AECOM's basketball arena for Rio 2016 unveiled
by Matthew Campelli | 19 Jan 2016
The 16-capacity arena is the largest venue in the Barra Park / Rio 2016
Rio 2016 organisers have unveiled the 16,000-capacity basketball venue for the Games which forms part of the city’s US$195m (£136.3m, €179.3m) AECOM-designed Olympic Training Centre (OTC).
Carioca Arena 1, the largest venue in the Barra Olympic Park, will also hold the wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby during the Paralympics, as well as tests for the powerlifting and wrestling later this month.
The stadium consists of 5,000 permanent and 11,000 contemporary seats, and forms part of the 300-acre OTC alongside the Carioca Arena 2, the Olympic Tennis Centre and the Rio Olympic Velodrome.
Following the Games, the OTC will provide tennis, wrestling, weightlifting, badminton, fencing, taekwondo, judo and athletics facilities for elite sports people, and will also be made available for school children and social projects.
An Olympic-standard athletics track and two beach volleyball courts will be added to the park as well as a 166-bedroom dormitory for athletes. After the Games, the park will be able to host international sporting events, concerts and exhibitions.
Janeth Arcain and Hortencia Marcari – two members of the silver medal winning Brazil team in Atlanta 1996 – inaugurated the venue.
Marcari said the most important thing was that the arena inspires players, while Arcain added: “Brazilian fans always get very involved in live sport and I’m sure they will create an electric atmosphere during the Games.”
AECOM have partnered with Rio-based DG Architecture, London studio Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Pujol Barcelona Architects, and IMG Sports and Expedition for the OTC masterplan. The team was chosen from a field of 59 candidates originating from 18 countries.
The masterplan for the site includes three phases: the creation of the Rio Olympic Park area for the 2016 Games, a transition plan and the conversion of the site to create a sporting legacy after 2016.
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Rio 2016 organisers have unveiled the 16,000-capacity basketball venue for the Games which forms part of the city’s US$195m (£136.3m, €179.3m) AECOM-designed Olympic Training Centre (OTC). Carioca Arena 1, the largest venue in the Barra Olympic Park, will also hold the wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby during the Paralympics, as well as tests for the powerlifting and wrestling later this month. The stadium consists of 5,000 permanent and 11,000 contemporary
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