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conversations Can we talk about the architecture for the London 2012 Olympics?

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  1.  
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      CommentAuthornicko
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
     
    So, I was watching the news this morning and the BBC flashed up some impressions of the buidings / stadia etc. I've seen them before but only just really 'noticed' them (if you see what I mean).

    It made me think and I started to compare some of the images of stadia etc in Bejing for 2008 and what the UK will have for 2012. Ultimately I feel that these future constructions feel a little dull and a lot uninspired when, for example, you compare the bird's nest arena with:



    and



    Seems to me that the UK will be pioneers of the mediocre.

    Then finally, I thought I had heard somewhere that something like 70% of the constructions will be taken down and shipped to the host of the 2016 Olympics. However, I don't know how true this is. If it is, so much for a lasting legacy eh?

    OK, /rant. What do you guys think?
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      CommentAuthorchris
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
     
    i think that china spent $20billion on their olympics, and no democratic country could hope to spend that amount of it's tax payer's money on such a farce great event :)
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      CommentAuthorchris
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
     
    i remember watching a program about the benefits something like the olympics brings to a country. there are just as many "it does great things" as there were "it was our money, and we have nothing to show for it" arguments.
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      CommentAuthorzippie
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
     
    Isn't our budget £9 billion or there abouts? so its not far off china's... the difference is people here all want to take their cut and make money off it. The stadiums in design terms are pathetic.... people should be ashamed of themselves!!!!
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      CommentAuthornicko
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008 edited
     
    chris said...i remember watching a program about the benefits something like the olympics brings to a country. there are just as many "it does great things" as there were "it was our money, and we have nothing to show for it" arguments.


    But even so... the UK has many talented architects, does it really have to be like this?
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      CommentAuthorchris
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
     
    oh right, sorry - i lost track already. yes - architecture does look a little bland.
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      CommentAuthorchris
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
     
    the aquatic centre looks pretty awesome from t'outside, though, imo.
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      CommentAuthornicko
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
     
    Another angle of teh aquatics centre:



    Also, I love the way we seem determined to stick signs on everything.... "What year is it? oh yeah 2012. Where am I again?... etc"
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      CommentAuthorsquapple
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008 edited
     
    chris said...the aquatic centre looks pretty awesome from t'outside, though, imo.


    yeah, it does actually.


    I think that the people who will actually benefit from it all should pay for it. And not me !
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      CommentAuthornicko
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
     
    Well yeah, there's that argument too squapp. I live 20 miles from central London and I probably won't use it either
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      CommentAuthorsquapple
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008 edited
     
    I'm just sick of being on a wage which doesnt increase with inflation while inflation is increasing at a ridiculous rate, taxes are far far too much in this country as it is.

    sorry for the rant. Ive diverted from the subject of architecture a little !!
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      CommentAuthornicko
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
     
    OK, I'm liking the velodrome:

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      CommentAuthorzippie
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
     
    are these the final designs though? they're value reengineering the stadiums to reduce costs....
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      CommentAuthorchris
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
     
    where does the new wembley fit in to this?
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      CommentAuthorzippie
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
     
    it's just a stadium for footie... as it is...
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      CommentAuthorjamm
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
     
    The aquatics centre has been chopped down severely from what it was, it now looks imo cheap & shit. the velodrome is purely a rendering, probably won't be built like that cause it's "not to industry standard shapes, sorry". As for the main stadium, it's crap, but why build a nice stadium that's gonna lie and rot for the next 20 years? All these venues won't get used to the extent they would during the olympics so the government is reluctant to spend a vast amount of money on them....however while they deliberate, decide, don't decide, delay etc etc people get paid, "consultants" get paid, inflation kicks in, more people get paid to take into account all the other people getting paid, and the budget spirals.

    Another thing is that ultimately the back room organisation is crap and inexperienced. If they'd said originally that it would be 10 billion, fine, but the fact they thought they could do it for 4bil doesn't help anything, just makes them look stupid.

    Oh and Boris scrapped the 100 public spaces initiative which would have been awesome for central london...Parliament square car free... Asshole.
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      CommentAuthornicko
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
     
    lol at doing it for £4bn
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      CommentAuthorurbansurgeon
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008 edited
     
    [biased vested interest warning]the budget for china is way in excess of that and the london budget includes a heap load of non stadia construction

    the olympic budget (of which only a third is paid for by non-londer tax money - that said, that third is also contributed to by londoners) is going to clean up a blighted area which is vast and forever return it as a usable parkland within which are some world class structures.

    the velodrome, aquatic centre and the handball arena are all permanent. the main stadium is part permanent and part temporary. they will scale it down as it is unlikely that a 90,000 seater si necessary beyond the olympics.[/biased vested interest warning]

    main stadium is pretty dull mind ;)

    for all the xternal wow of the beijing aquatic centre, it was still a functional boring interior - its just wrapping really - who wants to blow the budget on wrapping?
  19.  
    the government's advice was never close to £4bn as it goes. thats what nuLab chose to announce
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      CommentAuthornicko
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
     
    I understand what you're saying about the wrapping. I just wish that a lot of what we're seeing for 2012 was a bit more... adventurous?
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      CommentAuthormeska
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
     
    I can see the 2012 Olympics being a right fuck up, from the budget allocation, finance and timings to the design and building work, right up to the piss poor transport improvements. It started with the logo, and its all going downhill.

    ( Hi all back from Honeymoon Pt2 :) )
  22.  
    im a little more optomistic but then i get to see a lot of the work on the drawing board
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      CommentAuthorchris
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
     
    every olympics looks like it's going to e a shambles right up until the opening ceremony, and then everyone loves it.
    • CommentAuthorBiff
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008 edited
     
    Does the velodrome fit in a pringles can?

    Oh, somebody call Sarajevo and ask them how they did post-olympics.
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      CommentAuthorjamm
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
     
    i have to say though, that 8minute preview of the london olympics looked world class... big red bus and all.

  26.  
    naff as a bastard
  27.  
    this is why they are lacklustre

    other nations throw cash at projects as national pride is invaluable - in britain there is just mastercard
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      CommentAuthorjamm
    • CommentTimeAug 29th 2008
     
    like i said, yet more consultants getting their cut cause of poor initial organisation.
  29.  
    I like the aquatic centre. I wasn't that keen on the one in Beijing, bit meh. But the Birds Nest was amazing.
    My lad thought the aquatic centre was the venodrome because it looks a bit like a bike helmet.

    For the opening ceremony I reckon it's going to be a massive maypole and hundreds of Morris Dancers. Cheap and naff. Just like London. :tongue:

    It is surprising that we do have loads of great architects, artists(literal and intelectual)(Sp?) and we somehow always mange to make a mess of things...

    "Don't go to London, guarantee you'll either be mugged or not appreciated."

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