The National Sports and Culture Centre d'Coque ''(french: Centre National Sportif et Culturel d'Coque),'' better known simply as d'Coque, ( en, The
Hull
Hull may refer to:
Structures
* Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle
* Fuselage, of an aircraft
* Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds
* Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship
* Submarine hull
Mathematics
* Affine hull, in affi ...
or The
Shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard o ...
) is a sporting and cultural venue with an
indoor arena
An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectator ...
and
Olympic-sized swimming pool
An Olympic-size swimming pool conforms to regulated dimensions that are large enough for international competition. This type of swimming pool is used in the Olympic Games, where the race course is in length, typically referred to as "long cour ...
, amongst other facilities, in
Kirchberg, a
quarter of
Luxembourg City
Luxembourg ( lb, Lëtzebuerg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City ( lb, Stad Lëtzebuerg, link=no or ; french: Ville de Luxembourg, link=no; german: Stadt Luxemburg, link=no or ), is the capital city of the Gr ...
, in
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
. More recently it has expanded into providing onsite hotel services, and acting as a conference venue.
History
Planning
Plans for an ambitious national sports venue, as part of wider national sports programme in Luxembourg began in the 1960s with a stated aim of the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...
of the time being to compete in the international arena, where it was believed it could make a name for itself. On 12 July 1969, the then Minister of Physical Education and Sports,
Gaston Thorn
Gaston Egmond Thorn (3 September 192826 August 2007) was a Luxembourg politician who served in a number of high-profile positions, both domestically and internationally. Amongst the posts that he held were the 19th Prime Minister of Luxembour ...
, organised a roundtable with stakeholders, where the most preeminent view was that modern sports facilities should be available and easily accessible to athletes and civil society in Luxembourg of all levels and ages.
In February 1974, French architect
Roger Taillibert
Roger Taillibert (21 January 1926 – 3 October 2019) was a French architect, active as a designer from about 1963 to 1987.
Taillibert was notable for designing the Parc des Princes in Paris and the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ...
presented his bold plans for futuristic swimming pool and sporting arena, which captured the spirit of the Luxembourg state's desire to construct a public landmark dedicated to its national sporting ambitions and open to civil society at large. State planners decided to construct the venue on the
Kirchberg plateau, which at the time was largely underdeveloped former farmland. Amongst other reasons for the decision, was the cheap and readily available land, the desire for urban development of the area, and an ambition to keep and further attract the
European Communities
The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the ...
(now
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
)
institutions
Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions a ...
located there. The sporting complex was divided into an
Olympic-sized swimming pool
An Olympic-size swimming pool conforms to regulated dimensions that are large enough for international competition. This type of swimming pool is used in the Olympic Games, where the race course is in length, typically referred to as "long cour ...
, and an
indoor arena
An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectator ...
. Most strikingly, the venues, wrought of glass, pre-stressed concrete and wood, were to be encased in and connected via six giant shell or upside-down-hull copper roof structures from which the French name, ''d'Coque'' derived. Tallibert's designs were heavily informed by his then ongoing works on the
Montreal Olympic Park
The Olympic Park (French: ''Parc olympique'') consists of a series of venues and sports arenas in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which was home to many of the venues from the 1976 Summer Olympics.
It is bound by Sherbrooke Street to the north, Viau ...
, for the
1976 Summer Olympics
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 ...
. Similarities in design, materials and architectural style are particularly visible when comparing d'Coque with his work on
Montreal's Olympic pool,
stadium
A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
and
velodrome
A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement ...
(since refurbished as a biodome).
Construction
The project was divided into two stages, with priority given to the swimming pool, on which construction began in 1974. Initial construction work was dogged by a rumour in the national press that the olympic pool did not meet the international requirements for a length of 50 metres owing to miscalculations in the planning stage. Though this later proved to be untrue, significant delays were incurred with the swimming pool inaugurated behind schedule on 14 April 1982. However, the controversy was short-lived with residents, sports professional and amateurs alike enthralled with the quality of the facilities.
Throughout the 80's, owing to the economic climate, state funds were not readily available for work on the second phase of the project. In addition, residents, politicians and planners had expressed a desire for amendments to the plans to be made to permit the indoor athletics arena to be utilised not only as a sporting arena, but a cultural venue as well.
Following a turnaround in Luxembourg's finances, the
Chamber of Deputies
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
approved the allocation of some 2.5 billion
francs
The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centu ...
, (62 million euros) for the second phase. Work began in earnest in 1997, with then Minister of Public Works,
Robert Goebbels and Minister of Sports,
Georges Wohlfart taking part in the breaking ground ceremony. In 2000, the now officially named "National Sports and Culture Centre d'Coque" was given legal personality as a public body requisite to complete its objectives. The new building, which included renovations to the swimming pool and existing structures, to allow their seamless integration, was completed in 2002. It included, aside from the additional athletics and cultural venue, spa, physiotherapy and catering facilities, as well as lodgings for competing athletes.
FondsKirchberg
Works on the second phase coincided with other developments on the Kirchberg, promoted by the ''FondsKirchberg'' ( en, Kirchberg Fund), an
urban development
Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to:
* Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas
* Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities
Urban may also refer to:
General
* Urban (name), a list of peop ...
body. This included the development of the N51
expressway, which bordered the south of the sports centre into the
beautified Avenue John F. Kennedy, with two
separated bus lanes (one later converted into a tram lane) and wide pedestrian
sidewalk
A sidewalk (North American English), pavement (British English), footpath in Australia, India, New Zealand and Ireland, or footway, is a path along the side of a street, highway, terminals. Usually constructed of concrete, pavers, brick, stone ...
s providing easy public access to the venue. The relocation of the
European School of Luxembourg to a new Kirchberg site was also underway, and the decision was made to landscape the territory in between d'Coque and the new campus to provide a
public park
An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to r ...
, with an artificial lake and water features, and a small open-air
amphitheatre
An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...
.
Venue
Cultural events
The d'Coque indoor arena can be converted into a cultural venue, with retractable seating that can be extended over the athletics floor to permit audiences closer access to the stage. The complex has played host to a number of notable figures including the
Dalai Lama's official visit to Luxembourg,
and
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
.
Sports events
In 2013
Games of the Small States of Europe
The Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) is a biennial multi-sport event, launched by the Republic of San Marino, organized by and featuring the National Olympic Committees of nine European small states since 1985. The Games are held at ...
(GSSE) which saw athletes from the nine member countries of the GSSE compete in eleven disciplines.
References
External links
d'Coque official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:D'Coque
Sports venues in Luxembourg City
Music venues in Luxembourg City
Indoor arenas in Luxembourg
Basketball venues in Luxembourg
Volleyball venues in Luxembourg