Past Future of Sports

One of the most talked about buildings at this summer's Olympics is the aquatics center. Er... centre. (We're talking about London, after all.)

There's something all Olympic cities share in common. While the organizing body of the games requires each venue to have a minimum seating capacity, that number is often far greater than what's needed once the athletes have left town. As a result, the buildings left standing are normally much outsized for the everyday use of the locals. It's reasonable to think that a college swim meet will not draw the same crowds as the world's best swimmers, right?

To solve this, Zaha Hadid Architects designed the aquatics building with two detachable seating wings. Capacity at the center can reach 17,500 for the Olympics (top rendering), while afterward it will drop to a more intimate 2,500 by removing the wings. Once removed, the construction material for the wings will be recycled for future projects, and the void in the facade will be sealed with a glass wall (bottom rendering). To facilitate removal, the steel components of the wings are bolted, not welded, to the main structure.

Below is a section showing the building in its Olympic configuration: the removable wings are shaded yellow; the pool is blue.

Funny thing is, while the planners of the venue are soaking in praise for their innovation, their basic ideas were presaged by a half century: behold the Mechanized Stadium of the Future, circa 1958.