London Olympic Stadium

LONDON OLYMPIC STADIUM
Client: ODA, Olympic Delivery Authority

Architect: Populous
Seats: 25,000 permanent and 55,000 temporary places
Dimensions: 310 x 260 m
Stadium height: 62.7 m
Pre-cast units in stadium bowl: 8,000
Roof area: 24,500 m²
Length of cable in roof: 6,000 m
Weight of steel construction: 10,000 t
Stadium entrances: 56
BRIEF:
 The London 2012 Olympic Stadium forms the centre piece of the largest new park created
in Europe for a century. Designed with an 80,000 capacity for the Olympic and Paralympic
Games, the Stadium is designed such that it can be dismantled down to a 25,000 capacity
venue if required for its longer term use.
 Due to the compact design, the team reused existing materials, for example, the
Compression Truss to the roof was constructed by using 4000 tonnes of unwanted gas
pipeline found in a yard in Yorkshire.
 The permanent building services installation has been designed to exacting standards for
limiting carbon emissions during operation.
 Sustainability played a huge part in informing the Stadium’s design and construction
STEELWORKS AND MATERIALS

 The whole of the roof structure and part of the area structure were to be made with steel
framework, in an attempt to be more sustainable the steel was sourced from Yorkshire
where they had a large quantity of unused steel. Using this steel means they did not have
to have to get any steel made specifically, which is time and energy consuming.
 A lightweight demountable steelwork design consisting of trussed rakers on raking columns

was used, which helped reduced the footprint and minimised the impact on the spectator
circulation areas below the terracing. The roof consists of a 900m long ring truss supported
on a series of inclined tubular columns.
 As the lower part of the stadium was to be permanent and the top part temporary, the lower
levels were made from concrete while the top layers steel.
 About 34% of the steel and concrete in the stadium are recycled. It has been built using
less than half the steel of comparable stadia, reducing its environmental impact and making
it the lightest Olympic stadium constructed to date.

CONSTRUCTION
Materials that will be used:
• Roof : steel structure, compression truss, diagonals stop the whole thing rotating with fabric
stretched between
• Translucent fabric on the roofing.
• Concrete at the lower levels
UPPER AND LOWER TIERS

The final design meant the lower tiers were sunk into the ground and to keep the upper tiers as
simple as possible. The triangular structures above the tiers are the lights that will be used during
the games.
Lower tier:
The lower tier was constructed of low carbon conrete with over 4,500 reinforced concrete columns
on piles. All the seating is fixed to the pre cast concrete. In terms of other uses at this level, there
are 700 rooms builnt into this level for athletes, media, medical services etc.
Upper tier:
The whole seating structure on this level is temporary and is known to have a tendancy to move a
lot with the motion of the crowd. There are 55,000 seats in the upper tier which is supported by an
array of 112 steel rakers. Beneath the steelwork is functional and made up of I-sections bolted
together with all the connections unashamedly on show.
Roof:
The roof is designed around a bicycle wheel with a rim in compression which connects to a central
hub via tension membersand uses more detailed structures. The steelwork connections for the
roof and upper tier were bolted together with gusset plates or 50mm flanges where one tube joins
another lengthways. (notes and images from Phil Johnson lecture notes)
A diagram showing an exploded axonometric of the stadium and showing the structure of the
layers and tiers
Final design
The final design will feauture:
• Making the upper temporary tiers as simple as possible, used layers to create the building
• Cross sections : Lower tier sunk into the ground, steel construction and bicycle wheel type roof,
lights must be really high upon towers for tv etc

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LONDON OLYMPIC STADIUM

Client: ODA, Olympic Delivery Authority

STEELWORKS AND MATERIALS

 A lightweight demountable steelwork design consisting of trussed rakers on raking columns

UPPER AND LOWER TIERS

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