Project: London Olympic Pavilion
Designed by OH!SOM Architects
Location: London, United Kingdom
Website: www.ac-ca.org & www.architizer.com
With Olympic games in London less than 3 months away we are revisiting the much talked about London Olympic Pavilion competition hosted by AC-CA featuring a project by OH!SOM Architects taking the 2nd prize.
From the Architects:
A challenge comes up to us : Inventing the 2012 London’s Olympic games pavilion.
This pavilion has to be attractive to the crowd. It has to bring people together and be an entertainment field during the games. It has to stay connected to the competitions even if it’s geographically distant from it. That’s why there is no doubt that this pavilion has to be seen while offering every visitor the opportunity to « see » the games and be informed.
THE ENTIRE TRAFALGAR SQUARE IS THE PAVILION. The pavilion has been kept to its minimal aspect : 2 boxes made of polycarbonate and steel structure which are wrapping the program as a jewel case.
But the whole Trafalgar Square becomes the pavilion. As if itwas overwhelmed by the games.The square will be colonized by a balloons canopy.
AFTER THE OLYMPIC GAMES’S RINGS, HERE ARE THE OLYMPIC GAMES’S BALLOONS. The balloons will be made of a recycled and recyclable plastic which is usually used to produce drinking plastic bottles : the PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) It is probably one of the most commontly recycled material and it is easily available.
Beyond the poetic aspect of the balloons ,that their shape is for sure connected to sports, the balloons will enhance the square with multiple functions during the games.
There will be several types of balloons with different characteristics :
· Some of them will use day light to produce some lighting at night.
· Some other ones will use solar energy to play some music.
· Some balloons will have a very important biological characteristic: the ability to absorbe CO² and reject O² instead, which will produce a cleanner air.
· Other ones will be used as screens, showing the games
· One of them is the giant balloon screen on which the most important live competitions will be shown. The national team for example !
PAVILION SPACE’S FUNCTIONNING. The multipicity of those balloons will allow to show different competitions at the same time. That is why we created four entrances on the pavilion site. They will all be showing different moments of the Olympic Games and the visitors will be able to interact with what they are most interested in, and to easily swap from a sector to another.
TO DISAPPEAR,… OR LETTING A TRAIL BEHIND? The repetition of this shape is also a recall of the solar system and to humanity sharing universe, and sharing the same interest in « sports ».
We can imagine a huge drop of a part of these balloons on the Olympic games closure’s day as a signal. We will also propose to keep a part of those after the games, as public light ones or air recycling ones.
We dream about a temporary and lucrative intervention, that will evolve according to the games, and according to user’s interventions with it. We dream about its interactivity with the city creating events like ballon drops, or letting a trail behind like permanent public lightening and air cleaning systems.
