Friday Look of the Day: London Olympics

By Christina Winter, Allied Member ASID
Keeping with the Olympics theme this week, today's look of the day comes from the articulation it took to complete getting the venues ready for competition.  As I watched the Olympics I asked myself...I wondered how they got the Olympic rings on the bridge, how many arenas were actually there or are they new, were there new roads that had to be built to accommodate all the automobile and people traffic?  Below are some fast facts found on this website:  http://designbuildsource.com.au/london-2012-olympic-engineering-feats
Olympic Park: Fast Facts
■2.5 square kilometres in size – one of the largest urban parks to be built in Europe for 150 years.
■220 buildings demolished.
■four Iron Age skeletons discovered.
■2.3 million cubic metres of soil excavated.
■250 acres of new parklands.
■8.35 km of waterways in and around the Park.
■10 rail lines.
■five permanent venues.
■30 new bridges.
■80,000 seats in the Olympic Stadium.
■11 residential blocks and 2 818 new homes in the Olympic Village.
■30,000 people will have worked on the project by 2012
Well that sure answered some of my questions!  What a process it takes to make the "stage" complete!  Below is an image of how they transported the Olympic rings to be hoisted up to the bridge...I am sure that would have been fun to watch!