Tokyo (AFP)
The organizers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on Tuesday unveiled a specially designed gymnastics site for the event for 20.5 billion yen (about 170 million euros) and inspired by ancestral Japanese wooden architecture.
With futuristic lines, Ariake Gymnastics Center, located in Tokyo, uses 2,300 cubic meters of wood and is a return to ancient Japanese construction techniques dating from before the appearance of modern materials.
The structure is distinguished by its gently curved roof and external walls made of long cedar planks. Retaining tubes make it look like being suspended.
The organizers wanted to give the impression of a "floating wooden bowl near Tokyo Bay".
This building, one of the few to have been built especially for the Games, "symbolizes the Japanese tradition of wood and those who see it feel its simple beauty", according to the organizers.
"We use a lot of wood," OJ website manager Koichi Fukui told reporters. "We can smell the wood and feel the heat," he added.
The Ariake center is surmounted by a domed ceiling built from Japan's frameless steel larch, which is one of the largest of its kind in the world.
It can accommodate 12,000 spectators on long benches circling its surface.
The site has to be turned into an exhibition center after the Olympics. It is planned to reallocate some of the wood, including the benches, for the exhibition center and for other sites, including schools.
The main Olympic stadium, built by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, also uses wood extensively and is a nod to traditional techniques.
© 2019 AFP