New images of London's Olympicopolis revealed
by Kim Megson | 08 Mar 2016
New images have been released of the ambitious Olympicopolis cultural development planned for London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
A selection of renderings and models show the scheme’s main leisure institutions located on Stratford Waterfront, including a new V&A museum, a Smithsonian gallery and a 600-capacity theatre and hip hop academy.
Olympicopolis – which is a legacy project inspired by the successful London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games – has been designed by an architectural team led by British practice Allies and Morrison and including RIBA Royal Gold Medal winners O’Donnell and Tuomey and Spanish firm Arquitecturia.
The waterfront site, which is situated next to Zaha Hadid’s London Aquatics Centre and close to Anish Kapoor’s ArcelorMittal Orbit, will provide a home for the following cultural facilities:
- A new venue for the Sadler’s Wells Theatre, designed to serve contemporary dance-makers and its growing audiences. The space will include a 600-seat theatre, facilities for a choreographic school and a hip hop academy and “flexible ‘making’ spaces for research, development and production of dance work.”
- V&A East, a new museum from The Victoria and Albert Museum to showcase its collections of design, art, architecture and performance. It has been designed as “a new kind of civic building weaving together spaces for collections, learning, contemporary design practice, conservation and research, with public participation at its heart.”
- The first permanent Smithsonian Institution museum outside of the United States.
- A new home for the London College of Fashion, run by the University of London Arts.
The new images show, from left to right, two residential towers followed by the college, the Smithsonian space, Sadler’s Wells and finally the V&A East.
Outline planning application for the scheme is expected to be submitted in December 2016. Building work is due to start in 2018 and the waterfront is scheduled to open in 2020/21.
“Our tremendously exciting plans to create a world class education and cultural district on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park are moving forward in leaps and bounds,” said David Goldstone, chief executive of the London Legacy Development Corporation.
“These new images really start to give life to the project; which will help create new jobs, provide a huge boost to the east London economy as well as attracting an additional 1.5 million visitors to the Park.”
London Olympicolpolis architecture design London 2012 culture V&A Smithsonian
The new images show how the design of the ambitious cultural quarter is developing Credit: Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
From left to right: Two residential towers, UAL's London College of Fashion, the Smithsonian, Sadler’s Wells theatre and the V&A East Credit: Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
The scheme has been designed by Allies and Morrison, O’Donnell and Tuomey and Arquitecturia Credit: Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
Outline planning application for the scheme is expected to be submitted in December 2016, with construction hopes to start in 2018 Credit: Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
29 Jan 2015
Smithsonian in talks to anchor London’s Olympicopolis
12 Dec 2014
Haworth Tompkins in the running for ‘Olympicopolis’ project
12 Sep 2014
£400m ‘Olympicopolis’ design competition now open
New images have been released of the ambitious Olympicopolis cultural development planned for London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. A selection of renderings and models show the scheme’s main leisure institutions located on Stratford Waterfront, including a new V&A museum, a Smithsonian gallery and a 600-capacity theatre and hip hop academy. Olympicopolis – which is a legacy project inspired by the successful London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games – has been
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