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By Editor in Industry News on 31st Jan 2012 8:00
Six months from today, the eyes of the world will be focused on what was once a neglected patch of wasteland, an unlovely mishmash of industrial site and munitions dump, which required regular visits from the bomb disposal experts to make it safe for construction crews.
It is now the site of the London Olympic stadium, a symbol of regeneration in a neglected part of the East End, and the venue that will be preparing to host the opening ceremony of the 30th Olympic Games on July 27. But in 2007, for a few months the stadium was better known to the Australian-led architects who were designing it as "the Blofeld scheme" in tribute to the arch-villain of the James Bond films and his penchant for futuristic secret lairs.
"You press a button and the whole thing collapses; we had a hydraulic solution in mind," says Brisbane-born Rod Sheard, senior principal at London-based Populous architects, a specialist sports design firm. It was just one of the early flights of fancy that emerged from the brief from the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, which wanted no white elephants left behind.
Instead, it wanted a stadium that could host the world's biggest sporting event and then be adjusted for an entirely different purpose, more in keeping with London's future needs. "Philosophically, we bought into the concept that this has to be a building that can be closed down to 25,000 seats, but can also take the biggest event in the world (85,000 seats)," Sheard says.
"We knew it was what the IOC (International Olympic Committee) wanted and we knew it was a way of pushing the envelope. The problem was we had absolutely no idea how to do it." If anyone were qualified to create a solution, it was Sheard, his business partner, John Barrow, and their team. They had designed Sydney's Olympic stadium, the redevelopment of London's historic Wembley Stadium and the transformation of the once-ridiculed Millennium Dome into a superb indoor entertainment venue now known as the 02 Arena, which will double as the gymnastics venue during the Games.
They have had their fingers on practically every major sporting stadium in Australia (MCG and Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium) and most of those in Britain (Wimbledon, Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, Ascot racecourse, Silverstone race track). And they are working on the main stadium for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Not bad for a pair of Brisbane boys who left Australia to try their luck in London. Sheard says the benefit of previous Olympic experience is that "it does make you a little bit braver; it gives you confidence to try new things and a different approach. Things that perhaps if you were doing it for the first time you would think: 'Ooh, we don't want to stuff this up. We'd better be cautious and careful and conservative with it'.
"So I think London has benefited from that, not just in the design of the buildings, but in the way you lay out the operation." The firm's Sydney experience helped it to anticipate the kind of technology needed, to allow film director Danny Boyle, London's master of ceremonies, to produce the greatest show on earth, twice, for the opening and closing ceremonies.
Populous's design work on the stadium is largely done but it has continuing responsibilities in setting the stage. The firm is also responsible for the "overlay" in the Olympic Park, ensuring that the right facilities are available in the right places (toilets, waste bins, benches, food and drink stands) for an area that has eight venues and will have 500,000 visitors on its busiest day.
Source & More: www.theaustralian.com.au
Read more articles in Industry News, by Editor or from January 2012.
