The 80,000-seater stadium that will be built for the 2012 London Olympics will be the most advanced stadium in the world.
It will abe concertina-like, allowing the stadium to become bigger or smaller - and even changing shape - depending on what kind of sporting event is taking place there.
At a massive £400,000,000 the stadium is also one of the most expensive in the world. Wembley stadium, the home of the England football team and rugby league team (which should eventually be completed in 2007) is the most expensive stadium in the world, costing £750,000,000. A giant arch, visible for miles around, arcs over the stadium and will light up and flash whenever England score a goal or a try. Wembley will host some of the football matches at the Olympics.
The Olympics stadium will be in beautiful parkland - the largest park to be built in Europe since the 19th Century.
The Olympics stadium - which a few people are saying should be called Trafalgar Stadium (as London beat Paris in the Olympics bid in the year that was also the 200th anniversary of Nelson's victory) - should be completed in 2011.
After the Olympics have ended the stadium may become the home of a big London football team, most likely West Ham United or Tottenham Hotspur.
It's the fold-away Olympic stadium
Robert Booth
The stadium with its roof closed. The roof will wrap itself around the stadium 'in a similar way that muscles support and represent the human body.'
The stadium with its roof open, as seen from the Olympics Village.
Every six to 12 months, the whole stadium will be able to change shape completely.
BRITAIN’S Olympic stadium could be a concertina-style arena designed to shrink and grow as it is adapted for different uses after the 2012 Games.
The architects chosen last week for the £400m project say the cocoon–shaped stadium could include retractable seating tiers, a folding roof and removable stands. It may also involve changing the height of the arena.
The plan would make the stadium in Stratford, east London, the most advanced in the world. It would be able to change shape completely every 6-12 months, depending on what events were planned.
“The ultimate flexibility is being able to go down and back up again in size,” said Rod Sheard, the architect in charge of the stadium project at HOK, the Anglo-American firm that was awarded the contract last week.
HOK helped design the new Wembley stadium and is responsible for Arsenal’s Emirates ground in north London. It also designed the Olympic stadium for Sydney 2000.
Sheard added: “It should be possible to turn an arena that was an Olympic stadium for 80,000 spectators one year into an arena for 20,000 the next year and a Commonwealth Games arena for 40,000 the year after.”
His team is now studying whether the budget and available technology will allow for the concertina plan to be put into effect.
The full-size stadium will have a bulbous outline reminiscent of an insect’s cocoon, similar to that submitted to the International Olympic Committee in London’s winning bid. Sheard said the shape was inspired by flexing human sinews.
HOK is now discussing the final design with the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and the full plans will be unveiled early next year. Construction is due to start in 2008.
Lord Foster, the lead architect at Wembley, was among those beaten by HOK for the contract.
The plans come amid growing concern about what to do with the stadium, which is being funded by the lottery and taxpayers, after the Games. Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, the London football clubs, have shown interest but the original brief proposed seating for 80,000 at the Games and 25,000 thereafter, sizes that do not tally with typical crowd numbers at Premiership matches. The possibility of having intermediate sizes may make the arena more appealing to football clubs.
“We are trying to do something that no other Olympic city has ever done,” Sheard said. “We are looking at technology that was not available 10 years ago — collapsible roofs and movable structures.”
The latest international stadiums have already incorporated elements of the collapsible technology. At the Stade de France in Paris, which usually serves as a football or rugby ground, the lower tiers of seats can be retracted to create space for an athletics track.
The centre court at Wimbledon, currently being redeveloped, will incorporate a folding roof to keep off rain.
Last June several World Cup matches were played at a Munich stadium shared by two sides that changes colour to match the colours of the team playing at home.
The Olympic stadium in Sydney includes a lower tier of 25,000 seats that can retracted on sliding bearings within two hours to allow more space for athletics.
A stand at one end of the Saitama Super Arena near Tokyo is designed to move inwards across the pitch to convert a 36,500-seat stadium into a smaller concert venue. The system takes about 20 minutes to move 9,200 seats, plus lavatories, catering facilities and corridors, a distance of 70 yards.
Stephen Morley, the stadium engineer behind the Athens Olympic arena, said more ambitious technologies were also being investigated. He said entire tiers of seats could now be made to fold away onto the back wall of the arena.
“Seating on a stepped surface can be wound back to a flat wall and that wall can be wound back out to recreate the seating,” he said.
“Taking this technology forward is one possibility. Stadium flexibility has been around for a long while but we are pushing its boundaries more and more. Stadiums are enormous commitments in terms of finances and resources, so to make them more sustainable they need to be capable of flexibility. There is growing pressure for that.”
He warned that the need to provide facilities as well as seats for the largest potential number of spectators placed a restriction on stadium flexibility. David Higgins, chief executive of the ODA, said earlier this month: “Some events leave a fabulous stadium but with huge ongoing costs. We’ve said all along: no white elephants.”
Archery will be staged at Lord's cricket ground.
The equestrian events will have a purpose-built arena in Greenwich.
The bid's organisers are also planning to use many of the capital's existing world-famous sporting and cultural landmarks as Games venues such as Wimbledon, Lord's and Horse Guards Parade.
Some of the football matches will be held in the new Wembley
Gymnastics events will be in the MIllennium Dome
thetimesonline.co.uk
It will abe concertina-like, allowing the stadium to become bigger or smaller - and even changing shape - depending on what kind of sporting event is taking place there.
At a massive £400,000,000 the stadium is also one of the most expensive in the world. Wembley stadium, the home of the England football team and rugby league team (which should eventually be completed in 2007) is the most expensive stadium in the world, costing £750,000,000. A giant arch, visible for miles around, arcs over the stadium and will light up and flash whenever England score a goal or a try. Wembley will host some of the football matches at the Olympics.
The Olympics stadium will be in beautiful parkland - the largest park to be built in Europe since the 19th Century.
The Olympics stadium - which a few people are saying should be called Trafalgar Stadium (as London beat Paris in the Olympics bid in the year that was also the 200th anniversary of Nelson's victory) - should be completed in 2011.
After the Olympics have ended the stadium may become the home of a big London football team, most likely West Ham United or Tottenham Hotspur.
It's the fold-away Olympic stadium
Robert Booth
The stadium with its roof closed. The roof will wrap itself around the stadium 'in a similar way that muscles support and represent the human body.'
The stadium with its roof open, as seen from the Olympics Village.
Every six to 12 months, the whole stadium will be able to change shape completely.
The architects chosen last week for the £400m project say the cocoon–shaped stadium could include retractable seating tiers, a folding roof and removable stands. It may also involve changing the height of the arena.
The plan would make the stadium in Stratford, east London, the most advanced in the world. It would be able to change shape completely every 6-12 months, depending on what events were planned.
“The ultimate flexibility is being able to go down and back up again in size,” said Rod Sheard, the architect in charge of the stadium project at HOK, the Anglo-American firm that was awarded the contract last week.
HOK helped design the new Wembley stadium and is responsible for Arsenal’s Emirates ground in north London. It also designed the Olympic stadium for Sydney 2000.
Sheard added: “It should be possible to turn an arena that was an Olympic stadium for 80,000 spectators one year into an arena for 20,000 the next year and a Commonwealth Games arena for 40,000 the year after.”
His team is now studying whether the budget and available technology will allow for the concertina plan to be put into effect.
The full-size stadium will have a bulbous outline reminiscent of an insect’s cocoon, similar to that submitted to the International Olympic Committee in London’s winning bid. Sheard said the shape was inspired by flexing human sinews.
HOK is now discussing the final design with the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and the full plans will be unveiled early next year. Construction is due to start in 2008.
Lord Foster, the lead architect at Wembley, was among those beaten by HOK for the contract.
The plans come amid growing concern about what to do with the stadium, which is being funded by the lottery and taxpayers, after the Games. Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, the London football clubs, have shown interest but the original brief proposed seating for 80,000 at the Games and 25,000 thereafter, sizes that do not tally with typical crowd numbers at Premiership matches. The possibility of having intermediate sizes may make the arena more appealing to football clubs.
“We are trying to do something that no other Olympic city has ever done,” Sheard said. “We are looking at technology that was not available 10 years ago — collapsible roofs and movable structures.”
The latest international stadiums have already incorporated elements of the collapsible technology. At the Stade de France in Paris, which usually serves as a football or rugby ground, the lower tiers of seats can be retracted to create space for an athletics track.
The centre court at Wimbledon, currently being redeveloped, will incorporate a folding roof to keep off rain.
Last June several World Cup matches were played at a Munich stadium shared by two sides that changes colour to match the colours of the team playing at home.
The Olympic stadium in Sydney includes a lower tier of 25,000 seats that can retracted on sliding bearings within two hours to allow more space for athletics.
A stand at one end of the Saitama Super Arena near Tokyo is designed to move inwards across the pitch to convert a 36,500-seat stadium into a smaller concert venue. The system takes about 20 minutes to move 9,200 seats, plus lavatories, catering facilities and corridors, a distance of 70 yards.
Stephen Morley, the stadium engineer behind the Athens Olympic arena, said more ambitious technologies were also being investigated. He said entire tiers of seats could now be made to fold away onto the back wall of the arena.
“Seating on a stepped surface can be wound back to a flat wall and that wall can be wound back out to recreate the seating,” he said.
“Taking this technology forward is one possibility. Stadium flexibility has been around for a long while but we are pushing its boundaries more and more. Stadiums are enormous commitments in terms of finances and resources, so to make them more sustainable they need to be capable of flexibility. There is growing pressure for that.”
He warned that the need to provide facilities as well as seats for the largest potential number of spectators placed a restriction on stadium flexibility. David Higgins, chief executive of the ODA, said earlier this month: “Some events leave a fabulous stadium but with huge ongoing costs. We’ve said all along: no white elephants.”
Archery will be staged at Lord's cricket ground.
The equestrian events will have a purpose-built arena in Greenwich.
The bid's organisers are also planning to use many of the capital's existing world-famous sporting and cultural landmarks as Games venues such as Wimbledon, Lord's and Horse Guards Parade.
Some of the football matches will be held in the new Wembley
Gymnastics events will be in the MIllennium Dome
thetimesonline.co.uk
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