From the architect. Often mentioned as a pioneer in lightweight tensile and membrane construction, yet overshadowed in the discipline of architecture, Frei Otto along with Gunther Behnisch collaborated to design the 1972 Munich Olympic Stadium in Munich, Germany.
With the Olympics having already been held in Berlin in 1936, Otto and Behnisch took the second Olympics games in Germany as an opportunity and a second chance to show Germany in a new light. Their goal was to design a structure that would emulate the games motto: “The Happy Games” as more of a whimsical architectural response that would overshadow the heavy, authoritarian stadium in Berlin.
Otto and Behnisch conceptualized a sweeping tensile structure that would flow continuously over the site imitating the draping and rhythmic protrusions of the Swiss Alps. The result is a suspended cloud-like structure that appears to be floating over the site branching in between the natatorium, gymnasium, and the main stadium.
The continuous tensile surface that bridges all of the main buildings of the Olympic Games is subject to a hierarchical structural system that creates a series of volumes across the site. The canopies membrane is suspended from a multitude of vertical masts that allow for the dramatic draping curves of the surface to flow dynamically across the site changing form, scale, and sectional characteristics.