Saturday, April 26, 2014

Hadid's Wings Clipped

Hadid's Wings Clipped: Reopening of London's Olympic Aquatics Centre

After the Games, East London's Olympic park was closed in order to dismantle all the area's temporary structures. Now reopening is imminent. The Aquatics Centre, designed by Zaha Hadid, is accessible again, but without its wings, which provided temporary seating during the Games. The structure now has a completely different atmosphere from its winged incarnation.  
London Aquatics Centre after dismantling temporary structures
All photos: Jakob Schoof
In some ways, after the 2012 Summer Games was like before the 2012 Summer Games: the Olympic grounds were inaccessible. Builders were hard at work reducing sports facilities and infrastructure from their maximum capacity to a size that would be sustainable in the long term. This was part of the overall sustainability concept: the event planners did not want to leave any 'white elephants' to decay on the 250-hectare area. Rather, they wanted to create new infrastructure comprising sports centres and a park that will benefit citizens into the future.

Therefore, many Olympic structures, such as the basketball arena, were designed as temporary right from the start. Others, like the Olympic Stadium, the swimming pool and some of the bridges found in the park, consisted of some permanent and some temporary parts, which have now been removed.
London Aquatics Centre after dismantling temporary structures
London Aquatics Centre after dismantling temporary structures
The park and most of the sports facilities are now about to be reopened: starting on 5 April, the grounds, the ArcelorMittal Orbit observation tower (designed by Anish Kapoor) and the velodrome (by Hopkins Architects) will once again open their doors. Only the stadium will require further work, projected to last until 2015.

Zaha Hadid's Aquatics Centre promises to become of of the most-visited former Olympic structures. It will be operated as a public swimming pool and temporarily closed to the public only for specific events such as the European Swimming Championships in 2016. The pool celebrated its reopening on 2 March, and the transformation, compared to its Olympic look, is remarkable.

The two rather unsightly wings, which once accommodated extra seating, have made way for two large, horizontal banks of windows which allow daylight into the building and offer spectators in the remaining seats views over the park, Orbit tower and Olympic stadium. The curved, mussel-like shape of the roof, which covers the hall lengthwise and is supported only at three points, will now show itself to full advantage for the first time.
London Aquatics Centre after dismantling temporary structures, façade and roof
London Aquatics Centre after dismantling temporary structures, great hall with pool
What has remained is the larger part of the interior – the immaculate exposed concrete surfaces, the sculptural diving towers and the white bucket seats in the spectator seating areas. Somehow, the two new glazed façades don't seem to fit into the picture. Their post-and-beam construction of welded square steel profiling looks uninspired and lacks the elegance of the rest of the building.
London Aquatics Centre after dismantling temporary structures
In 2005, Zaha Hadid won an architecture competition for the design of the swimming pool. However, she was forced to radically diminish her design - retaining the same spectator capacity – when worried voices concerning huge budget overruns became louder and louder. The now-dismantled side wings consisted of a steel construction with a covering of PVC membrane. Both have been recycled; the temporary seating has been reused in other sports facilities.
London Aquatics Centre after dismantling temporary structures

Aquatics Centre | London 2012

London 2012 - Aquatics Centre

Wave in Olympic mode: the swimming competitions in the Aquatics Centre are in full swing. Only those lucky enough to have a ticket will be able to experience the extraordinary wave-shaped steel roof that appears to float above the pool like a plastic element of its own. Two temporary 'wings' with additional tiers to boost the venue's seating capacity unfortunately inhibit sightlines. The full glory of Zaha Hadid's contribution to Olympia 2012 will only be seen after the Games, when the Centre can rid itself of these rather ungainly accessory structures.

Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects, London
Location: Olympic Park, Stratford, GB–E15 2HJ London
Aquatics Centre, London, Zaha Hadid
Photograph: Hufton + Crow, London
The Aquatics Centre is the designated venue for all Olympic swimming, synchronised swimming and diving events. The building is aligned perpendicularly to the pedestrian access to the Olympic Park via Stratford City Bridge. The impressive structure enjoys high visibility due to its location near the primary north-eastern gateway to the Park.
Aquatics Centre, London, Zaha Hadid
Olympic compromise: two temporary add-on wings for spectators enclose the Aquatics Centre on either side. Photograph: ODA / Anthony Charlton
The truly striking effect of the flowing, undulating design of the roof will be fully disclosed after the Olympic Games, once the two steeply ascending, additional seating structures are removed. As much as 2,800 tonnes of steel were needed to give the 160-metre-long and 80-metre-wide roof its light and floating look.
Aquatics Centre, London, Zaha Hadid
Some of the steel trusses of the roof are 40 metres long and weigh 70 tonnes. Spanning from north to south, they cover the generously sized main area without any in-between supports. Diagram: Ove Arup & Partners, London
Aquatics Centre, London, Zaha Hadid
Diagram: Ove Arup & Partners, London
Just two slim concrete supports and a concrete wall located opposite these at the southern end suffice to conduct the forces of the hidden steel-space framework construction into the ground.
Aquatics Centre, London, Zaha Hadid
Photograph: Hélène Binet, London
Aquatics Centre, London, Zaha Hadid
Photograph: Hélène Binet, London
The Aquatics Centre is currently still in its 'Olympic mode'. Conversion to the post-Olympic 'legacy mode' will involve disassembly of the two additional temporary tiers with their 15,000 seats. The thereby exposed arch-like openings on either longitudinal side will be filled with glass façades. With a remaining spectator capacity of 2,500 seats, the venue will serve as a training centre for clubs and schools, and could possibly make the community of Stratford proud to have "the most beautiful municipal pool in the world" in days to come.
Aquatics Centre, London, Zaha Hadid
The Aquatics Centre in Olympic mode..., rendering: Zaha Hadid Architects, London
Aquatics Centre, London, Zaha Hadid
...and in legacy mode. Rendering: Zaha Hadid Architects, London
Luckily the Olympic mode compromise solution has almost no influence on the interior. Shapes can flow unhindered and fuse impressively with perfectly finished surfaces. 35,000 sections of precisely cut timber were used to create the spectacular interior surface of the organically-shaped roof.
Aquatics Centre, London, Zaha Hadid
Unhampered dynamic flow inside, photograph: Hufton + Crow, London
Aquatics Centre, London, Zaha Hadid
View of the hall from a diving platform, photograph: Hufton + Crow, London
Sculpturally shaped diving platforms made of fair-faced concrete protrude elegantly over the pool for the divers. Interior access paths and traffic areas are dominated by noble fair-faced concrete contrasted by plain white tiles.
Aquatics Centre, London, Zaha Hadid
Photograph: Hufton + Crow, London
Aquatics Centre, London, Zaha Hadid
Sculpturally shaped diving boards as eye-catchers, photograph: Hufton + Crow, London
Aquatics Centre, London, Zaha Hadid
Perfectly finished surfaces around the diving platforms. Photograph: Hufton + Crow, London
The atmosphere in an adjacent hall with a training pool is pleasant, yet surprisingly sober for a Hadid design, with only a disciplined pattern of leaf-shaped skylights piercing the fair-faced concrete ceiling. The significantly lower height requirement allowed placement under the pedestrian access bridge mentioned earlier.
Aquatics Centre, London, Zaha Hadid
Concentrated atmosphere: swimmers can prepare for the competition in the training pool under the pedestrian access bridge. Photograph: Hufton + Crow, London
Aquatics Centre, London, Zaha Hadid
View of the competition area from the training hall. Photograph: Hufton + Crow, London
Aquatics Centre, London, Zaha Hadid
Cross-section of the Aquatics Centre: the training hall is located under the pedestrian access bridge (left in the diagram).
Aquatics Centre, London, Zaha Hadid
Photograph: Hufton + Crow, London
Client: ODA, Olympic Delivery Authority, London
Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects, London
Structural and services engineers: Ove Arup & Partners
Main contractor: Balfour Beatty Group Ltd
Construction period: July 2008 - June 2011
Opening: July 2011
Construction cost: approx. EUR 300 million
Seats (legacy mode): 2,500
Seats (Olympic mode): 17,500
Ground floor area (legacy mode): approx. 29,000 m²
Ground floor area (Olympic mode): approx. 43,000 m²
Weight of steel construction: 2,800 t
Dimensions: 160 x 80 m; height 100 m