‘national stadium + sports village’ by LAVA, addis ababa, ethiopia all images courtesy of LAVA

stuttgart and sydney-based architectural practice LAVA in collaboration with DESIGNSPORT and ethiopian practice JDAW have won an international competition held by the federal sport commission to design the ‘national stadium + sports village’ in addis ababa, ethiopia. a centerpiece athletic facility will be an olympic and FIFA standard venue, accommodating 60,000 spectators. the structure is recessed into a sunken area, excavating a man-made crater to set the grandstands. reshaping the existing terrain has minimized the overall costs, leading to a proposal which integrates with the landscape and offers an efficient use of spaces to optimize environmental performance. taking visual cues from the encompassing entoto hills, formed from the region’s volcanic geology.

wrapping the exterior, the facade evokes the texture of a massob, an ethiopian communal serving basket woven from grass. the modules double to mimick coffee beans, the country’s primary income. the membrane roof floats above the building, held in place with a lightweight tensile structure. supplementary structures for matches, athletic events, aquatic centers, concerts, festivals, dormitories and a headquarters for the federal sport commission will be positioned on the surrounding site. undulating expanses between the partially embedded constructs will be used for parks along with zones for hospitality, retail and commercial space will maintain the area’s vibrancy year-round, during the off-season. a central plaza will connect the different sectors of the site.

LAVA: national stadium + sports village in addis ababa, ethiopia facade mimics coffee beans

solar-powered umbrellas will offer shade to pedestrians. user-activated light and water features within fissures of the ground’s surface offer an animated way-finding method.

LAVA: national stadium + sports village in addis ababa, ethiopia interior

‘the form of the stadium structure seen from the top view also recalls coffee beans, the main source of income in ethiopia and the ‘mother womb’, the skeleton of one of the first humans, lucy, which is about 3.2 million years old.’ – daniel assefa of JDAW

LAVA: national stadium + sports village in addis ababa, ethiopia nighttime aerial view

LAVA: national stadium + sports village in addis ababa, ethiopia site plan

LAVA: national stadium + sports village in addis ababa, ethiopia floor plan / level 0

LAVA: national stadium + sports village in addis ababa, ethiopia section

LAVA: national stadium + sports village in addis ababa, ethiopia section

LAVA: national stadium + sports village in addis ababa, ethiopia exploded axonometric

LAVA: national stadium + sports village in addis ababa, ethiopia sketch

project info:

project: national stadium and sports village client: the federal sports commission of ethiopia location: addis ababa, ethiopia. size: 60 hectares program: 60,000 seat stadium; athletics track; aquatic centre; residential village; headquarters, federal sport commission; and sports halls and arenas. status: competition winner june 2012. architecture and masterplanning: LAVA laboratory for visionary architecture: chris bosse, tobias wallisser and alexander rieck with jarrod lamshed, angelo ungarelli, vivienne ni, paul bart, giulia conti, alessandra moschella, teresa goyarrola, manuel caicoya, guido rivai. sportsdesign (architecture and masterplanning) designsport: samantha cotterell, basil kalaitzis, irene roccia. local architects and engineers: jdaw architects: daniel assefa and team technical and cultural coordination: john shenton, architect, urbanist