Meeting the Brief

Paul Deighton joins in with the BP Trading Challenge Roadshow

Pretend to be a design team and prove to a client that your ideas meet the design brief.

ODA Construction Kit resources provided:

Work in a small group to find out more about the specific design features at the three venues. Respond to the questions below which are posed as requests from a client to a prospective architect. Find out how these requests were addressed in the London 2012 Venues by reading the Venue information. Brief answers have been included in brackets.

Outcome

Each group should find the answers to the three sets of questions. Then each group should pose as a design team about to present their proposals to the client. You have three minutes to persuade the client that your design meets the brief. Remember to highlight the ‘cutting edge’ features of the design and to add innovative ideas of your own.

Velodrome

We want a brand new venue for track cycling. Conditions should be favourable for fast times. We want to accommodate up to 6,000 spectators during the Games. Please include these special features:

1. Can you provide us with a lightweight roof for the Velodrome to reflect the geometry of the track?
(This is achieved through the lightweight double curving cable net structure.)

2. How can we make the maximum use of daylight within the stadium and have fresh air coming in?
(By strategically positioning roof lights and allowing natural ventilation through openings in the external timber cladding.)

3. We would like to allow spectators outside the Venue to see in – and the spectators outside to have a view of the Olympic Park. How can this be achieved?
(By installing a 360-degree glass wall.)

Aquatics Centre

The Centre must provide pools for swimming, diving and for warming up. This will be sited prominently in the Park and we want to make an impression.

1. We want the roof to reflect the shape of a wave. How will you support it and still create the effect?
(The 2,800-tonne roof will rest on just two concrete supports at the northern end of the venue and a single wall at the southern end.)

2. Obviously the Aquatics Centre will need a lot of water – but how can we minimise the waste?
(Pool water will be reused to flush the venue’s toilets.)

Olympic Stadium

This is a showpiece stadium and must have the ‘wow’ factor. We are keen to show the world that we have built a superb stadium and met our sustainability targets. Please address these special questions:

1. We are thinking about how the Olympic Stadium might be used after the Games. We want a big spectator capacity for the Games – but the possibility of a reduced capacity in the future. How can this be achieved?
(There are 25,000 permanent seats in a lower tier and a lightweight steel and concrete upper tier holding a further 55,000 spectators. The upper tier can be dismantled after the Games.)

2. How can we stop pigeons from nesting in the Stadium?
(A hawk flies around and chases them away.)

3. Where can we use recycled materials?
(For example, recycled crushed concrete has been used in the ground works and recycled gas pipe lines used in the roof’s support structure.)

Extension

Read the information ‘Sustainability at the heart of the Games’ and watch the film found at the top of this page.

Click on the following link for additional information on Sustainability

Prepare a storyboard for a new 60 second documentary on the theme of sustainability. What are the main messages you want to convey? What images will you use to support your arguments and who would you choose to ‘front’ the film?

Meeting the Brief