First Look, ‘Elgin Marbles’ for 2012 Olympics Unveiled - Architects’ Journal
February 2011
Text Richard Waite
Images Níall McLaughlin Architects
The AJ can exclusively reveal these images of Níall McLaughlin Architects’ soon-to-complete Athletes Village scheme in the Olympic Park, east London. The 10-storey building features a precast concrete cladding system replicating the Parthenon Marbles, also known as the Elgin Marbles, wrapped around an in-situ concrete ‘chassis’ designed by Glenn Howells Architects.
The practice created five different panels, based on scans of the Ancient Greek bas relief currently housed in the British Museum. Produced by Techcrete, these panels have been cut in five different ways, effectively creating 25 panels which have been arranged at random on the exterior of the 113-flat scheme.
The project was developed through the Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA) Design and Benchmarking process. Back in 2008 the ODA chose a variety of established and up-and-coming practices to work on the 2,818 flat development which will be converted into homes after the London 2012 Games. Other firms also working on the village include Denton Corker Marshall, dRMM, DSDHA, Panter Hudspith Architects, Patel Taylor and Piercy Conner Architects.