Italian architect Vittorio Gregotti succumbed to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic last Sunday, March 15, dying in Rome at the age of 92. Gregotti is renowned for having redesigned Barcelona’s Olympic stadium for the 1992 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Among Gregotti’s work stands the renovation of the Olympic Stadium for the Barcelona 1992 Games. The stadium was originally built with an approximate capacity of 56,000 spectators for the city’s 1929 International Exposition, and later Barcelona’s bid for the 1936 Summer Olympic Games, which were awarded to Berlin. Initially, the stadium was named the Estadio de Montjuic.
As a result of the political situation of the time -the Spanish Civil War began in 1936 and lasted until 1939- and the city’s failure to bid the 1936 Games, the stadium fell into disuse until Gregotti along with a team of architects picked up the torch to renew the venue for the 1992 Games.
In 1989, the newly-remodeled Olympic Stadium would serve as a test during the 1989 5th Athletics World Cup, eventually serving as the main venue for the 1992 Games’ opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the athletics events. The facility would rebrand in 1989 to that of Olimpic de Montjuic.
Nearly a decade after the Games, in 2001 the stadium was renamed to its current label Estadi Olímpic Lluis Companys, or Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in the English language. Today, the arena can accommodate an estimated 60,000 spectators.
Thus far, per the website worldometers.info, the novel coronavirus pandemic has claimed the lives of 7,958 worldwide at the time of publishing. Italy alone has got a total of 31,506 c0nfirmed cases and 2,503 fatalities.