The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum, slated to open in Colorado Springs later this year, has been named one of the 11 most anticipated buildings worldwide for 2020 by magazine Architectural Digest.
The $90-million museum came in at No. 10, lauded for the “elegance” of its design, exemplified by a series of buildings that “appear to be suspended in motion.”
"The flexing, twisting expression of the building’s inner structure evokes a sense of aspiration and struggle," Benjamin Gilmartin, partner at the New York-based architectural firm Diller, Scofido + Renfro, which designed the museum, told the publication.
Museum representatives, who couldn’t be reached, took to Facebook to celebrate.
"This is a vote of distinction from a very credible source, and I think it speaks to setting a very high expectation for the visitor experience," said Doug Price, president and CEO of Visit Colorado Springs. "Once you see a building from the outside that is this appealing, I think it raises your expectations that, 'I hope the inside is as outstanding as the outside.' I have great confidence that will be the case."
The museum is intended to anchor a new City for Champions District, “forming a new axis bridging downtown Colorado Springs to the America the Beautiful Park to the west," according to DS+R’s website.
Its mission is to "honor the Olympic and Paralympic ideal,” document the history of Olympic and Paralympic participation, and celebrate the achievements of competitors, the museum’s website said.
DS+R worked with athletes with disabilities to ensure accessibility for all visitors, Gilmartin told the publication.
"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," Gilmartin said.
The firm also was responsible for a renovation and expansion of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Preparation for the museum began in 2013, and ground was broken in June 2017. It's expected to host 350,000 visitors per year, the majority of which are expected to come from out of state. It's also expected to generate $28.3 million in new sales tax revenue over the next three decades, according to the museum, and aims to further establish Colorado Springs as, "Olympic City USA."
The new museum joins the likes of the Opus in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, listed as No. 1 — a structure that will house a hotel, restaurant, bar and office space, featuring a "gaping hole" in the middle of it; the Central Park Tower in New York City, listed as No. 2, which will become the second tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere; and the National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan, listed as No. 11, which will host the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.
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