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| Zaha Hadid's distinctive roof has been reduced by a third Planning for the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games took a major step forward with the publication of the design concepts being taken to detail design stage for the first main venue in the Olympic Park - the Aquatics Centre. Zaha Hadid Architects won the competition to design London's first Olympic venue in February 2005. The design retains the eye catching wave shaped roof symbolising the flow of water in aquatic sports. The design concept of a sweeping sculptural arched roof and key visual imagery from the original bid has been retained, but the Aquatics Centre will now be accessible directly from the bridge and after the Games it will also be accessible by car from a new loop road around the Olympic park. The Aquatics Centre is smaller. For example, the roof is now 14,000 square metres, compared to 35,000 metres originally. Contractors are already working on the Aquatics Centre site to prepare the land for construction to start in mid-2008, with the venue due to be completed for testing in the Summer of 2011, as outlined in the Olympic Park Delivery schedule earlier this year. The core facilities of the Aquatics Centre are two 50 m pools, one for training and one for competition, plus a diving pool. The main Water Polo events will be held separately in temporary buildings close by. For the Games the Aquatics Centre is extended with temporary seating and canopies to accommodate 15,000 people watching swimming and 5,000 diving. After the Games temporary seating will be removed and the building will be converted to a 2500 seat venue providing a major swimming venue for London. This can be expanded to 3500 seats for European events. Zaha Hadid Architects are working with swimming pool architects S&P to design the Aquatics Centre and Arup on the Structural and Services design. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Construction News :: home page |