Diller Scofidio + Renfro named as design architect for U.S. Olympic Museum in Colorado Springs

Diller Scofidio + Renfro was announced as part of the winning team who will design and build the new U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum and Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The winners are: Diller Scofidio + Renfro from New York (design architects); Anderson Mason Dale Architects of Denver (architect of record); Gallagher and Associates from Washington, D.C. (exhibit designers); Pacific Studio of Portland, Oregon (exhibit fabricators); and GE Johnson of Colorado Springs (general contractor).

The team will be in Colorado Springs for two days to officially kick off the design process. The target opening date for the $60 million project is around late 2017 or early 2018, before the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

Read more about it below.

"The U.S. Olympic Museum and Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs will be the only comprehensive Olympic and Paralympic museum in the United States. Situated in downtown Colorado Springs, the museum will display artifacts, media, technology and the stories behind the dedicated American athletes and their Olympic dreams, while also showcasing the historical power and national pride surrounding the Olympic Games...

The museum board in July announced a 30-year deal with the USOC to display items. As envisioned, the museum would include a hall of fame, a theater, a 20,000-square-foot exhibit hall and retail space.

The museum is part of the $250.6 million City for Champions tourism initiative: four projects proposed by civic and business leaders designed to attract visitors to town and boost the economy."

"Olympic Museum officials organized a request for proposals locally and nationally, and assembled a selection committee of architects, engineers, development experts and others, said the museum board president Dick Celeste. As many as five candidates were interviewed in each design and construction team category...Some members of the local design community were critical that museum officials appeared headed toward choosing an out-of-town design architect. While saying he wasn't denigrating the work of local firms, Celeste said some area architects didn't submit proposals...

Despite early renderings shown by City for Champions backers, the museum's design is now a blank slate, said Liz Diller, a founding member of Diller, Scofidio + Renfro. She hopes the firm will have images to show the public by mid-2015..."