The Federal Sport Commission, Ethiopia recently held an architecture competition for a new FIFA/Olympic-standard stadium and “sports village” to host major soccer & athletic events in Ethiopia’s capitol, Addis Ababa. The winning entry came from a collaboration between LAVA (Laboratory for Visionary Architecture), Designsport and a local Ethiopian firm, JDAW, and it is stunning. More
The design was inspired by Ethiopia’s rich history of excavated architecture, which is coincidentally where the classic origins of stadium design lay. It is essentially a series of craters, with the stadium being swathed in a facade inspired by traditional serving baskets. The accompanying “sports village” will include various athletic spaces such as aquatic areas, sports halls and dormitories along with headquarters for the Federal Sport Commission, hospitality, retail & commercial zones.
