International consortium to design Addis Ababa stadium

Australian expatriate architects are among an international consortium designing a new national stadium in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

DESIGNSPORT, led by Qatar-based Chief Executive Samantha Cotterell, and creative partner Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA), headed by Director Chris Bosse, collaborated with local Ethiopian firm JDAW Consulting to win the international architecture competition for a 60,000 seat national stadium and sports village, awarded by Ethiopia's Federal Sport Commission.

The recently assembled consortium is now negotiating a full contract with the Ethiopian Government that will deliver the stadium, including an athletics track; aquatic centre; sports halls and arenas, a residential village; and administrative headquarters for Ethiopian sport organisations.

DESIGNSPORT is a young and dynamic consultancy experienced in working across cultures and languages. The team is diverse and includes architects, engineers, designers, film makers, ex-athletes and researchers each bringing their creative energy to tailor solutions for a variety of clients in the sport industry.

Cotterell recently told the Australian International Sporting Events Secretariat "our team members are highly qualified architects and sporting professionals who come from a variety of cultures, languages and experiences.

"This allows us to move into foreign countries and establish successful working relationships easily cultural sensitivity and adaptability are essential ingredients to the success of our work.

"DESIGNSPORT's experience across Europe, Arabia and Asia has allowed the company to create a strong team of professionals who are able to mentor and build local teams, leaving a legacy for the country in which they are working.

"For the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, DESIGNSPORT built up a team of 25 architects who worked inside the organising committee to develop and deliver the overlay for 17 competition venues and six non competition venues."

Cotterell also told Coliseum "from Athens Olympics to Asian Games and Commonwealth Games we've always brought the team in-house. The success of this approach lies in the fact that the designers are an integrated and fundamental component of the organising committee."

Construction on the Stadium is expected to commence in 2014.

For more information go to www.designsport.org/ds-contenent/contact-ds/