SAMOO designed Ice skating and Ice hockey Olympic Stadiums of Pyeongchang 2018

'The Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games', which will be the greatest Winter Olympic Games in the history, are scheduled to take place for 17 days from 2nd to 25th of February in Pyeongchang and its vicinity. The 2018 Winter Olympics is expected to be the greatest in the Winter Olympics history for a total of 2,925 players from 92 different countries are registered competing for 102 gold medals. In particular, the female ice hockey team composed of a single South-North team has come into the spotlight with the leap for peace in the middle of the recent unstable political situations of East Asia. 

Pyeongchang was announced as the hosting city of the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in October of 2009 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) held in Durban, South Africa, receiving more votes than both Annecy, France and Munich, Germany. Pyeongchang won its bid for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in the first round of voting, receiving 63 of the 95 votes cast, recording the major votes in the first round of voting in the history. In March of 2013, SAMOO had the honor of designing a special building which will receive the global attention, by winning the first place in the design competition of masterplan of Speed skating Stadium and Sports Facilities Complex of Gangneung.

In the beginning, the original site for speed skating and hockey stadium was covered with landfill and pine forest full of Geumgang pine trees. For this reason, the main objective for the stadium and the masterplan blueprint was set under the theme of conservation of pine forest and renewal of the landfill and this served as a starting point for the design concept. The masterplan constitutes the concepts of three layers: 'Healing' meaning the conservation of natural green area, 'Link' securing the functional connection of the stadium and 'Re-park' symbolizing the renewal of the polluted land. The layer of 'Healing' aims at connecting the natural connection of the topographic flow by minimizing the unnecessary process of cutting and filling the ground. The layer of 'Link' considered not only the connection with the existing Sports Facilities Complex, but also the smooth flow among the stadiums inside the Complex. The layer of 'Re-park' planned the ecological square or plaza uniting each Stadium as one to show concern on the “land”, which used to be the polluted landfill. 

The Speed skating stadium is supposed to be constructed in a colossal volume covering 100 m and 200 m in terms of length and breadth. SAMOO succeeded in creating the metaphorical expression of the pace of speed skating by modularizing the mass, which is inevitably huge and making elevation design vertically divided. Moreover, the vertical elements of elevation design are connected as roofs, not only giving the unique identity of the stadium, but also linking the south and the north of the building as one urban landscape. With the simple form of roof structure of the stadium, this work successfully completed the plan prioritizing economic feasibility and constructability at the same time.

The Ice hockey Stadium was realized based on the concept of which the powerful energy and passion of the game should be aesthetically portrayed in the silvery and understated light imbued with Korea’s traditional beauty. The elegant appearance of octagon is the expression of sophisticated image precisely corresponding to the fine status of the Olympics, the world’s greatest sports event. It intended to depict the symbolism of the Winter Olympics holding in the Republic of Korea, by creating the harmony between tradition and modernity based on the reinterpretation of traditional design motifs in the modern sense. 

In terms of structure, it used H-shape steel trusses which are easy to assemble and dismantle according to the transfer construction planning. For dismantling work, high-tensile bolts were used to plan the division within the distance of 15 m. The mass was designed in a plain and simple manner by integrating the form and structure system of the stand.

SAMOO will make constant efforts to let the whole world know of our country’s architectural culture, on behalf of Korea. Furthermore, we sincerely promise be your reliable partner in providing premium-quality services aiming to create better architectural environment and hand it down to posterity. We pray for the success of the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, which will be the magnificent festival of the global community, and we equally hope that many people keep showing their ardent attention and supports for the Pyeongchang 2018 Paralympics which will be held from 9th to 18th of March.