Olympicopolis: The Latest Architecture and News

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has unveiled a £1.1 billion vision for the East Bank project at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, creating a “new powerhouse of culture, education, innovation, and growth.”The project, alternatively dubbed “Olympicopolis” will contain a number of landmark schemes, including the V&A East by DS+R, and a cultural and education quarter by Allies and Morrison, O’Donnell + Tuomey, and Josep Camps/Olga Felip Arquitectura.

As part of the announcement, the Mayor unveiled new images of designs for Sadler’s Wells, London College of Fashion, and the V&A scheme in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution. He also announced that the BBC will create a new home for its world-renowned Symphony Orchestra & Chorus as part of the program. The will also see the building of 600 new homes across the site, 50% of which will be affordable.

+ 7

Diller Scofidio + Renfro has won an international competition for the design of a new V&A collection and research center to be located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London.

Designed in collaboration with Austin-Smith:Lord, the scheme seeks to broaden public access to collections of art, design, and performance which are not currently on display. The scheme forms part of V&A East, an initiative which also includes a new museum planned for Stratford Waterfront, designed by RIBA Gold Medal winners O’Donnell + Tuomey.

Allies and Morrison, together with O’Donnell + Tuomey and Josep Camps/Olga Felip Arquitecturia, has been chosen ahead of David Chipperfield, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and three other teams to design London's Olympicopolis culture and education quarter. The major commission, which will be sited at the gateway to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park along the Stratford waterfront, will include new buildings for the Victoria and Albert Museum, Sadler’s Wells, the London College of Fashion, and potentially the Smithsonian Institute's first permanent museum outside the US.

The Smithsonian is considering opening its first international exhibition space in “Olympicopolis” - London’s former Olympic park that is to be transformed into a world-class cultural hub by 2021. Should the self-financed proposal be approved, it will be the first time in the institution’s 168-year history to build a public venue outside of the United States.

“We see this as an unprecedented opportunity to show the breadth of the Smithsonian in one of the most diverse cities in the world,” stated Smithsonian acting secretary Al Horvath.

Five consortiums have been shortlisted to envision the University College London’s (UCL) new 125,000-square-meter campus on a key section of London’s Olympicopolis. Planned for the site’s cultural and educational district, nearby the future homes of Victoria & Albert Museum, University of the Arts London and Sadler’s Wells, the campus’ first phase will include the university’s first School of Design, a “Museum of the Future,” and the UCL Center for Experimental Engineering.

The complete shortlist, including Aecom, Gehl Architects and Stanton Williams, after the break.

David Chipperfield, Stanton Williams and Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios are among six teams that have been chosen to move forward in the final round of the "Olympicopolis" design competition. The shortlisted competitors, which also includes Rick Mather, Allies and Morrison and Baumschlager Eberle, have been asked to develop proposals for a new culture and education quarter on the Stratford Waterfront at the gateway to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.

“What makes this shortlist so exciting is the diversity of design disciplines represented with established architects working in collaboration with new and emerging practitioners,” stated Martin Roth, director Victoria and Albert Museum. “We are confident that this shortlist of national and international designers and architects will ensure a wonderful new building for London.”

The complete shortlist, chosen from 43 submissions and 123 international architects, after the break.

The UK Government has announced £140 million in public funds will be granted to the planned "Olympicopolis" cultural quarter in East London, in the former 2012 Olympic Park. The museum and educational district is planned to feature a new outpost for the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum and Sadler’s Wells theatre, and a new campus for the University of the Arts London.

The site, which is just North of Zaha Hadid's Aquatics Centre, is the focus of an ongoing design competition which reportedly attracted almost 1,000 expressions of interest in the contest's pre-registration phase. The winner of the competition will be announced in March.