cost of building glittering architectural baubles like the Al Janoub Stadium, I simply cannot watch it anymore without remembering all those lost. For now, we can only hope FIFA finally gets its act together and starts being more mindful of that human how.

The post Should We Really Be Celebrating the Al Janoub Stadiums of the World? first appeared on Dornob.

For those reasons, watching a baseball game in person is as much about the experience of the stadium as it is about the game itself. A great ballpark is like a great public park or beautiful beach: if the scenery is appealing enough, you will completely relax and enjoy your activity, be it a picnic, a book, or a sporting event.

In November of 2018, when the Oakland Athletics released renderings for their new Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)-designed stadium, the team showed fans what they could expect starting in 2023. Gensler and James Corner Field Operations are also part of the project. Following the example of other North American professional sports teams who have recently built new mixed-use entertainment projects, such as the Edmonton Oilers of the NHL and the Brooklyn Nets of the NBA, the Athletics are proposing a new community for Oakland’s Howard Terminal, with their $700 million, 34,000-seat stadium as the centerpiece.

Building arenas and stadiums in the middle of nowhere may have been the norm in the 20^th century, but today, professional sports facilities are more commonly built alongside entertainment and leisure districts, where residents can live close to the action. Condos and public amenities are now extensions of the caps, jerseys, banners, and other merchandise being offered on the grounds.

The Athletics’ new Howard Terminal location would be right by the water near downtown Oakland, with an actual park built onto the roof of the stadium. Inspired by the layout of Shibe Park in Philadelphia, where the Athletics played from 1909 to 1954, the stadium opens up to plaza at centerfield to give fans a theatrical entrance to the inner bowl. Around the stadium itself will be pedestrian malls and mixed-used buildings with slanted roofs — one of BIG’s most signature design gestures.

For those who are unfamiliar with baseball or the Oakland franchise, the Athletics currently play in what some say is the worst stadium in all of Major League Baseball. The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, known simply as the Coliseum, looks dated, decrepit, has too many seats too far from the field, and is surrounded by a large unsightly parking lot. It is not an exciting place to watch a baseball game. Returning to the comparison of a great ballpark to a beautiful beach, the Coliseum can be thought of as an ugly beach with dark sand and unpleasant water. Not the best place to enjoy anything.

The team hopes to eventually purchase the Coliseum for $135 million and convert it into a sunken amphitheatre for Minor League Baseball in the middle of a municipal park, with residential, corporate, retail, and institutional projects all throughout. The adjacent Oracle Arena, where the NBA’s Golden State Warriors currently play, will be transformed into an events venue around the same time.

As promising as this project is, it is far from the first proposal for a new Oakland stadium. There are still many local approvals that have to be obtained before this project gets built and a new era of baseball can begin in the city. With any luck, this will be the time the team and their fans aren’t left stranded on base.

The post Will the Oakland Athletics Finally Get a New Stadium? first appeared on Dornob.