Designing for the Olympics

Lawrence Nield of Bligh Voller Nield Architects, will talk on Olympic Designs and his experience in planning and design for the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympics at in Canberra on 18 November 2007. There is also an exhibition Olympic Cities: Designing for Winning at the same venue until 17 February 2008 and a display of winning entries in a design competition for a The Athletic Village: Designs to Combat Obesity. This is part of the Unviersity of Canberra's Canberra Biennial: Winning by Design: Designing for Sport in 21C.

For my more modest contribution to Olympic design, see: Making an Accessible and Functional Website for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Official Website Preliminary Strategy Plan Symposium, Beijing, November 2003.

Olympic designs Sunday 18 November

conjunction with the Canberra Biennial exhibition Olympic cities: Designing for Winning, Lawrence Nield — principal of Bligh Voller Nield architects, urban designer and distinguished sports architect, will share his experience and expertise in Olympic planning and design in Sydney, Athens and Beijing.

His designs have won numerous awards, including the RAIA Sir Zelman Cowan Award for Public Buildings in 1997 for his work on the University of the Sunshine Coast Library and the Sir John Sulman Medallion for the Sydney Olympic Tennis Centre.

Free after entry 2.00pm–3.00pm

From: What's On, Old Parliament House, King George Terrace, Parkes, Canberra

Olympic Cities: Designing for Winning

“Olympic Games are about contest, spectacle and cities. Design is therefore not flags and bunting, not expensive over-elaboration, but the necessary ordering of size and significance to give an appropriate, characteristic and memorable background to the world’s biggest peacetime event.” Lawrence Nield

A must see for Olympic planners and anyone interested in the effect on cities that hallmark events like the Olympics cause. The focus of the exhibition is Australia’s premier mind in the field of planning for Olympics, Lawrence Nield.

Lawrence shares his experience working on various aspects of the bids for the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympics. The Barcelona Olympics will be included to show a major shift in Olympic planning and London will be featured as a summary of Olympic thinking to date.

9 November 2007 to 17 February 2008 9am – 5pm
Old Parliament House, King George Terrace, Parkes, Canberra, ACT
Admission to the exhibition is free after admission to Old Parliament House of $2 Adult, $1 Child or $5 Family.

The Athletic Village: Designs to Combat Obesity

Design and architecture students from around Australia have entered the Biennial’s Athletic Village Design Ideas Competition. The competition called for students to:
- Explore the impact of design on obesity.
- Encourage innovation and design excellence.
- Explore multidisciplinary design solutions which encourage collaboration in particular between the fields of design and health.
- Stimulate debate regarding the capacity of design to improve public health outcomes.

The Athletic Village Design Ideas Competition recognises that obesity is a critical issue affecting millions of people around the world. It affects not only individuals, but societies as a whole, placing an increasing burden on health and financial systems through secondary diseases, conditions and their costs. The Athletic Village Design Ideas Competition also recognises that the causes of obesity are many, complex, and often interrelated.

Some of these causes are directly related to the built environment, and many others are the indirect result of design issues from architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, interior design, to the proliferation of home cinemas. Despite the broad influences affecting societal obesity, design arguably presents a key opportunity with respect to rebalancing societies’ long-held attitudes, priorities and needs to attain a more cohesive, fulfilled and sustainable lifestyle. In particular, design has the potential to foster, promote and develop more active lifestyles for people of all ages. While design alone cannot solve the obesity epidemic, it has a critical role to play in addressing some of the triggers and causes. ...

All entries will be displayed at the Olympic Cities: Designing for Winning exhibition at Old Parliament House and online. From 9 November 2007
9am-5pm Admission to the exhibition is free after admission to Old Parliament House of $2 Adult, $1 Child or $5 Family.

From: Exhibitions, Canberra Biennial, 2007

See also:

• Books on Olympic architecture
  
• Web pages on Olympic architecture