The London Aquatics Centre will open to the public on 01 March 2014 offering swimming and diving lessons to all ages and abilities, as well as a variety of fitness and family sessions,  water polo, synchronised swimming, diving, triathlon, sub aqua, gym and dry diving facilities.

Glazing along either side of the Aquatics Centre has replaced the temporary stands used during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

With a 2,500-seat capacity for spectators, the Aquatics Centre will continue to host national and international events including the FINA/NVC 2014 World Diving Series and 2016 European Swimming Championships.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: ‘After a post-Olympic makeover, London’s majestic aquatics centre is now flinging open its doors for everyone to enjoy, whether an elite athlete or enthusiastic amateur. All of the world class sporting venues on the magnificent Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park have secured bright, futures, dispelling fears of white elephants and helping to drive our ambitious regeneration plans for east London.’

Design Concept
The architectural concept of the London Aquatics Centre is inspired by the fluid geometry of water in motion, creating spaces and a surrounding environment in sympathy with the river landscape of the Olympic Park. An undulating roof sweeps up from the ground as a wave - enclosing the pools of the Centre with its unifyinggesture of fluidity, whilst also describing the volume of the swimming and diving pools.The London Aquatics Centre is designed tohave the flexibility to accommodate the size and capacity of the London 2012 Olympic Games whilst also providing the optimum size and capacity for use in Legacy mode after the 2012 Games.

main diving and swimming event pools

Site Context
The London Aquatics Centre is located at the south eastern edge of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on the new Stratford City Bridge giving pedestrian access to the park from the new Stratford City development and public transportation.

olympic pools, diving platforms and stands

Layout
The Aquatics Centre is planned on an orthogonal axis perpendicular to the Stratford City Bridge. Along thisaxis are laid out the three pools. The training pool is located under the bridge whilstthe competition and diving pools are within a large volumetric pool hall. The overall strategy is to frame the base of the pool hall as a podium by surrounding it and connecting it into the bridge.

diving pool

This podium element allows for the containment of a variety of differentiated and cellular programmatic elements into a single architectural volume which is seen to be completely assimilated with the bridge and the landscape. The podium emerges from the bridge to cascade around the pool hall to the lower level of the canal.

diving platforms

The pool hall is expressed above the podium level by a large roof which arches along the same axis as the pools.Its form is generated by the sightlines for the spectators during the Olympic mode.Double-curvature geometry has been used to create a structure of parabolic arches that define its form. The roof undulates to differentiate the volumes of the competition and diving pools, and extends beyond thepool hall envelope to cover the external areas of the podium and entrance on the bridge.

holding area behind the platforms

The roof structure is grounded at three points of the centre (two points at thenorthwest end on the bridge; and one single point to the south east end). This structural arrangement ensured 7,500 temporary spectator seats could be installed along either side of the pools in Olympic mode (total 15,000 temporary seats) with no structural obstructions. After the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, this temporary seating has been removed and replaced with glazing panels, leaving a capacity of 2,500 seats for community use and future national/international events,with a significantly reduced pool hall volume.

view of pool and stands between the platform bases

view from platforms

glass enclosure viewing diving platforms

stairs

training pool

all images © hufton + crow

Project Facts

Design
Zaha Hadid Architects

Project Director
Jim Heverin

Project Architect
Glenn Moorley
Sara Klomps
Project Team
Alex Bilton
Alex Marcoulides
Barbara Bochnak
Carlos Garijo
Clay Shorthall
Ertu Erbay
George King
Giorgia Cannici
Hannes Schafelner
Hee Seung Lee
Kasia Townend
Nannette Jackowski
Nicolas Gdalewitch
Seth Handley
Thomas Soo
Tom Locke
Torsten Broeder
Tristan Job
Yamac Korfali
Yeena Yoon

Project Team (Competition)
Saffet Kaya Bekiroglu (Project
Architect)

Agnes Koltay
Feng Chen
Gemma Douglas
Kakakrai Suthadarat
Karim Muallem
Marco Vanucci
Mariana Ibanez
Sujit Nair

Sports Architects
S+P Architects
(London)

Structural Engineer
Ove Arup & Partners
(London, Newcastle)

Services
Ove Arup & Partners
(London)

Fire Safety
Arup Fire (London)

Acoustics
Arup Acoustics
(London)

Façade Engineers
Robert-Jan Van Santen
Associates (Lille)

Lighting Design
Arup Lighting
(London)

Kitchen Design
Winton Nightingale
(London)

Maintenance Access
Reef (London)

Temporary Construction
Edwin Shirley Staging
(London)

Security Consultant
Arup Security
(London)

AV + IT Consultants
Mark Johnson Consultants
(London)

Access Consultants
Access = Design
(London)

CDM Co-ordinator
Total CDM Solutions
(Cardigan)

BREEAM Consultant
Southfacing (London)

Quantity Surveyor
& Project Manager
CLM

Contractors
Main contractor
Balfour Beatty (UK)
Timber sub-contractor
Finnforest Merk GmbH
Concrete sub-contractor
Morrisroe

Size/Area
Site Area 36,875 m2

Total Floor Area
(Legacy Mode)
Basement 3,725 m2
Ground Floor 15,137 m2
First Floor 10,168 m2
(Olympic Mode)
Basement 3,725 m2
Ground Floor 15,402 m2
First Floor 16,387 m2
Seating Area 7,352 m2

Footprint Area
Legacy Mode 15,950 m2
Olympic Mode 21,897 m2

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