Convertible Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympic Summer Games
Ideas competition, 2004
with Andreas Pippig
Within the existing master plan for the olympic sport facilities, a new location was found for the aquatics centre
on the shores of a flood basin in the centre of Leipzig.
Right from the start there was a big emphasis on the much longer post-olympic use. After the games the stadium should serve as a swimming bath, combined with spa and wellness areas, and should host only minor sport events.
To be up to this challange, the aquatics centre feature a convertible hull. During the Olympic Games, the hull opens on the entrance levels and guides the spectators into the stadium to their seats.
After the games, parts of the stands and seats will be removed, and the training pools will be transformed into baths and spa.
A spatial sequence is created, leading the visitor from the entrance level to the locker rooms, then to the main pool, and through the spa to the sunbathing area outside the stadium, next to the flood basin.
The hull will be opened parallel to this sequence, thus enhancing this spatial qualitiy, and transform the stadium into an open air swimming bath.
Like this, the hull gurantees perfect conditions for the games, as well as an attractive post olympic use..
The construction spans aprox. 100m and consists of pairs of trussed beams, which underline the movement
of the visitor from the land side to the water side of the stadium.
Its form and shape do not distinguish between wall and roof, the view out of the opened hull is not disturbed by such elements.Â
The convertible elements a huge pneu pillows, filled with air. To open the hull, they are emptied, and the pillows are moved and stored inside the hull.
