Aquatic Centre
Subscribe now to instantly view this image
Subscribe to the Architects’ Journal (AJ) for instant access to the AJ Buildings Library, an online database of nearly 2,000 exemplar buildings in photographs, plans, elevations and details.
Already a subscriber? Sign in
Hufton + Crow (website) Download Original
Olympic swimming venue with a flexible seating arrangement designed to accommodate 17,500 spectators during the games, with a reduced capacity of 2,000 in legacy mode
Positioned at the south-eastern edge of the Olympic Park, close to Stratford, the centre is located next to a new east-west pedestrian bridge, which passes directly over the centre and acts as a primary gateway to the park.
All three pools (a 50-metre competition pool, a 25-metre diving pool and a 50-metre training pool) are aligned on an axis that is perpendicular to the Stratford City Bridge. The training pool is located under the bridge, with the competition and diving pools located within the pool hall enclosed by the roof.
The pool hall is expressed above the podium by a large roof, which arches along the same axis as the pools. Its form is generated by the sightlines of the 17,500 spectators in its Olympic mode.
Projecting beyond the pool hall envelope the roof extends to the external areas and to the main entrance on the bridge that will be the primary access in legacy mode.
Structurally, the roof is grounded at three primary positions with the opening between the roof and podium used for the additional spectator seating in Olympic mode, then in-filled with a glass façade in legacy mode.
Data
- Begun: 2008
- Completed: Jul 2011
- Floor area: 42,866m2
- Sector: Sports and leisure
- Total cost: £268M
- Address: Olympic Park, Stratford, London, E15, United Kingdom
Professional Team 
- Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects
- Project architects: Glenn Moorley, Sara Klomps
- Client: Olympic Delivery Authority
- Structural engineer: Arup
- Services engineer: Arup
- Fire consultant: Arup Fire
- Acoustic consultant: Arup Acoustics
- Facade engineer: Robert-Jan Van Santen Associates
- Lighting design: Arup Lighting
- Kitchen design: Winton Nightingale
- Maintenance access: Reef
- Security consultant: Arup Security
- IT Consultant: Mark Johnson Consultants
- Access consultant: Access = Design
- BREEAM consultant: Arup
- CDM coordinator: Total CDM Solutions
- Sports architect: S&P Architects
Suppliers
- Fabric cladding: Architen Landrell