New images have been released of the completed handball arena for the Rio Olympics and Paralympics, which will be dismantled after the Games so that the materials can be used to build four schools.
The temporary 12,000-seat stadium – designed by Brazilian practices Oficina de Arquitetos and Lopes, Santos & Ferreira Gomes in collaboration with London studio AndArchitects – will be used officially for the first time when sport’s biggest event kicks off in August.
The Rio Handball Arena is an example of what AndArchitects describe as “nomadic architecture” – a building which can be taken down and recreated, with minimal waste, to have a different purpose.
In this case, the roof, cladding, accessibility ramps and main structural steel elements will be reused to form the shells of four state schools, which were designed simultaneously with the arena to ensure the materials would match all the buildings.
Three schools will be constructed in Barra da Tijuca and one in Maracanã, with each accommodating 500 students. The project has cost R$178m (US$77m, €57m, £48m).
“It is important that the schools are expressed in the architecture of the arena so that its eventual use is clear even during the Games,” said AndArchitects in a statement. “Our knowledge of temporary structures has allowed us to creatively approach the Rio 2016 brief and design an arena which also contributes to the city of Rio as it grows and develops.”
The studio have previously created temporary buildings for the London 2012 Olympics.
