OLYMPICS 2012: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Olympic park 2014

London’s surprising win was attributed to its focus on urban regeneration and legacy: perhaps the first time an Olympic bid had specifically presented the Games as merely the warm up for a longer-term rejuvenation.

 

 

Bill Hanway is executive director of operations at AECOM and behind the master planning for the 2012 Games: “We decided not to speak about the architectural wonders of the Games but focus instead on the total outcome the Games could deliver for London, and in particular East London, which has a range of social challenges and economic deprivation”.

But when the celebrations are over and the hangovers clear, what will Londoners find? Will we see an East London regeneration that has the hallmarks of Barcelona’s transformation, or an empty and bedraggled temple to hubris of Athenian proportions?

Hanway says legacy is enshrined in the project: “Right from the beginning, legacy was a strategic decision. We never drew up a plan that was just an Olympic plan. There was always also a transition plan and a legacy plan. For example, we made sure that infrastructure was in the right place for legacy use, not just for the Games; that roads were placed where they’d be needed after the Olympics”.

It’s clear that legacy has played a key role in the design of the main venues. The Zaha Hadid-designed Aquatics Centre will have a capacity for 17,500 spectators during the Games, reduced to a maximum of 2,500 post-Games. The two clumsy wings on either side (which house additional seating but detract from the centre’s visually pleasing wave shape) will take 10 months to dismantle, after which the centre will provide two 50m swimming pools for public use, doubling the number of Olympic-size pools in London.

In designing the Velodrome, Hopkins Architects had to address conflict between Olympic Broadcast Services’ (OBS) needs and legacy requirements. “The broadcast service wants total control of light in venues and this means minimising natural light because the OBS can’t control it”, says Mike Taylor senior partner at Hopkins Architects.

“We decided natural light was the right answer for legacy users, to reduce running costs and improve the environmental performance of the building, so we designed for legacy. We pressed on with rooflights, leaving the OBS to black them out if it insists on it for the Games”, says Mike Taylor. The Velopark will be open to the public from the end of 2013.

Olympic park 2012

Other stadia, including the white-clad basketball arena, have been built specifically as temporary venues. In part this obsession with post-Games legacy can be traced back to the Athens Games of 2004. Athens’ legacy is considered among the worst of any Olympiad: as many as 21 out of its 22 venues lie abandoned and maintenance of the sites alone has cost as much as £500m.

“We didn’t find a plan for the post-Olympics development of the venues”, said New Democracy politician Fani Palli-Petralia in 2008, before the financial crisis and its subsequent impact. “When a city gets the Games, it should make a business plan and decide what the country needs for the day after the Olympics. This did not happen”.

London organisers took note. Says Peter Tudor, director of venues at London Legacy Development Corporation, “London is further ahead with its legacy plans than any previous host city. We have secured the future of six of the eight permanent venues and are well on our way to appointing operators for the remaining two”. 

The main stadium and press centre are the only two permanent venues that have yet to find a post-Games use, and Tudor believes both are likely to be finalised shortly. A creative or Silicon Valley-style commercial hub is the most likely use for the press centre and the hope remains that a football club will take over the main stadium.

But the real legacy of these London Games will not be in its temples to sport. Legacy goes far beyond stadia, which is perhaps just as well as architecturally there are few gems – the Velodrome and the lean but appealing Copper Box multi-use arena by Make are two; the John McAslan and Partners rust-red energy centre is another.

The main stadium in no way rivals the complex visual delight of the Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei-designed Bird’s Nest in Beijing and the site itself will never compete with Barcelona or Sydney’s sun-drenched parks. Instead, the legacy of the 2012 Games is most likely to be judged on their impact on urban renewal and place-making in East London.

Greg Clark, senior fellow at the Urban Land Institute in Europe and the author of a number of books on legacy, points to the importance of public realm, architecture and urban design in achieving long-term social legacies. “If we want East London to have a different future it has to look different”, he says.

“It needs a high quality of place and amenities so that people decide to stay there rather than move out as their wealth increases. To become a more mixed-income location, the place-making agenda is a very important part of what we have to do”.

Olympic park 2030

A key aspect of the place-making legacy is the Olympic Park itself, which will become the Queen Elizabeth Park, one of the largest urban parks to be created in Britain in the past 50 years. Waterways, cycle tracks, footpaths, sporting facilities such as tennis courts and hockey pitches and lush acres of new parkland are planned, and the park should be open for public use from July 2013.

East Village – the Athlete’s Village during the Games – will also play a key role. It will be converted to housing, with some 4000 properties becoming available to Londoners by mid-2014. Other developments include 900 family homes in the Chobham Manor area in the north east of the park. Five neighbourhoods in with 7,000 homes are scheduled to open; 42 per cent of which will be family homes, 35 per cent affordable housing.

Social infrastructure is also planned: three schools (two primary and one secondary); nine nurseries; two walk-in health centres; one primary care health centre; and community, leisure and cultural facilities are all on the cards. Jonathan Kendall, director of urban design at Fletcher Priest, the master planner of East Village, points to the accelerated time frame as a positive legacy of the Games: “The development of the housing and community spaces of the village would have taken 20 to 30 years to build in a non-Olympic world; the Olympics have condensed delivery to seven years”. The architecture of the estate is not immediately lovable: 10-storey blocks in a repetitive scheme that lacks a sense of warmth. But Kendall believes a sense of community will develop over time.

The architectural planning may have been inspired by developments such as Maida Vale but the result – a dense grid of high blocks – is not typical of the area in which two-storey terraces are still the norm.

The village will be handed over to its new owner, Qatari Diar, by March 2014. Some 30 per cent has been designated as affordable – the true measure of legacy may well be how affordable it actually ends up being for the economically deprived communities that border the area. “Legacy isn’t just about whether a development is economically sustainable but also about whether it delivers community cohesion, how it transforms the built environment and how it transforms how it feels to live in the area”, says Iain Macrury, director of the London East Research Institute.

STUDIO EAST DINING BY CARMODY GROARKE

  

Just two thousand people will have the opportunity to be at the new hot place in London during its short life of three weeks.

Perched on the roof of a construction site overlooking the 2012 Olympic Park, Studio East Dining is London’s most exclusive rooftop dining experience.

The 800 square-metre temporary restaurant gives diners stunning views of London landmarks, from Crystal Palace and Canary Wharf to the Gherkin and the City.

More than 47 metres high, it has a commanding presence on London’s skyline and also provides the first views over London’s Olympic Stadium and Zaha Hadid’s 2012 Aquatics Centre.

The brainchild of trendy London restaurateurs Bistrotheque, the 100 per cent recyclable, Studio East pavilion will be dismantled in a fortnight.

Taking the concept of pop-up stores to a whole new level, Carmody Groarke architects designed a pavilion on the top of the Westfield Stratford City development, inside the Olympic Park 2012 construction site, that hosts Studio East Dining and Bistrotheque restaurants.

The 70-ton structure designed by London architectures Carmody Groarke is built from 2,000 scaffolding boards, 3,500 scaffolding poles and reclaimed timber from the construction site, covered in recyclable plastic sheeting.

The restaurant’s design playfully and cleverly intensifies the spectacular setting with a series of dramatically framed views.

The cladding material which encases the roof is a semi-translucent membrane, using industrial grade heat-retractable PVC which is 100% recyclable.  As with the other materials, the PVC will be recycled without any waste when the “pop-up” restaurant closes.

By night, the whole structure glows, throwing out shadows and silhouettes of the action inside. A compelling jewel on London’s sunset skyline!

Tempted? ...Unfortunately, bookings are already closed.

Project: Studio East Dining
Architects: Carmody Groarke, UK
Location: London, UK
Technical info: PVC

OLIMPIADI 2012 EFFETTO BRITISH

Stazioni della metropolitana, ampliamenti di musei, nuovi ponti, alberghi, aree verdi, infrastrutture olimpiche e anche grattacieli. E' questo il nuovo volto di Londra per i Giochi Olimpici.

Cogliere l’occasione delle Olimpiadi per rinnovarsi e dotarsi di nuove strutture ed architetture è uno stimolo consueto, ma non tutti sono riusciti a sfruttarlo. Ad Atene, che ospitò i Giochi del 2004, non solo hanno chiuso con un clamoroso buco di bilancio, cosa abbastanza usuale, ma alcune delle principali opere sono rimaste incompiute o inutilizzate, come ad esempio il nuovo aeroporto internazionale.

Oggi va tenuto conto del grave periodo di crisi mondiale, europea, e anche della Gran Bretagna e quindi l’obiettivo di ottimizzare le spese, seppur quadruplicate da quelle inizialmente previste, è sen’altro prioritario.

Non c’è da stupirsi che sia stata posta la massima attenzione al riutilizzo delle strutture realizzate per l’Olimpiade, soprattutto quelle per le attività sportive, ma senz’altro balza all’occhio di tutti che uno stadio come quello costruito a Pechino 2008, più noto come “Nido d’uccello”, a Londra non sia realizzato.

Lo stadio olimpico di Populous, società specializzata nella progettazione d’impianti sportivi e centri congressi, costato 540 milioni di sterline (circa 700 milioni di euro) seppur premiato dal RIBA e promosso ad esempio di “sviluppo sostenibile” per una diminuzione significativa dell’impatto ambientale in termini di materiali da costruzione e di consumi energetici, ha ricevuto molte critiche.

Ellis Woodman (critico della Building Design) sul progetto si è così espresso: “Il principio di essere smontabile è benvenuto … si dimostra un evidente interesse verso la creazione di una economia di mezzi e, come tale, è l’antitesi dello stadio di Pechino del 2008. Ma se questo è un risultato, non è un buon risultato architettonico”.

Mentre Tom Dyckhoff, critico architettonico del The Times ha descritto il progetto come “tragicamente poco emozionante” e ha commentato che “l’architettura del 2008 e le Olimpiadi del 2012, negli anni a venire, saranno considerate dagli storici come un indicatore di astuzia dell’Oriente e del declino dell’Occidente”.

L’Aquatics Centre di Zaha Hadid, primo edificio pubblico realizzato dalla stararchitect a Londra, con un costo di 269 milioni di sterline (quasi 350 milioni di euro) più che ispirato dal fluido movimento dell’acqua sembra una balena spiaggiata tanto che anche lei ha dovuto definirla “una sorta di creatura marina” e in futoro, senza le parti laterali, ricorderà il cappello di Robin Hood.

L’opera che fa più discutere è senz’altro The Orbit, realizzata dallo scultore Anish Kapoor e Cecil Balmond, per la massa imponente ed inquietante di tubi di acciaio rossi e sul loro utilizzo dopo le Olimpiadi anche in considerazione del mesto presente del Millenium Dome, declassato a reperto di archeologia postmoderna.

Chi beneficerà dei lavori realizzati per l’Olimpiadi, saranno i viaggiatori della metropolitana, circa 1 miliardo l’anno, che potranno usufruire di nuove e ampliate stazioni del noto “Tube” come quelle di Green Park, a pochi metri da Buckingham Palace, di King's Cross e quella di Blackfriars nelle vicinanze della Tate Modern Gallery.

Tra queste stazioni quella di King's Cross, nodo fondamentale per i collegamenti con il Nord dell'Inghilterra e la Scozia, presenta un intervento di riqualificazione e ampliamento ben riuscito, sotto la cura dello studio londinese McAslan + Partners e costato 880 milioni di sterline, soprattutto per il nuovo ingresso della stazione sotto una copertura semicircolare con una luce di 52 m e un diametro di 130 m. e un’altezza di 20 metri.

La Blackfriars RailwayStation, oltre l’ampliamento, è stata alimentata da un impianto, nel ponte di Blackfriars di epoca vittoriana costruito nel 1886, dotato di oltre 4.400 pannelli solari fotovoltaici per un totale di circa 6.000 mq. di superficie coperta che genera oltre 900.000 kWh di energia elettrica annuali, pari al 50% dell’energia necessaria alla stazione stessa.

L’eco-sostenibilità dell’intervento, costato circa 7,3 milioni di sterline, realizzato dalla Solarcentury di Londra lascia però alcuni dubbi sulle capacità di coniugare tradizione e innovazione con un’efficace qualità estetica pur dimostrando una grande sensibilità verso i problemi energetici.

L'opera che più cambierà il volto di Londra è però il grattacielo "The Shard" di Renzo Piano che è stato inaugurato il 5 luglio scorso. Alto 310 metri, il più alto d'Europa, è stato definito "grottescamente arrogante" dal quotidiano “The Guardian” essendo visibile praticamente da qualsiasi punto della città.

ARCHITECTURE OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN LONDON

The Olympics have always spotlighted the host country's architecture. The London 2012 summer games, 26 sports at 34 venues, showcase Great Britain's new and modern designs alongside its historic architectural past.

The Olympic Park architecture includes Zaha Hadid's Aquatic Centre, Hopkins Architects' Velodrome, and the athletics stadium designed by Populous. Make Architects/Populous designed the Copper Box, for handball and fencing, which will become a multi-purpose sports centre. Service buildings include (as well as Allies and Morrison's Media Centre) John McAslan's Olympic Energy Centre, and John Lyall Architects' Olympic Park Pumping Station to channel grey waste. Two reusable structures are Wilkinson Eyre's Basketball Stadium in the Olympic Park, and Magma Architecture's Shooting Range, sited in Woolwich.


Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond / Ushida Findlay Architects: Archelor Mittal Orbit

"Despite the fact that it is sculpture it is a structure. Before it is a structure it is a sculpture". The £22.7m, ruby red, 114.5-metre high ArcelorMittal Orbit (AM Orbit) is an iconic archi-tourist-sculpture hybrid based on the geometry of a six-pointed star. A stabile sculpture, landmark structure and public viewing platform it is accessed by two lifts and exited by a staircase of 455 steps. The 5,560 metres of tubular steel are illuminated by 250 coloured spotlights.

It includes additional sculptural elements by Kapoor: A canopy at the base has a concave floor with a view through a funnel looking up from dark to light. On the upper level of the viewing platform two concave mirrors are placed on the external walkway to invert the horizon and visitors will be able to look down through a central rectangular void or annulus. 

It is an architectural fantasy in the spirit of Tatlin's Tower, Vladimir Tatlin's unrealised monument for the Third International in Petrograd in 1920; and part science fiction: "Seen nearer, the Thing was incredibly strange, for it was no mere insensate machine driving on its way. Machine it was, with a ringing metallic pace, and long, flexible, glittering tentacles" H.G. Wells. The War of the Worlds, Book 1, Chapter 10.


Zaha Hadid's The London Aquatic Centre
 

The £244m LAC contains two 50-metre pools for events, training and a 25-metre diving pool and is the architectural star of the Olympic Park. The curved shape - double-curvature geometry that creates a structure of parabolic arches - represents fish-like fluidity and the motion of water. 

The building has a double height to allow maximum spectator viewing for 17,500 people during the Games.
Legacy value? Post-Games, its temporary box additions will be removed to create a 3,500 capacity venue.


Populous with Peter Cook: London 2012 Olympic Stadium
 

The main stadium for the Olympic and Paralympics is a strangely anonymous, ego-free structure, although it will have a £7m temporary external corporate advertising wrapper, 900-metre long and 20-metre high, funded by Union Carbide. It is the centrepiece for track and field events and beneath the wrap it has an exterior skeletal frame of white painted steel zigzag columns creating a triangle/pyramid motif that repeats in the floodlights and in the black and white pattern of the seating.

Legacy value? It has a capacity of 80,000 seats but has been designed to shrink to become a modest 25,000 capacity athletics venue, or more likely, rebuilt as a soccer stadium for West Ham United (or more improbably the original O's, Leyton Orient).


Hopkins Architects: London 2012 Velodrome

 
The £93m velodrome has been dug out to create a hidden bowl and stadium, and the velopark is set on raised landscape, which suggests a shrine for a Tibetan sky burial. The structure is, however, more urban in concept and the architects were inspired by the bicycle as the epitomy of ergomomic and engineering efficiency.

The elegant wooden exterior and geometry of the building was designed to reflect the shape of the cycling track and is clad in Western Red Cedar.
Legacy value? The stadium has 6000 seats and is one of the permanent additions to the Olympic Park.


Magma Architecture: Olympic Shooting Venue

 
The three shooting ranges at the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich are contemporary architectural fairground tents. The façades of the three structures have a white, PVC membrane each demarcated with vibrant red, pink and blue coloured holes protruding from the skin to provide natural ventilation and lighting. 

Disarmingly, the coloured circles might be described as giant bullet holes, a case of architectural expression encapsulating the activity of the shooting competition.
Legacy value? These are flexible, sustainable, landmark buildings that will be reassembled for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.


Make Architects with PTW and Ove Arup and Partner: Olympic Handball Arena

Clad in recycled copper, the look of the Handball Arena will evolve as the surface becomes patinated. The interior features flexible, retractable seating that can accommodate a wide variety of events besides handball: basketball, badminton, boxing, martial arts, netball, table tennis, wheelchair rugby, and volleyball. Sustainable features include "light pipes" installed in the ceiling that mimic natural light and a rainwater harvesting system.
Designed to be both permanent and flexible, the Copper Box is a new multi-use sports centre for the London community. When under construction, the building was known simply as the Handball Arena until the exterior copper cladding was afixed. 

Monica Bonvicini. RUN: Three nine-metre tall letters forming the word ‘RUN’ situated on the plaza of the 6,500-capacity Copper Box – the London 2012 Handball Arena.

SKM/Wilkinson Eyre/KSS Design Group: Olympic Basketball Arena
 

One of the largest temporary venues ever built for the Olympic Games, the Basketball Arena will seat 12,000 under a steel frame wrapped in 20,000 m2 of white recyclable PVC membrane. 

During the events, lighting will animate this surface. Following the Olympic Games, the structure can be disassembled and elements can be reused elsewhere for other events.

ExCeL Grimshaw Architects: Excel Exhibition Centre (Phase II)
 

Since 2001, motorhomes, bikes, baby carriages, and yachts have been shown off at the ExCeL conference and exhibition center. Construction events like ecobuild regularly take place here. For the London 2012 games, however, ExCeL becomes the site of the largest number of competitions, including boxing, weightlifing, fencing, wrestling, and table tennis. 

Through adaptive reuse, ExCeL exhibits five sports arenas—with no construction required. That's versatile and flexible architecture.

Greenwich Park

Greenwich Park has been used for sports since King Henry VIII hunted deer here. Located about 20 minutes from central London, the venue for the 2012 Olympic equestrian events offers riders and horses an historic backdrop from which to compete. A cross-country course with over 42 jumps and water obstacles makes use of much of the 74 hectares (183 acres). A temporary arena was constructed in April 2012 for dressage and jumping events. As shown here, the removable arena consists of a dirt-covered platform made from plywood, aluminium, and steel held above ground by over 2,000 pillars.

 

Norman Foster + Partners: Wembley Statium – Redevelopment
 

With 90,000 seats, standing almost four times the height and covering twice the area of the original, the new stadium is the largest covered arena in the world. Facilities are designed to maximise spectator enjoyment; seats are larger than the old ones, with more leg-room; the highest tiers are easily accessed via escalators; and the concourse that wraps around the building provides catering for up to 40,000 spectators at any one time. 

One of the things that make the stadium special is the retractable roof, which ensures that the spectator experience is comfortable in all weathers.

 

Athletes’ Village: Various Architects
 

The Athletes' Village will house over 17,000 athletes and incorporate dining and shopping and the communal spaces and courtyards reflective of London’s housing traditions. When the Olympics are over, the complex will provide affordable housing for East London residents.
 

During the games, many athletes will live within walking distance of these sporting venues. One striking residence within the Olympic Village is a stone building with bas-relief images of ancient Greek athletes.