Olympic Stadium’s latest design unveiled

29 May, 2008

The London 2012 Olympic stadium, designed by HOK Sport and Peter Cook, could be wrapped in a material made from the cannabis family of plants, it has emerged.

For the first time, details of the stadium’s layout, scale, appearance and the external materials to be used – which could include hemp – have been revealed in a new planning application.

Accompanying images also reveal that the temporary wrapping around the stadium will boast giant ‘slits’ to allow the public to walk through this facade rather than under it as previously envisaged.

Detail of the fabric wrap showing new slits

The application reads: “The emphasis in the design has been and will continue to be on minimising the quantity of material, whilst still producing the required performance.

By designing a lean, compact and lightweight stadium, the amount of materials used, and the associated embodied energy have been significantly reduced.”

It also highlights the stadium’s sustainability credentials, with the Olympic Development Authority claiming these are superior to the Sydney Olympic stadium and other recently completed football stadiums.

However the exact nature of the controversial fabric wrap which forms the stadium’s elevation is still unclear.

“Sustainable materials, options for the roof and wrap fabrics are currently being investigated,” the application states.

“These include materials using recycled polymer based fabric, hemp and where the polymer based fabric can be recycled after use. Many of these materials could also be re-used after the games for other purposes.”

The application also suggests recycled ship containers could be used as internal toilet pods.

BD’s architecture critic Ellis Woodman said: “This is all about the stadium’s green credentials but the issue about its formal expression is one that the designers have still failed to address.

“They are still short of an idea. At the very least, the ODA should be commissioning artists to create the wrap rather than using third-rate graphic designers.”

By Rory Olcayto   from bd.