The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum has been named one of the most anticipated buildings that will open in 2020 by Architectural Digest magazine.
The Museum was one of four buildings in the United States to make the list, joining Central Park Tower in New York City, the Vista Tower in Chicago and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. Also making the list was the National Stadium in Tokyo that will host the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
Set to open this spring, the 60,000-square foot U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum is dedicated to U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes and their compelling stories, with the artifacts, media and technology behind the athletes who make the United States proud. The Museum will focus on the core values of the Olympic and Paralympic movements: friendship, respect and excellence; determination, equality, inspiration and courage.
The Museum will be one of the most accessible and interactive museums in the United States. Visitors of all abilities will be able to experience the exhibits through inclusive design and assistive technologies such as mobile apps, video captions, audio description tracks, universal keypads, RFID-triggered customizations and more.
“The building is organized around a continuous pathway spiraling through a pinwheel series of cantilevered galleries,” Benjamin Gilmartin, partner at Diller Scofidio + Renfro, told Architectural Digest. “This sequence of spaces is enveloped by a taut façade of shingled anodized panels that bend and stretch. The flexing, twisting expression of the building’s inner structure evokes a sense of aspiration and struggle. It’s a language of exertion and elegance in architectural terms, analogous to athletes’ performance—intuitively preparing visitors for the extraordinary stories of the Olympic and Paralympic athletes contained within.”
The announcement comes on the heels of Colorado Springs and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum making the list of The New York Times’ Places to Go in 2020.
