Olympic Megastructure
Editors’ Choice
2020 Skyscraper Competition
Michal Gryko
United Kingdom
BACKGROUND
The Olympic events are not only known as the world’s principal sports competition but also as an opportunity as a host to showcase a nation’s legacy to the world. As the games are pushing further through to the 21st century all the enticing prestige associated with hosting such a mega-event has proved to be riddled with economic drains including spiraling costs and ghost facilities remaining in post-event times. From Seven modestly-sized venues of the first modern Olympics in 1896 to the 34 used in the last 2016 Olympics, the scaling of events and associated infrastructure and facilities has exponentially risen. Juxtaposing the renowned success of Barcelona’s rejuvenation in from the 1992 Olympics and the dilapidated state of the 2004 Olympic events the post-Olympic inhabitation should be a carefully integrated scheme and not a mere afterthought. What legacy does the hosting country wish to impart in the following decades?
Currently, with preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics moving to the final stages, the proposal takes the opportunity to deliberate the future form of the Olympics and uses for these megastructures using Japan as a case study. The brief takes a scenario with a twofold approach; first to the scale of the events and associated construction and second to the Olympic park’s second life.
CONCEPT: Condensing and adapting
The most expensive Summer Games were the London 2012 Games at USD 15 billion. The overrunning of budgets set for the bid to host the games is a common occurrence in most games. Since 1960, the average overrun is 156%, translating to 2.56 times higher than the original bid budget. Skepticism surrounding the long term benefits of investing in such mega-events, especially with no solid post-Olympic plans have a strong foundation. Short-lived economy boosts and local communities dispersed and neighboring ghost towns are causing the role of hosting to become ever more challenging.
Olympic stadiums often host a number of events including track and field sports. As each sport has specific facilitating requirements it is not possible to hold all events in one stadium. However, with this said, all sporting events hold one common body; the spectator. Seating and supporting facilities by far contribute to the largest portion of the Olympic mega-events. The new Olympic megastructure proposes the flexible design of a singular megastructure to house most spectator seating and associated infrastructure. Rising to 150 meters at its peak, the framework has a dual-sided and multi-level functionality to increase the density and efficiency of assisting the largest events ranging from the canoe slalom race to the Olympic track events. Situated from the city center to reduce congestion and outskirts of the city removing planning and plot purchasing complications, the Olympic megastructure brings all events and venues into one place with minimal disruption to city life during construction and during the events.
In addition to preparing for the Olympic events, Flexibility in post-Olympic use is just as crucial. With this said, certain post-Olympic uses and scenarios can be taken into consideration based on trends occurring in each hosting country. Taking the example of Japan two scenarios involving potential issues are explored; one of natural disaster preparation and one of an aging society. By designing the structure to be quickly adapted such as creating autonomous retirement communities or emergency disasters refuges such as floods and earthquakes, the Olympics’ legacy will continue through the contribution to society and people’s quality of life.
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