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Impianti Sportivi

Swimming stadium, the studio MDU Architetti wins the international contest for the 2026 Taranto Olympic swimming pool

The MDU Architetti studio will sign the new 2026 Olympic pool in Taranto

The project was successful with the following motivation of the Jury: “The innovative and highly interesting contents, proposed by the 37 participants, the winning project praises the perceptive integration with the sea and with the identity, historical and landscape context of the Torre d’Ayala area. The designed complex is distinguished by the recognizable but balanced architectural ‘iconic’ which gives this new attraction of the public city a significant potential for reconfiguration and regeneration of the urban context. In particular, the articulation between collective outdoor spaces and specialist indoor spaces has been developed in a coherent and innovative way, organizing in a clear and effective way the flows related to sports use and those related to the distribution paths of the different functions included. The functional and programmatic choices proposed are particularly consistent and effective in terms of flexibility and innovation. Together with constructive and material choices the technological and plant solutions adopted, in particular for the intelligent use of water and energy (recovery and reuse, containment of consumption, cogeneration) prefigure a scenario of high sustainability for the Swimming Stadium of Taranto also in view of the use and long-term management, as a legacy of the Taranto Games 2026.

Taranto 2026 Organizing Committee launched the international architecture contest in order to raise the quality of the intervention through an iconic sign that could characterize the waterfront of the city and integrate with an area of considerable landscape interest. Objectives achieved by the winning project integrate with the area intended as a coastal park characterized by the presence of significant
archaeological traces and the presence of the eighteenth-century tower that constitutes access to the park. The Commission – composed by Arch. Maria Piccarreta (president), Arch. Benedetta Tagliabue, arch. Simonetta Dello Monaco, ing. Paolo Garofoli and Arch. Ubaldo Occhinegro – had examined in the first phase 37 proposals sent by many countries selecting the 5 finalists for the second phase.

This morning at the conclusion of the procedure always held in a completely anonymous form, the names of the winners and all the other participants were revealed through the computerized platform used for the contest. MDU studio preceded in order the studies Marazzi Architetti (Parma), Populous (United States), Cecchetto & Associati (Venice) and 3TI Progetti Italia – Ingegneria Integrata Roma).

MDU Architetti – who among the various works has already signed the Vilnius National Concert Hall in Lithuania, the Principles of Italy center in Chuzhou in China, the cultural center Words of El Lissitzky in Novosibirsk, in Russia – will have to transmit the further design works by June 23rd in order to allow the continuation of the procedures in time for the construction of the pool for the Mediterranean Games of 2026.
On May 12th, the award ceremony of the winner was scheduled in Taranto during which the publication and exhibition of all the participating projects will be presented. The competing designs were based on the preliminary draft drawn up by the Regional Asset Agency and the Municipal Technical Office of Taranto in which the functional spaces were identified, the sizing and design criteria of the swimming
facility based on eco-sustainability, energy self-sufficiency and technological innovation.