The Adaptive Reuse and Design of Cities to Host the Olympic Games,
Few cultural events have brought the world together like the Olympic Games,
as today athletes from all over the world continue to participate in a variety of competitions after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Olympic Games are the number one sporting competition in the world with the participation of more than 200 countries,
and in turn they raise the question of the role of architecture and design in the urban development of each host city.
Adaptive reuse and the ability to bring these spaces (and the resulting infrastructure) back to life during and after the Games
is the central thread in the discussion of the Olympics’ architectural and urban impact.
Why do cities avoid hosting the Olympics?
The Olympic Games directs the gaze of the world to one host city every two years,
showcasing the best that sport has to offer in both summer and winter events.
Amid a haze of relieved anticipation, the general hype across the city prior to the four-week period was palpable,
with tourists, media and athletes alike adding to the excitement.
The Adaptive Reuse and Design of Cities to Host the Olympic Games
And with an almost exclusively positive public response (the majority of Olympic bids were met with an approval of 70% or higher),
the Games became an opportunity for the nation to showcase its culture and all it has to offer.
London Olympic Stadium transformed into legacy mode
The legacy of the stadium designed for the residents of the 2012 London Olympics was a thorny issue,
and before it was completed, it was originally designed to be largely dismantled after matches.
Sudden interest in the futuristic stadium by local football teams led to a shift by the government,
which led to a brief revamp of a design that could be adapted to host football matches.
It has been described as a massive and costly engineering puzzle, entirely reconstructed for all intents and purposes.
List of complete projects for Beijing 2022 Olympics
The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games officially opened on February 4, 2022.
The Winter Olympics took a brave step by adding two snow areas at Zhangjiakou and Yanqing to the Beijing snow area,
creating an unprecedented three-zone system for the Winter Olympics.
He has led the Architectural Design and Research Institute of Tsinghua University (THAD),
the planning and architectural design of the entirety and all venues of Zhangjiakou District and Shougang Venue District in Beijing Region.
Since its inception in 1896, the modern Olympics have been viewed by the host cities as an opportunity to project a certain image to the world,
support large infrastructure projects, or quickly reveal redevelopment plans.
2016 Olympics Rio de Janeiro
The Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and the FIFA World Cup as well,
were a driving force for the city, so the word “legacy” associated with major global events was nothing new.
It is frequently used to refer to the Olympics and the World Cup,
and has appeared repeatedly in recent years when we look at the lasting effects of these events on host cities such as Barcelona (1992),
Athens (2004), Beijing (2008) and London (2012).
