Years of intensive engineering and architectural design are attributed to some of the breath-taking structures erected for the London 2012 Olympics.
Now the firms and individuals, who helped to shape a lifelong legacy in aid of the 2012 games, have been celebrated in a short film aptly named ‘Designing for Champions’.
The new film was spawned from the original campaign in early 2012 to lift the ban on rules for firms who were not allowed to promote the work that contributed to the incredible success of the London 2012 Olympics.
The campaign emphasised the frustration within the industry by those left ‘gagged’ by the barriers holding back this tremendous opportunity to showcase their contribution. The Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE), the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), and New London Architecture joined the cause and took action in the summer of 2012, initiating a ‘DROPTHEBAN’ protest at RIBA headquarters and commissioning the film as a way to advocate many of the Games’ unsung heroes.
The film’s premier will be held at this year’s Ecobuild event in London at 11am on Tuesday 5 March. The 8 minute short film will also feature at the international property event MIPIN in Cannes at Tuesday 12 March at 4pm, a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the very best of British building to the international community.
‘Designing for Champions’ was mainly shot on location in September 2012 at the Olympic Park during the Paralympic games. It highlights five temporary and permanent buildings and interviews the architects and structural engineers including:
• The Cauldron by Thomas Heatherwick
• The Beatbox with Paul Scott, engineer of AKTII structural engineers and architect Asif Khan
• The Acoustic Stage with architect Jason Flanagan of BFLS Soundform
• The Basketball Arena with Matthew Ace of Fenton Holloway Engineers and Jim Eyre of Wilkinson Eyre Architects
• The London 2012 Velodrome with Andrew Weir of Expedition Engineering and Mike Taylor of Hopkins Architects.
This film is a snapshot of the 52 interviews recorded which the campaigning trio hope to feature in a 1 hour documentary to include the transformation of the Olympic Park into legacy mode.
Speaking about the film, Institution immediate past President, Professor John Nolan declared: “While I am thrilled that we have been able to work with LOCOG to film on the Olympic Park site, it is dismaying that the marketing ban preventing structural engineers and architects from promoting their work was only lifted recently by the government, a whole six months after the Olympics started.”
