The Architecture of the City

With its red running tracks surrounded by black and white seats and floodlights stretching above the roof, London’s elliptically shaped Olympic Stadium resembles many other sporting venues.

But the building’s principal designer, Philip Johnson, believes it will lead a global movement towards sustainable architecture.

Mostly lightweight steel was used in the construction, the roof is made of PVC and the stadium boasts a fabric curtain, designed to minimize crosswinds. Moreover, the water collected from the roof is used to flush the toilets, while the earth embankments that surround the stadium protect the biodiversity of the site by encouraging plants to grow.

“We want to use as little material as possible,” said Johnson, of the architectural consultancy, Populous, which is headquartered in the US city of Kansas, but has offices around the world, including one in the British capital...

Via Lauren Moss

A consortium led by Australia’s LAVA has won an international competition to design a national stadium and sports village in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Its concept blends traditional Ethiopian architectural and construction practices with new technology to create a modern piece of infrastructure.

The team was selected by Ethiopia's Federal Sport Commission (FSC), which wants to replace the current 25,000-seat national stadium with a 60,000-seat stadium and related sports facilities. FSC wants to begin construction in 2014.

Traditional Ethiopian architecture includes examples of excavated historical structures, including ancient rock churches as well as dwellings and cisterns. The team's concept, which includes a sunken arena surrounded by grandstands formed from excavated material, captures elements of those traditional treatments in the stadium’s design...

Via Lauren Moss