London 2012 Athletes Village

Competitor accommodation at the athlete's village in east London has been brought to life by a sculptural facade of precast concrete panels decorated with reliefs based on the Elgin Marbles.

The 10-storey cast in-situ concrete frame contains 133 apartments and supports a precast concrete cladding system with reliefs of the famous Grecian frieze. The 225mm flat floor slabs are post-tensioned to eliminate the need for down-stand beams, thereby maximising the floor-to-ceiling height.

For the panels, moulds were created by scanning the originals digitally and then positive forms were cut from polyurethane using a 5 axis router. Negative glass-fibre-backed rubber moulds were then cast as formwork for the concrete panels.

To achieve a white finish, the concrete incorporates white cement with a white Malaga Dolomite aggregate and buff sand from Gloucestershire.

Project team:

Client: Olympic Delivery Authority
Facade architect: Niall McLaughlin Architects
Lead architect: Glenn Howells Architects
Precast subcontractor: Techcrete