Stadiums are large and built to hold some weight, but the 2012 Olympics in London have changed the game! The Olympic Stadium is still massive and able to house thousands, but will mostly be made out of recycled material with a limited amount of steel. With so much attention focused on the health of the environment the Olympic Stadium is bound to have many fans.
Process of making the 2012 Olympic Stadium Green
The site that the Olympic Stadium now sits on was once contaminated soil with useless buildings on it. In order to cut costs and make the Olympic Stadium and other structures more "green", they used metal from the demolished buildings. This in turn reduced waste and kept from piling an excessive amount of trash into a landfill. The contaminated soil under the stadium was even cleaned and reused to add to the sustainability.
Olympic Stadium Green Facts
Given there is a shortage in steel, the Olympic Stadium is 75 percent lighter than comparable buildings, but what helps make it the most sustainable Olympic stadium is its use of concrete made from industrial waste. It contains 40 percent less carbon. Cutting even more steel from the building plans was the bowl like design that has the Olympic Stadium sitting within a bowl in the ground. As if it wasn't sustainable enough, the Olympic Stadium built the top ring out of unwanted gas pipes. Guarding the entrance is granite from King George V docks. Even the lumber used in construction came from companies that believed in sustainability.
Stadium Details
The "green" Olympic Stadium is built to hold 25,000 permanent seats in its lower tier and 55,000 temporary lightweight seating in its top tier. London's Olympic Stadium is the first to hold a combination of temporary and permanent seats of that magnitude. On the outside is a wrap that is over 57,000 square feet. Since the building is considerable "green", the energy source was designed to follow suit. Power to the Olympic Stadium will come from an energy center that uses biomass boilers resulting in low carbon emission. The Combined Cooling Heat & Power (CCHP) plant will use left-over heat making it 30 percent more efficient than other methods.
There is no question the 2012 Olympics in London will be the most sustainable yet with a small carbon footprint.
There are no comments yet