Copper Box Legacy Mode Redevelopment | 7,000 Capacity | U/C

[DarJoLe]

‘Simple, efficient & flexible’ design revealed for London 2012 Games and legacy venue
5 November 2008

Designs were unveiled today for a 'simple, efficient and flexible' London 2012 Handball Arena that will become a new multi-sports facility in legacy.
The new designs were included in the planning application for the venue which was submitted today.

The Handball Arena will be in the west of the Olympic Park, to the south of the Hockey Centre, within four minutes of the Olympic Village. It will have up to 7,000 seats during the Games, hosting the Handball preliminaries and quarter finals as well as the Modern Pentathlon disciplines of Fencing and Shooting. It will also be the Goalball venue during the Paralympic Games.

image hosted on flickr


In legacy mode after the Games, the Arena will become a multi-sports venue with retractable seating for 6,000 spectators and flexible facilities to hold a range of training and competition events of all levels. It will cater for a wide-range of indoor sports including basketball, handball, badminton, netball and volleyball, boosting the sporting facilities provided across the Olympic Park.

image hosted on flickr


The Handball Arena, designed by Make Architects with PTW and Arup, features external copper cladding to give it a distinctive appearance that will develop a rich natural colour as it ages. The concourse level features glazing which encircles the building, enabling visitors to the Olympic Park to view sport taking place inside, and illuminating the venue when lit at night. The venue also has a vibrant and multi-coloured interior, with retractable seating to create a flexible space and with 100 light pipes in the ceiling to allow natural light into the venue.

ODA Chairman John Armitt visited the Planning Decisions Team offices in Stratford this week to submit a planning application for the Handball Arena, which follows consultation with local residents.

ODA Chairman John Armitt said: 'This is a simple, sustainable and flexible design that works well for the Games and legacy. The colourful interior will help boost the Games time experience for athletes and spectators, and in legacy will become a modern, practical and attractive facility for local people of all abilities to enjoy a range of sports. The copper-cladding sets the venue in the surrounding parklands and will look even more striking as it changes over time.'

Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London 2012 Organising Committee, said: 'This is another example of the Games acting as a catalyst for a state-of-the-art sporting facility which will be a high-quality venue at Games-time, whilst also providing a legacy for sport in London and the UK. The fact that Handball will have its own arena at Games-time will be a great boost to the sport in this country and it will be a multi-purpose arena after the Games.'

Jules Pipe, elected Mayor of Hackney, said: 'The new multi-sports venue is a major opportunity to develop a world class facility for Hackney residents which is accessible and suitable for a range of community sports as part of the legacy of the 2012 Games. Hackney already has high quality, award-winning sports facilities, and the Council is continuing to invest in these to offer all our residents access to healthier lifestyles through sport and physical activity. When London's Olympic and Paralympic Games have gone, the multi-sports Arena will remain as a venue for local people and visitors.'

Design features in the Handball Arena plans include:

* Over 3,000 square metres of external copper cladding, mostly recycled, that changes colour and character as it ages

* Over 700 square metres of glazing which encircles the building at concourse level opening up the venue to the Olympic Park and enabling visitors to watch sporting action

* Striking multicoloured seating that retracts to enable flexible use of the field of play

* 100 light pipes in the ceiling that draw sunlight into the venue, reducing the demand for electric lights

* Rainwater harvesting from the roof for toilet flushing, helping to reduce water use by 40 per cent

* Range of materials selected for long-term durability and performance

* In legacy mode the venue will include a health and fitness club with changing facilities and a café for use by the local community

* In legacy mode, the venue offers a 2,743 square metre field of play hosting sports including: 5-a-side football; Netball; Basketball; Volleyball; Badminton; Table Tennis; Handball; and Futsal

* The venue could also host in legacy: Hockey; Martial arts; Kabaddi; Dodgeball; Wheelchair Basketball; Fencing; Sitting Volleyball; Goalball; Wheelchair Rugby

Ricky Burdett, ODA Principal Design Advisor, said: 'The Handball Arena occupies an important urban lynchpin, acting as a bridge between the Olympic Park and the existing urban neighbourhoods to the west in Hackney and Tower Hamlets. The design is a bold and refined architectural statement: a rectilinear volume raised on a platform that addresses the street and a large podium overlooking the park. At night the internal activities will be visible through the horizontal glazed slot that defines the edge of the building.'

Simplicity
A deceptively simple building envelope contrasts solidity with transparent elements which offer glimpses of the interior. A solid copper-clad structure sits on a glazed band which encircles the building at concourse level, giving the upper levels of the building the appearance of floating in the landscape. The glazed band, which will be lit up at night, will allow the arena’s internal activity to flow into the Olympic Park outside, engaging visitors as they approach.

Efficiency
Driven by the need for accessibility and flexibility, the simple design also lends itself to a more efficient building, both for 2012 and in legacy. The building has effectively been designed from the inside out so that the form of the venue follows its function, ensuring efficiency in the operation of the venue.

Flexibility
The arena has been designed for its future usage as much as for its 2012 purpose with both legacy and overlay being instilled within the design. The scale of the arena floor space will expand or contract depending on usage. Retractable seating systems can enlarge or reduce the space to ensure the building is as suitable for high volume spectator sports – seating up to 6,000 – as it is for a typical community multi-sports facility.

[Gherkin]

It's got excellent green credientials. This must be one of the first sports arenas to have light pipes fitted.

[BeestonLad]

Hmm simple yes, but also very bland and uninteresting

[El_Greco]

^ Indeed.

[Gherkin]

Ageing copper cladding, rainwater harvesting and light pipes... what's not interesting about that!? Not every Olympic building needs to be the Bird's Nest.

[BeestonLad]

Well I guess if you find rainwater harvesting systems interesting then fair enough! Although you wont be able to see the system from ground level. Copper cladding, yeah not bad but when its on a bog standard box its nothing special.

It just reminds me of some sort of city academy / community centre

[Gherkin]

Originally Posted by BeestonLad

Well I guess if you find rainwater harvesting systems interesting then fair enough!

I'm an architecture student I think it's a great scheme! Functional, cheap, green and not too controverisal in appearance. I guess the shape of the building's easy to relate to so I can understand why many people will call it bland. Buy hey, many people don't matter.

[BeestonLad]

Well I guess the concept of a rainwater harvesting system is mildly interesting but I was referring to the design of the building in general and as the harvesting system wont be a visible feature then its still uninteresting! Oh and Im a qualified QS by the way

[DarJoLe]

I think it compliments the velodrome across the river and will age very well. The copper cladding will give it a bit of life as it changes over the years and as it is pretty much staying as it is during and after the Games this design is pretty guaranteed never really to go out of fashion. There's something very Mies Van Der Rohe about it, but with a modernist 70s vibe that seems to be creeping back into a lot of MAKE's designs recently.

The 'legacy' venues of the Olympic Park will all look very good together; different enough to each have their own quirks and characteristics but still have a sense of a coherent whole so to speak.

[Gherkin]

I don't want to make it a competition! I'm saying there is so much more to the design of a building than how it looks. It's sad that the press and the general public will only see this as a box when it's a really interesting, modern design. There are plenty of stunning looking buildings in the world that aren't at all functional, and as I'm sure you'd know, are economically ridiculous! The joy of this box is the cheap construction cost compared with a circular/bowl shape of the same building. The Olympic budgetting committee will breathe a sigh of relief when they see the design.

[Dubai-Toluca]

for me....it's simple, especially in the roof, you can see the structure and the lights on top, maybe the design is good, but inside... :S

The good point is that it's a pre-plannigg, it can improve a lot

[Manuel]

Originally Posted by DarJoLe

I think it compliments the velodrome across the river and will age very well. The copper cladding will give it a bit of life as it changes over the years and as it is pretty much staying as it is during and after the Games this design is pretty guaranteed never really to go out of fashion. There's something very Mies Van Der Rohe about it, but with a modernist 70s vibe that seems to be creeping back into a lot of MAKE's designs recently.

The 'legacy' venues of the Olympic Park will all look very good together; different enough to each have their own quirks and characteristics but still have a sense of a coherent whole so to speak.

Agree. But green credential excepted, it is a bit too much a thing of the past. Radical modermism seems to make a big comeback in London right now...

[gazzab1990]

Why are all the renders of the olympic venues so cheap looking?

[DarJoLe]

Originally Posted by GREAT_Britain

Why are all the renders of the olympic venues so cheap looking?

Because they no longer need to wow the IOC into awarding the Games to them?

[El_Greco]

McOlympics then.

[DarJoLe]

Originally Posted by El_Greco

McOlympics then.

It's what the people want. After all they voted in a mayor who intends to 'drive down costs' on the Olympic project. I was more than happy to increase my share to ensure the architecture had bells and whistles and the Park was a hotbed of artistic talent. Alas over a million Londoners felt differently.

[Octoman]

You dont need to break the bank to hold a great olympics. Beijing made set a spending record. Was it the best ever?

London 1012 will be fine. £9.3 bln is plenty of money.

[delores]

those renders are very amateur but i like the idea as a whole apart from the stupid coloured seats, they just look a mess, I really don't understand why thats a feature? it's just lazy design.

[gazzab1990]

I'm sure making some decent renders to 'wow' the public wouldn't take much of a budget. Seriously there's no excuse.

As for the coloured seats, I kind of like the multi-coloured theme they're using. Cheap yes, but seeing as towers in Stratford use multi-colours as well as a few of the olympic venues and logo, I think it makes sense and makes everything look a lot more coherant, and keeps the feel of the London games running throughout the entire olympics.

I guess I'm relying more on the written info than the renders when it comes to these projects and the olmpic park. In writing I think everything sounds pretty good, especially the Olympic Park which I'm actually really excited about

[gothicform]

you'd be looking at perhaps 2k per image if the architects supplied a ready made model to a viz firm.