Overall Complex and Main Sports Venues for the 1972 Olympic Games, Munich
The main venue for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich was the "Oberwiesenfeld." Its centerpiece was the large stadium, the sports hall, and the swimming pool. The facilities and buildings belonging to this core area were to be planned and constructed within a cohesive framework, guided by the overarching concept of a landscaped setting, reflecting the themes of "Olympics in the Green," "Olympics of the Muses and Sport," and "Olympics of Short Distances." An area in the northwest of the city was available to realize these visions. The existing features—the rubble mound, the television tower, and the Nymphenburg Canal—served as the starting points for the design of an "Olympic Landscape." The prominent elevation of the rubble mound was incorporated and extended across the site in the form of embankments, thereby dividing the originally flat terrain into manageable areas. The pedestrian walkways on these embankments, separated from vehicular traffic, offered pedestrians diverse views into and out of the lower-lying areas. All embankments lead to the central plateau, around whose periphery the competition venues are nestled. This design allows the stadiums, despite their large dimensions, to appear less imposing; the unity of the terrain, buildings, and landscaping gives them a human scale. The stadium and sports hall are single-tiered, allowing everyone to see each other. This seating arrangement is intended to emphasize the sporting event as a shared experience. By integrating the stands into the topography of the central plateau, only the areas of the stadiums most relevant to the spectator are incorporated into the landscape. All ancillary spaces are either located underground or as naturally lit rooms beneath the built-up stands on the outer edges of the central plateau. The exterior and interior of the stadiums are interwoven. These fluid transitions dissolve the boundaries between individual structures. Where, as in the sports hall and swimming pool, they are essential for climate control, every effort is made to maintain transparency. The continuous glass facade runs independently of the roof edges. All steel components are painted in shades of green to match the landscape. The connection to the landscaped surroundings is most immediately apparent in the stadium, which is only partially roofed. The large stadiums are not designed as isolated structures, but rather as integral parts of the landscape. They consist of depressions in the terrain, complemented externally by grandstand structures. The roof spans the stadiums and parts of the landscape, uniting the individual buildings into a single, cohesive form that, together with the mountain, lake, and television tower, creates the Olympic Center. (Original text 1972)
