Continuing the Olympic theme

Perhaps the least arduous of our Olympic adventures this morning.  We rolled out of bed at 5.30 to head to the end of the road to see the flame off after spending the night in the council house.  

We were expecting a few people to have made the effort (it was very early) but were surprised to be greeted by around 1500 people at college green all excited and jostling for what they hoped would be a great photo opp.

5.59 came and a cheer arose from the crowd as the torch was lit.  We followed the trail of the flame as it bobbed its way towards us, then, lots of smiling, waving, cheering as it passed.

Then it was gone.. and the crowd dispersed, off to tell their stories, send their tweets (guilty) and post their blogs (also guilty).  

The Olympic train passes my office in another hour or so, but the gym is calling louder along with Kms 1996 to 2011(.5).  The end is well & truly in sight.

A longer post to come, but...

Using Ciclovia to Plan Your Streets « Project for Public Spaces

Ciclovia looks like an interesting way of promoting change in cities away from car use... Try it, cheaply, see if it works... Would like to see Britain's first cycling city try it out.

Clunky side extensions to the aquatic centre

My earlier post refers.
:-)

Olympic Pool

Much as I would like this to be about a titanic pool table, it is a quick post with a couple of images from our trip to the Zaha Hadid designed aquatics centre for London 2012.

The pool exceeded my expectations, which were admittedly low, in that it created a good environment for swimmers and spectators.

Despite the quite clunky nature of the extensions, it looks likely that the visuals for the main events have been compromised for the legacy set up (or is that better for sustainability?!). But I think, on reflection, that is a good thing in an attempt to avoid the white elephant status of the water cube in Beijing for which they are struggling to find uses.

It became clear once inside what the plan was for the legacy mode, and hopefully it will work well as a regular pool. Images to follow.

There were 4 primary materials visible: concrete, glass, stainless steel, and a bit if timber (if you look really hard!).  It's a tried & tested combination which seems to work well at the moment.  We'll have to wait and see whether it ages well. I have concerns over the steel!

The roof form inside is quite wavy, it will be interesting to see how it affects the sounds the swimmers hear.. You get the sense that it might focus things on them, heightening awareness of the crowd.

The diving boards reminded me of water spouts, which is appropriate I suppose, and I think they will be a focus for images during the games.

As I so often am with new Architecture, I was left with the question "how on earth are they going to dust that?!"

catch up....

Well, time has flown since we went to the Olympic stadium, we managed to clock up 2,100 miles driving to the south of France and back again, and had a great time eating bread, cheese & wine. And yes, we had boursin too.

The Olympic stadium was an interesting experience - the outside area is definitely coming together with the landscaping scheme - the abundance of water on the site makes a huge difference.  The stadium itself was interesting when we compared it to the Bird's Nest in Beijing.  The former was very much a multi-purpose venue - it was for the Olympics, but it was also sending a message to the world.  China had arrived.  London is very much a venue, functional and reasonably attractive from the outside.  Views on the inside were good, and when we visited, we were able to circumnavigate the arena (mostly - there was still some building work going on) which gave you the opportunity to see all the areas of the arena, and therefore, various sports, depending on your seat.  So from a spectator point of view, it should be a good venue.

I'll post some more pictures once I locate the lead to get the photos off the camera!

The weeks in the run up to the road trip were quite busy at work and home, and so the 2012 challenge, which is what this is all about after all, has taken a bit a back seat.  My average has dropped quite a bit, but I'm still at around 100/week which will keep me on track for 20.12 weeks.  However, with an impending silly period at work, coupled with the swimming leg of a triathlon relay coming up, I've decided to defer my completion until May 25th, finishing the distance with a 750m swim at the rowing venue for the Olympics.  It's also been rather helpful as I've realised how quickly muscle mass disappears when not being used - it's been tough getting back into it!

Next weekend sees us visit the Olympic site for the last time before the games to see the aquatics centre, which still looks a bit odd - the entrance - or rather where the entrance should be - is a classic piece of hadid handiwork, with doors on an angle disorientating the user.  The first time I went into an Hadid building at Vitra, I actually felt a bit queasy!

Anyhow - my spreadsheet tells me I have completed 1550km to date, so on my journey to Rome from Bristol, I have just reached the coast at Genoa - Rome is in sight!!!

Et bonjour provence

:-)

First images

Nice sunny day!