Experience in textile construction
The architectural firm gmp was founded in 1965 by Meinhard von Gerkan and Volkwin Marg. With more than 500 employees in fourteen offices, gmp is now active in Germany and abroad and is one of the few offices with a generalist position that feels responsible for a project from its design idea and its realization to the interior design. More than 370 buildings of all typologies have now been realized on several continents. With more than 20 stadium projects built, including for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, 2010 in South Africa and 2014 in Brazil, as well as for UEFA EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine, gmp is one of the most renowned architects for sports venues worldwide. The firm's architectural strategy focuses on technical and functional requirements as well as sustainable constructions, with the aim of generating a specific identity and distinctiveness from the respective cultural context. In many respects, flat structures and membrane structures with their lightness, efficiency and, last but not least, their beauty are the most suitable constructions to implement gmp's design philosophy in a structural way. The lecture illustrates this approach with the concrete architectural examples of the stadium projects in South Africa and Brazil.