Feather Arena
Timber: Lightness and AdaptabilityTransformable Arena for Winter Olympics
Milan, Italy
Design and Construction Studio
Prof. Alessandra Zanelli, Giorgio Novati
A.Y. 2021/2022, Politecnico di Milano
In collaboration with Nancy Agarwal, Olga Dzendze-lyuk, Menji Huang, Tijana Novakovic
Flexibility by Lightness
Today, most places face the need to be fl ex-ible and transformable. People’s needs have changed, and there are events that hold only in a certain period of time, such as the Olympics.
The Feather Arena is used as training arena for athletes during Milan Winter Olympics 2026. After the games, it will be a sport fa-cility for citizens with openable central part. When the weather is good, the arena can be opened to become part of the surrounding skatepark. When the weather is not pleasant or when there are some needs, the central part will be closed and provide a covered ice skating rink.
This flexibility and transformability is realized by light materials and structure.
Programmatic Diagram and Timeline
Structural Concept
Structural Model 1:200
Floor Plan During Olympics
Longitudinal Section During Olympics
Floor Plan After Olympics
Longitudinal Section After Olympics
Study Model 1:100
First Solution: Portal frames connected by cables on two sides
Study Model 1:100
Final solution: Mixed system
Fixed part: Beams + Cross bracing + Purlins
Movable part: Cables + Scissors for opening, passive wheeling for closing
Phases of Construction
Structural System
Detail Model 1:20
The model reproduces the same mechanism of the structure in 1:20 scale, with double wheels and channels, cables, scissors, secondary beams, cross bracing, and installation of the fabric.
Details of Transforming Mechanism