Basketball Arena (London)
The Marshmallow[ GL events Slick Seating | |
Tenants | |
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2012 Summer Olympics 2012 Summer Paralympics |
The Basketball Arena for the
History
London's Olympic bid proposed that there would be four arenas in the Olympic Park, but the revised masterplan published in 2006 reduced this to three, with the
The Basketball Arena had 12,000 seats for Olympic basketball and the semi-finals and finals of Olympic handball, and 10,000 for
In early October 2008 it was speculated that Wembley Arena could be used as a replacement venue for the preliminary rounds of the 2012 Olympic basketball tournament instead of the Basketball Arena, thus saving up to £90 million, but in March 2009 it was confirmed that a new arena would be built in Stratford as originally proposed.
In late October 2009, preparatory work had begun on the site and
Sustainability was an important concern. The arena was made out of sturdy individual components that could be easily dismantled and sub-divided for reuse elsewhere, with over two-thirds of the materials and components to be recyclable.[5]
The test event for the arena was the London International Basketball Invitational competition, which took place between 16 and 21 August 2011. For the test event, the venue had a capacity of 3,000.[6]
Construction
Instead of using a concrete sub-structure, a lightweight
The architects worked with United Visual Artists (specialists in concert lighting and installations) to create lighting and colour-changing effects for the evening games. The result was a dynamic illumination which, at night, transforms the white surface into a variety of saturated colours and strong silhouettes of the steel frame, creating the biggest light installation on the Olympic park.[5]
The arena was constructed with materials that could be recycled efficiently. The arena was officially put up for sale on 20 January 2013 by GL events Slick Seating.[7]
An agreement was made with
References
- ^ "London unveils Olympic masterplan". BBC News. 7 June 2006. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
- ^ a b "Construction starts on 2012 Basketball Arena | October 2009". Builder & Engineer. Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
- ^ "Rio descarta usar ginásio de Londres nos Jogos de 2016". Gazeta do Povo (in Portuguese). 26 June 2012. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
- ^ "Work completed on basketball arena for London 2012". BusinessWeek. 9 June 2011. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
- ^ a b c "London 2012 Basketball Arena / Wilkinson Eyre Architects". HuffPost. 24 July 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
- ^ "Spectators get first taste of action at Olympic Park". BBC News. BBC. 16 August 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
- ^ Mackay, Duncan (20 January 2013). "For sale: One Olympic Basketball Arena, hardly used". Inside the Games. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
External links
Media related to Basketball Arena (London) at Wikimedia Commons
- London 2012 Olympics profile Archived 16 December 2012 at archive.today