The London olympics start next year and we are finally getting to see some of the new facilities. One of the more unusual looking buildings is the Basketball arena which seems to take influence from origami, accordions, and a balloon. It has a striking resemblance to inflated buildings like the recently collapsed Metrodome and those winter driving ranges you see around here, but in fact it is made of steel and stretchable PVC (that exists!?!). While it's no bird's nest of Beijing, it certainly stands out, and the cool part about it is that it is meant to be completely disposable. One of the biggest problems for Olympic host cities is finding out what to do with the hugemongous buildings left over after the games, many of which go bankrupt and fall into disrepair. London seems to have gotten the message and plans to tear the entire building down and redistribute materials to other building projects around the city. Pretty smart if you ask me. There's nothing dumber than to have a 60,000 seat arena built for a month long event with no plans for what it will be used afterwards.
So ya, they may have lost some designing and aesthetic opportunity with the disposability of the materials, but it still has a very interesting appearance, while keeping the ability to help the environment. And you have to give the Brits props for creating what has to be the largest pop-up tent ever constructed.
p.s. - the insides kinda cool too.
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