Sustainable Wave as a Legacy to London from the 2012 Olympics

Abstract

The Olympic Games are an intercultural huge event that usually leaves the city with megaprojects and related huge debts for their constructions after the Games. However London and environment conscious Londoners started the Olympic bid with the intention to leave a legacy to the city and thus earned the right to host the 2012 Olympics. Their Olympic proposal had sustainability in the forefront, prominently featuring the rehabilitation of a former industrial zone in the east side of the city. The Aquatic Centre is one the buildings that lie at the heart of the aforementioned olympic park. Its architect, Zaha Hadid, designed its main form inspired by a wave that is able to transform, meaning while the Aquatic Centre was designed to have the necessary 17,500 seating capacity for the Olympics, later it would transform into 2,500 seats for public everyday use. The aim of this paper is to examine and learn from the outlook of the Aquatic Centre to its environment, raw materials, natural resources and workforce involvement during its life cycle. In this context, the phases of its inception, construction period, shining in the Olympics and eventually becoming a part of the community as a legacy are examined according to sustainability so that learning from the story of this iconic sports building would be possible. The identification and implementation of performance improving strategies in this project points to many areas, in which the stakeholders can work together in various phases of the building to bring sustainable construction knowhow to the future generations.

Keywords: Sustainability, Stakeholder, Innovative materials, Aquatic centre, Transformation