London 2012 Aquatics Centre pool takes shape

The pool for the London 2012 Olympics is coming along nicely.

Work is underway cladding the curved ceiling with more than 30,000 individual sections of timber and on the two 1600 tonne temporary seating stands that will boost the venue to 17,500 seats for the Games.

More than 180,000 white tiles, with blue tiles marking the lanes, will line the 50m competition and training pools and the dive pool, which have already been tested with 10 million litres of water. In total, more than 850,000 ceramic tiles will line the pools, poolsides and changing rooms.

With a unique 160m long wave-shaped roof, the Zaha Hadid designed Aquatics Centre will be the main “Gateway into the Games”, hosting swimming, diving, synchronised swimming and the swimming discipline of the modern pentathlon.

After the Games it will become a 3000 capacity venue providing two 50m swimming pools with moveable floors and separation booms, a diving pool and dry diving area for the full range of community and elite uses.

There is more on this project in the December 2010 printed edition of SPLASH!