Page 66 of 117
Previous Page     Next Page        Smaller fonts | Larger fonts     Go back to the flash version

66

Analysis | Olympics | Water Polo Arena

Zaha Hadid’s Aquatics Centre is a magnificent, flawed beast of a building aching for the day when it can shed its contentious wings

HOW TO Words Eleanor Young

Spectators arriving from Stratford Station

MAKE A SPLASH

It may be a temporary venue but the thoroughly recyclable Water Polo Arena creates an effect that responds to the Aquatics Centre without splashing out

ARCHITECT DAVID MORLEY wanted his Water Polo Arena to make an impact. That seems pretty ambitious with its nearest neighbours in the Olympic Park being the Aquatics Centre and Olympic Stadium. But the arena, on site since January, is already making its presence felt, encased in silver PVC and 25m high at its peak.

will see the silver roof rising next to the Aquatics Centre. Morley says: ‘The main thing you see as you arrive at the park is the rippling fifth elevation of the roof, like a huge splash created by the diving figure the Aquatics Centre resembles. At night waves of light on the roof will exaggerate this effect.’ Inside are a 37m long water polo pool

and a slightly smaller warm-up pool. Most spectators will be on stands in the highest part of the section opposite the referee’s platform. An inflatable roof deals with the worst of the condensation – two layers of PVC blown into 10m by 50m cushions. Morley stretched the fabric tightly to avoid a secondary structure on the walls. Curved column tops give a three- dimensional ‘curved scallop’ along the eaves line. Like the Basketball Arena, almost everything

is leased. And the easy recyclability of components was also critical, from the recycled content of black seating to the refolding and so transportable PVC. Morley treated the building materials as a kit of parts, with each returning to the construction process afterwards – primarily for reuse. The trusses

WWW.RIBAJOURNAL.COM : SEPTEMBER 2011

ABOVE: Looking south over the River Lee the Water Polo Arena is seen in front of the Aquatics Centre.

Previous arrowPrevious Page     Next PageNext arrow        Smaller fonts | Larger fonts     Go back to the flash version
1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |  11  |  12  |  13  |  14  |  15  |  16  |  17  |  18  |  19  |  20  |  21  |  22  |  23  |  24  |  25  |  26  |  27  |  28  |  29  |  30  |  31  |  32  |  33  |  34  |  35  |  36  |  37  |  38  |  39  |  40  |  41  |  42  |  43  |  44  |  45  |  46  |  47  |  48  |  49  |  50  |  51  |  52  |  53  |  54  |  55  |  56  |  57  |  58  |  59  |  60  |  61  |  62  |  63  |  64  |  65  |  66  |  67  |  68  |  69  |  70  |  71  |  72  |  73  |  74  |  75  |  76  |  77  |  78  |  79  |  80  |  81  |  82  |  83  |  84  |  85  |  86  |  87  |  88  |  89  |  90  |  91  |  92  |  93  |  94  |  95  |  96  |  97  |  98  |  99  |  100  |  101  |  102  |  103  |  104  |  105  |  106  |  107  |  108  |  109  |  110  |  111  |  112  |  113  |  114  |  115  |  116  |  117