Greenpeace

A city being granted the privilege of hosting the Olympics is a great honor. In my opinion, what matters equally is how these same cities choose to utilize their venues post games. I remember learning in one of my History of Urban Planning classes the huge burden cities are faced with in trying to find the best fit for Olympic villages once the Olympics have ended. Stadiums in general are sort of a bittersweet facility to maintain. They allow for remarkable architectural and planning achievements, but what people don't often consider is their permanence. Most stadiums are severely underutilized when you think about it. Sports facilities, especially in the past, are built to host major events, but how often to these events happen? I would say a majority of the time, these facilities remain vacant.

My thinking is that these facilities need to be designed to allow for smaller events to take place while the more crowd drawing events are not in play. This is especially true for Olympic facilities that are only used to their maximum potential for a few weeks. Going green with the facilities, as Vancouver has done is definitely a start. From the articles I have found so far, it seems like Vancouver already has adaptive reuse in mind.

 "While going after LEED Gold certification is ambitious, the most innovative plan is to convert the athlete’s village to mixed-use development after the Olympics are over. The architects believe that very little changes will need to be made to the complex to transform it into livable and workable space. As is the case in many mixed-use projects, ground level space that is being used for dining, medical use and training during the games will transition to restaurants and shops. Naturally, the athlete’s accommodations will morph into 737 private residences. The village will offer a mix of low-income, market rate and luxury accommodations for sale. Over 90 percent of the 300 units that were released to the public have been sold. The village will be turned over to the city in April 2010".