Olympic Stadium, London, United Kingdom

London 2012 to introduce new “mobile” stadium.
The construction of the £496m London 2012 Olympic Stadium has officially started three months ahead of schedule and HOK Sports, the minds behind its design, have come up with a concept that could set a trend for Olympic venues to come.

The London 2012 Stadium will consist of a 25,000 seat concrete bowl adorned with an additional 55,000 seats placed in a temporary structure; details and methods of assembly and compatibility of materials are yet to be announced.

Once the Olympics will be over, the permanent 25,000 seat venue will be converted in to a community venue and the portable 55,000 seats will be dismantled, sold and shipped to the host of the 2016 Olympic Games.

A spokesperson of the Olympic Delivery Authority said: “London 2012 is designed to be different with a significant amount of temporary infrastructure to ensure the Games leave a sustainable legacy. It is early days and we have only held preliminary and very recent discussions with Chicago - at their instigation - covering some of the technical aspects of re-locating so many seats, but it is obviously good news that there is already interest in re-using them. We would of course be very happy to have the same discussions with any other bidding cities in the coming months. It is right that we should explore any opportunities that would recover some of the cost incurred by the lottery and public purse. We will also continue to explore options to re-locate facilities within the UK as a priority wherever possible."

The stadium’s sustainability is a high priority of the ODA and reflects the choice of low-impact materials such as hemp and recycled ships as possible elements of the final design of the world class sporting venue.

The stadium, which will cover a surface of 40 acres in the Lower Lea Valley in Stratford reaching the height of 53m and containing around 10,000 tonnes of steel, is to become the lightest Olympic Stadium to date.

Completion is scheduled for 2011.

Laura Salmi
Reporter
source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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