Olympiapark (Munich)
The Olympiapark in Munich, Germany, is an Olympic Park which was constructed for the 1972 Summer Olympics. Located in the Oberwiesenfeld neighborhood of Munich, the Park continues to serve as a venue for cultural, social, and religious events, such as events of worship. It includes a contemporary carillon. The Park is administered by Olympiapark München GmbH, a holding company fully owned by the state capital of Munich. The Olympic Park Munich was also considered to be an architectural marvel during the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany.
Location and structure
The use of the term Olympiapark to designate the overall area has prevailed as a semiofficial practice, but no official name for the entire area exists.The general area comprises four separate sub-areas:
- Olympic Area: Includes the Olympic sports facilities such as the Olympic Stadium and the Olympic Hall with Olympic Tower. Also in this area are the Aquatic Center and Olympic Event Hall.
- Olympic Village, comprising two villages, one for male and one for female athletes.
- Olympia-Pressestadt, today the home of the Olympia Shopping Center. Strictly speaking, this portion belongs to the area of the Moosach district.
- Olympic Park, adjoining the Olympic Area to the south, it includes the Olympic Hill and Olympic Lake.
History
Third Reich
Up until 1939, Oberwiesenfeld was largely used as an airfield.Post-WWII years
After 1945, the Oberwiesenfeld area remained fallow, and was known as a "Trümmerberg," which in German refers to a hill erected from the rubble resulting from the destruction caused by bombings during the war.Following the war, the US Army occupied this area and had facilities at the Oberwiesefeld. In October 1957, the Army housed most of the refugees from the Hungarian Revolution in a camp at this facility.
Apart from infrastructure projects such as the Oberwiesenfeld Ice Rink, the area remained largely vacant during the post-war decades and presented an ideal site for the construction of the Olympic Stadium and complex.
Preparing for the 1972 Summer Olympics
After the International Olympic Committee awarded Munich the Olympic Games in 1966, plans were solidified for the urban redevelopment of the Oberwiesenfeld area.The old airfield, intensely used up until 1939, lost its importance once the Munich-Riem airport was opened that year and expanded during the next three decades. As a result, Oberwiesenfeld airfield remained largely idle.
Germany chose the concept of a "green Olympic Games", with an emphasis on democratic ideals. Officials sought to integrate optimism toward the future with a positive attitude toward technology, and in so doing set aside memories of the past, such as the Olympic Games of 1936 in Berlin under Hitler. The architecture firm of Günter Behnisch and its partners developed a comprehensive master plan for the sports and recreation area, which was under construction from 1968 until 1972. The landscape layout was designed by landscape architect Günther Grzimek. The eye-catching tensile structure that covers much of the park was designed by German architect and engineer Frei Otto with Günther Behnisch. In all, the project cost 1.35 billion German marks to complete.
The name "Olympiapark" was related to the city's administrative commission practice for naming metro stations along the U- and S-Bahn routes in the city area. On 3 November 1969 it had chosen the name "Olympiapark" for the subway station at the Olympic village, set on the U3 line of the Munich U-Bahn. This naming decision was based on the idea that the name "Olympiapark" related well to the central theme of a "green Olympic Games". It also related to the central function of the U-Bahn station, which, together with the bus station, served all sports venues and important sectors of the area. The term quickly entered into quasi-official common parlance, and consequently into media use. In most situations, the meaning established by the administrative commission is used to describe the entire area, not just the U-Bahn station, as was originally intended.
Transportation
Using public transportation, the Munich U-Bahn's U3 line provides a direct route: Olympiazentrum U-Bahn station on U3 line is for Olympiapark. From Münchner Freiheit, the line connects to Olympiapark via Schwabing and the midtown area. In 2007, the U3 line was extended to continue on to Oberwiesenfeld station at the northern end of the Olympic Village and Olympia-Einkaufszentrum mall at the far areas of the Park. The continuation to Moosach, where the line connects to the S1 S-Bahn line, was completed in 2010. Olympiazentrum U-Bahn station is a central stop for the MVG bus line. The southern and western portions of the Olympiapark will also be connected via Munich tram lines 12, 20, 21, and 27. As these areas are remote from the northern part of Olympiapark, they are primarily of interest for the annual Tollwood music festival held there each summer.After the 1972 Olympic Games, the Olympiastadion Station was disconnected from regular networks. It was used for some events, but the station was closed in 1988 and the tracks taken up in 2003. It has been abandoned and continues to decay.
The Olympiapark is accessible by car via Mittlerer Ring motorway. The Olympic Village is closed off from car traffic.
Olympic Area in detail
The Olympic Area lies south of Georg-Brauchle-Ring and north of the Olympiasee lake; it is the smallest portion of the entire Olympiapark area. It comprises the following competition sites:Olympic Stadium
The central stadium, constructed from 1968 to 1972, was designed by the architecture firm of Behnisch and Partners. It is currently home to the highest number of staged national and international competitions in Germany. Originally constructed to hold almost 71,000 spectators during the Olympics, and thereafter 73,000 for football matches, this number was reduced at the end of the 1990s to 69,000 due to security concerns; currently it is just above 63,000. After the Olympic Games, the Stadium was used primarily for football matches and served as the home stadium for the football teams FC Bayern München and TSV 1860 München. Since the opening of the Allianz Arena in 2005, the site is used almost exclusively for cultural events. During some concerts in this stadium, people have been known to sit on the Olympiapark hill, to listen for free.Olympic Hall
Also designed by the architecture firm of Behnisch and Partners, Olympic Hall is a sport and recreational facility located northeast of the Olympic Stadium. Its capacity is 12,597 with seats, or some 15,300 including standing areas.Small Olympic Hall
Smaller event facility at the Olympic Hall for up to 1,000 seated individuals, according to stage size.Aquatic Center
This venue became an integral part of Olympic history when the US swimmer Mark Spitz won 7 gold medals there during the 1972 Munich Games. This amounted to a remarkable comeback for Mark Spitz, who had fallen short of the 5 gold medals expected of him at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. The venue also saw significant success by the young women's team of the GDR, which was later found - albeit, the matter was essentially an open secret - to be the result of an extensive doping programme.One notable feature of the Munich Schwimmhalle is the way in which the cobbled paths leading to the venue continue under the canopy as far as the top of the seating area, thus creating the genuine impression of walking in off the street to one's seat. The venue is available both to swimming teams and also to the public.
Olympic Ice Sports Center
The Olympic Icestadion was built from April 1965 by the plans of Rolf Schütze and opened on 12 February 1967 with the ice hockey game between FC Bayern Munich and SC Riessersee. After using it for the 1969 World Table Tennis Championships, the Icestadion was used for the Olympic Summer games 1972 for boxing. The stadium has a capacity for 6,142 visitors and is used for the games of the team of EHC Red Bull München at the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.On the left site of the Icestadion stands an open-air ice-skating rink. In 1980 it was decided to build a roof over the open-air rink in order to have it operational during the whole year independent of the weather conditions. The German architectural firm Ackermann und Partner designed an elegant light-weight tensile structure spanning 100 meters length-wise. The building was completed in 1983. In 2004 the ice-skating rink was closed and is now used to play indoor soccer.
On the right side of the Icestadion 1991 the new training hall for the Icesport world championship was built over the parking area after the plans of Kurt Ackermann.