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Creative approach to facilities: Are temporary structures the way forward?
The first of four blogs from TiLEzone London 2013
A Different View attended the 8th TiLEzone conference at London Transport Museum in March. With an impressive list of guest speakers the conference focused on lessons learnt from the London Olympics, the importance of personalising visitor experiences and emerging opportunities in the Far East. This is the first in a series of four blogs where we share some of our insights from our visit to TiLEzone.One of the interesting lessons emerging from the London Olympic Games was the striking and effective use of temporary buildings. Unlike previous Olympics, a conscious decision was made to build permanent facilities only where a legacy was required. The masterplan therefore included a mix of new, existing and temporary facilities – no less than 50% of the structures built for the Games were temporary, creating opportunities for real innovation and creativity in how events were staged and presented.
For the beach volleyball events, a temporary 15,000 seat stadium and supporting athletes’ and press facilities was built in Horseguards Parade. Despite the sensitive heritage setting, an amazing ‘overlay’ facility was created in just 35 days and then removed without trace and 95% recycled!
Adam Wildi, of the site’s creators Arena Group, argues that temporary buildings might be the way forward not only for sporting venues but also for cultural facilities. He cited the extraordinary Mobile Art Contemporary Art Container, a sculptural exhibition/events space created for Chanel by Zaha Hadid (also designer of the Aquatics Centre at the Olympic Park). The building was clad in flexible and translucent ETFE, a material also used in the biodomes at the Eden Project, covered swimming pools at Centre Parcs and many other iconic buildings worldwide. Looking like a spaceship had landed in Central Park during its New York visit, Chanel’s 700m2 structure cost £17 million – a significant sum but much less than had it been designed as a permanent structure.
With a reported life-span of up to 10 years, lower build costs and fewer planning constraints, could temporary structures be a potential alternative for major capital build projects of the future?
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