Ofis: sports stadium, Maribor, Slovenia.

Won in a 1998 competition and due for completion later this year, this new football stadium is a swan-like transformation of an existing sports ground in the centre of Maribor, Slovenia's second largest city. The project extends the original '60s grandstand to accommodate 12000 spectators, together with press and VIP facilities. A further sportif dimension is added with a quartet of gymnasiums, fitness club and swimming pool, plus an array of shops and restaurants.

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Taking its cue from the graceful arched roof of the existing stand, the new structure weaves and curves around the remaining three sides of the ground, its boldly undulating form dictated by the quality of spectator sight lines. A glazed concourse runs around the perimeter of the new grandstand, providing rooms for VIPs, press and refreshments. Gymnasiums and shops are slotted underneath.

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Designed by the talented young partnership of Ofis, the structure has a sinuous elegance that recalls their earlier projects such as the museum extension in Ljubljana (AR December 2004) and house on Lake Bled (AR November 2005), in which inclined floor planes and spiralling ramps orchestrate a succession of dramatic promenades architecturales. Even at this much larger scale, Ofis clearly manifest the confidence and invention to reinvigorate a fundamentally dull building type. C.S.

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