ARIAKE GYMNASTICS CENTRE

The Ariake Gymnastics Centre is designed to function in two phases; initially as a temporary international sports competition facility, then, after taking out the temporary spectator stands, it will be converted into a permanent exhibition hall. A unique feature of this facility is its extensive and generous use of timber throughout the building. The material was selected to express the memory of the site which was once a timber storage pond. Timber is used wherever possible, specifically in the roof frame structure, facade, spectator seats, exterior walls, etc. while carefully considering the characteristics of wood in each application. The arena ceiling is a wood frame structure designed to reduce the weight of the overall structure. The concourse space, where spectators approach the arena, is intentionally placed outdoors. The wood facade takes into account acoustic and thermal insulation properties. Function, structure, and space are tightly combined to achieve beauty and richness in simplicity, which is the essence of Japanese traditional wood architecture that we hope spectators and athletes from all over the world will experience. 【Expansive Semi-Outdoor Public Space Well Suited to the Bayside Setting】 The site is located in the midst of a vast, wide-open landscape along a canal. Yet the design also needed to take into account the residential environment of the medium-rise and high-rise condominium buildings in the vicinity. The horizontally long and flowing lines were achieved by keeping the building height as low as possible, reducing the overall volume and controlling the height of the eaves. By positioning the circulation concourse on the outside of the building and creating an open and broad approach space, the design attempts to avoid the impenetrable exterior typically found on large-scale sports facilities created by the monolithic walls that tend to surround them. 【Building for the Advantages and Potential of Wood】 Glued laminated timber made of Japanese larch was used for the roof structure, not as facing material or members auxiliary to a steel frame, but as the structure itself, leaving them exposed in the ceiling over the arena. With the 12,000 bench seats surrounding the arena also constructed using laminated Japanese cedar, the warm hues of wood envelop the interior space. Serving the roles of both heat and sound insulation, the exterior walls curving out over the exterior concourse are clad with slender timbers milled from trees cut in the thinning of cedar forests. The concourse floor is covered with high water-retentive wood-chip paving utilizing scrap wood. Also, in the interior court linking the upper and lower levels, laminated Japanese cypress wood is used for the stairway treads. Throughout the building, the types of wood and construction methods used are carefully weighed according to need, and every possibility was explored for various uses of wood, from small scale to large, in ways possible only in a facility of this magnitude.