PROJECT REPORT: MIXED USE SCHEMES 27
OLYMPIA LONDON
Olympia opens up
Freeing up the sclerotic site that London’s historic events venue had become over the decades was a refreshing challenge for Heatherwick Studio and SPPARC. James Parker visited the site to hear about their collaboration to create a new cultural district
‘C
o-designed’ by Heatherwick Studio and SPPARC, a mammoth project is well underway to resolve the issues which have limited one of west London’s major event locations, and bring it a host of new public uses. The project to open up and rejuvenate London’s Olympia, while preserving and adapting its various historic buildings for long-term use and providing a new elevated public realm, is both a daunting and inspiring one. Visiting it in the flesh leaves you with the latter as the lasting impression.
The £1.3 bn scheme was devised by funders Yoo Capital and Deutsche Finance International, and built by Laing O’Rourke. The project is a demonstration of high levels of collaboration across the board, not least between the two architectural practices, and is currently making swift progress across the whole site. The new buildings’ (chiefly concrete) structure is complete, and they are on target for phased openings in 2025. On completion, the 2 hectare site will contain half a million square metres of floor space, including two hotels, a major
new theatre (thought to be London’s first in 45 years) and several levels of commercial workspace, plus a concert venue, a school, and F&B outlets. Crucially, it also introduces a new circulation at second floor level connecting the new buildings - a voluminous new public space that’s sheltered but benefiting from being open at all sides, and accessed from the street below via stairs and escalators. The existing Grand Hall, plus the smaller National Hall to the west of the site, are being gently restored and retained, as well as another 19th century building and a 20th century car park, the latter converted into one of the hotels. SPPARC and Heatherwick were initially both in the shortlist for this job, but the client reportedly couldn’t decide between them, and asked if they could work together, and return with joint design proposals. While SPPARC was lead architect on the planning and implementation stages, principal Trevor Morriss confirms that “they worked on everything together, which was amazing.” In practical terms, SPPARC were
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