London Olympic officials hailed the design of their 496 million
pounds 2012 Stadium as "cleverer solution" following its unveiling
on Wednesday.
The stadium, resembling a sunken bowl built into the ground on
completion, has a total of 80,000 seats with 55,000
demountable.
The project will begin ahead of schedule in April next year and
the stadium in Stratford, east London will be turned into a
25,000-seater community venue after the Olympics.
"No one can say we've compromised on design, on sustainability
or on the legacy potential," said Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell
MP.
"This is a very important Olympic milestone and this stadium is
focused very much on legacy and sustainability."
The stadium will stand at the heart of the Olympic Park and
building work on the facility will have to be finished at least six
months ahead of the opening ceremony in July 2012 to allow for test
event.
Twenty out of 33 buildings on the site have been demolished so
far and 600,000 tonnes of soil taken away in preparing the ground
for building.
Chief architect Rod Sheard believed the stadium would make a big
impact, but not in the same way that previous Olympic stadia
had.
"This is not a stadium that's going to be screaming from the
rooftops that it's bigger and more spectacular," he said. "This is
just a cleverer building. This is a cleverer solution."
He added that the ability to convert the stadium to a 25,000 one
once the Olympics and Paralympics had finished was highly
innovative and showed great forward thinking.
The ODA will be hoping for a positive response to the design of
the Olympic Stadium, which will host the opening and closing
ceremonies as well as the athletics events, following the criticism
that the official 2012 logo received in June.
The cost of its development, however, has rocketed in price from
the estimated 280 million quoted in 2004.
(Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2007)