The Olympics is a significant international multi-sport competition conducted every four years in various cities around the globe. However, the preparations for hosting this global event can take almost a decade or longer. The amount of effort, time, and intellect invested in these years creates an extraordinary atmosphere and mood for the athletes and spectators from all over the world who are receiving an experience of a lifetime.
The outcome of hosting such a large event is not limited to the atmosphere and effect at the time of the event but also has a permanent impact on the sports facilities and urban landscapes. It not only improves and revitalizes the cities with its magnificent structures and interventions, but also influences how the athletes and spectators experience the sporting event. These urban interventions are intended to improve the city’s image, promote tourism, and generate lasting community benefits. Olympic architecture has become a significant learning and study issue for architects, designers, urban planners, and many other Olympic studies academics in recent decades.
What is Olympic Architecture?
Olympic architecture is much more than just a sports venue. From grandiose opening and closing ceremonies, the built forms of the stadiums express national identity, cultural values, and political agendas. The principal stadiums are an occasion for the architects to demonstrate innovation and nationality in construction and engineering.
The design of Olympic facilities is influenced by several factors, including the need to facilitate a wide variety of sporting events, fulfill rigorous technical requirements, provide adequate spectator capacity, and leave an enduring legacy for the host city.
The infrastructures designed for these games are long-span structures that are both functionally optimal and architecturally distinctive and evocative. The architecture of the Olympic Games is temporary, permanent, or a combination of the two. In addition to stadiums, Olympic architecture includes training facilities, International Olympic Committee offices, and institutions around the world.
In today’s sustainable world, the city council collaborates with architects, city planners, urban designers, and engineers to create infrastructures and urban redevelopment that can be utilized by the public after the events have concluded. This contributes to the ecological and sustainable revitalization and activation of urban neighborhoods. The 2012 Olympics in London is a wonderful example of this.
Olympic Architecture’s Impact on sports facilities
The Olympic architecture significantly impacts the design of sports facilities worldwide. It has always exemplified innovative design solutions that push the limits and believes the sky is the limit. These cutting-edge infrastructures accommodate multiple sports under one roof and provide optimal sightlines for spectators.
The Olympic architecture is flexible and adaptable during the game and even after. These venues accommodate a wide range of sports in a short period. In the time of contemporary Olympic architecture, some of the sports facility infrastructures are created with an eye toward their future use. These facilities are made available to the local community, thereby becoming an integral part of the metropolis. On an as-needed basis, the spaces are modified to accommodate a variety of community sports, with the flexibility to also stage concerts and exhibitions.
The ‘Copper Box Arena’ constructed for the 2012 London Olympics demonstrates this form of adaptability and flexibility. The third-largest indoor arena in London, with 7,500 seats, hosted three significant Olympic and Paralympics events in 2012. The building currently houses a crèche, an independent café, a dance studio, and a health and fitness facility to support basketball, handball, badminton, boxing, martial arts, netball, table tennis, wheelchair rugby, and volleyball.
The Olympic architecture also provides enhanced support for athletes, attracts the elite-level athletes of the next generation, promotes competitive sports development, expands the fan base for less popular sports, improves the effectiveness of sports systems, and enhances the coaching and sports physicians. It provides new facilities for training and completion and facilitates new equipment.
Olympic Architecture’s Impact on urban landscapes
Apart from the sports facilities, Olympic architecture also impacts a lot on the urban landscapes of the host cities.
The Olympic Games frequently catalyze urban revitalization. Cities take advantage of the opportunity to revitalize and transform abandoned or underdeveloped areas. Major infrastructure projects, such as the building of sports facilities, transportation networks, and Olympic villages, contribute to the overall growth and revitalization of urban areas.
The Olympic architecture enhances urban connectivity. Transport and mobility infrastructures are developed making the cities have efficient airports, metro or trains, and more walkable and cyclable cities. It enforces the urban development of basic infrastructures.
The architecture of the Olympic Games frequently results in the construction of iconic landmarks that become recognizable symbols of the host city. These architectural marvels, such as stadiums, arenas, and Olympic parks, become focal points of the urban landscape, attracting both locals and tourists and leaving an indelible mark on the identity of the city. In the host cities, infrastructures are constructed to accommodate the participants, officials, and spectators. This major sporting event promotes not only sports and their facilities but also the economy and governance of the host country.
In the current times, Olympic architecture is a reflection of legacy and sustainability. The incarnations of Olympic architecture are leaning towards sustainable structures with energy-efficient technologies, and renewable materials with a focus on post-games use. By supporting ecologically friendly practices and long-term planning, the focus on legacy and sustainability has affected the entire sports facility design sector.
The Olympic Park in Seoul, which includes stadiums and a sculpture garden, is set to be featured on the IOC’s new legacy information portal alongside several other permanent venues.
“The Olympic legacy results from a vision. It includes all the tangible and intangible long-term benefits initiated or accelerated by the hosting of the Olympic Games/sporting events for individuals, cities/territories, and the Olympic Movement” says the IOC Legacy Strategic Approach.
Overall, the architecture of the Olympic Games has a transformative effect on urban landscapes. It revitalizes neglected areas, generates iconic landmarks, enhances infrastructure and connectivity, leaves an enduring legacy, and stimulates economic development. The planning and design of Olympic venues and infrastructure are intended to improve the urban environment and have a lasting, positive impact on the host city.
Examples of significant Olympic facilities and complexes
- Beijing National Stadium, Beijing, 2008: Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei designed the “bird’s nest” stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The stadium was utilized once more when the city stages the Winter Olympics in 2022.
Designed by Herzog De Meuron
- Aquatics Centre, London, 2012: The undulating canopy of Zaha Hadid’s design for the Aquatics Centre for the 2012 London Olympics was inspired by the fluid geometry of water in motion.
Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects
- Montjuic Communications Tower, Barcelona, 1992: The Montjuic Communications Tower was constructed to transmit television coverage of the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics. While the primary function was to broadcast coverage of the games to the globe, it was also used as a gigantic sundial to ascertain the time using Europa Square.
Designed by Santiago Calatrava
- Munich Olympic Stadium, Munich, 1972: The stadium was constructed for the Olympics in Munich. It is located in the northern Munich Olympic Park sports district (Olympic Park München). The stadium’s original capacity was 80,000, while its current capacity is 69,250.
Designed by Günther Behnisch, Frei Otto
These examples illustrate how the Olympics have stretched the limits of architectural design, inspiring innovative and environmentally responsible solutions for sports facilities and urban development. By transforming host cities, creating iconic landmarks, and augmenting the built environment for future generations, the Olympic Games continue to leave a lasting legacy.
References
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- Conard, K. (2012) “The best of London’s Olympic art and architecture,” BBC, 23 July. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20120719-the-best-of-londons-olympic-art-and-architecture.
- Copper Box arena (2017) Make Architects. Available at: https://www.makearchitects.com/projects/the-copper-box/.
- Cresciani, M. (no date) THE OLYMPIC BUILDINGS AS A NEW TYPOLOGY FOR ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS, Researchgate.net. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303547523_The_Olympic_Buildings_as_a_new_typology_for_architects_and_engineers.
- Designboom, N. K. I. (2016) Penda’s bridge for 2022 beijing winter olympics sculpted with double-helix arches, designboom | architecture & design magazine. Designboom. Available at: https://www.designboom.com/architecture/penda-san-shan-bridge-beijing-winter-olympics-2022-07-21-2016/.
- MuthuPayandi, K. (2014) “Architecture through sports.” Available at: https://www.academia.edu/9287809/architecture_through_sports.
- The Architecture of the Olympics (no date) Architectmagazine.com. Available at: https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/the-architecture-of-the-olympics_o.
- Tu, Y. et al. (2023) “Olympic effects on reshaping urban greenspace of host cities,” Landscape and urban planning, 230(104615), p. 104615. doi: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104615.
- (No date) Olympics.com. Available at: https://olympics.com/ioc/celebrate-olympic-games.
