All three sports venues have been designed with one common objective: staying power.
The Richmond Oval is a 512,000 square feet, multi-use facility, with capacity for 8,000 spectators, designed by international design firm Cannon Design. Richmond Oval, made primarily of wood, glass, and steel, features a 400-meter speeding skating track, along with VIP lounges and an anti-doping lab.
Its permanent features include community wellness services and programming, sports medicine and sciences, a major fitness center, community activity areas, and restaurant and retail space. The area surrounding the Oval will be the site of a major waterfront neighborhood incorporating a park and a plaza, with residential, commercial and public amenities.
The Oval has been designed by integrating eco-friendly features and the architects are expecting LEED-Silver certification for the $63.3 million building.
The new Vancouver Olympic Center designed by Canadian architects Hughes Condon Marler:Architects features a 108,000 square feet arena and a 66,500 square feet aquatic center. The Aquatic Centre is home to a 50-meter lap pool, a leisure pool, an outdoor pool, a hot tub and a fitness center. The facility has been designed to achieve LEED- Gold.
University of British Columbia’s expanded UBC Thunderbird Arena has been designed by Kaslan Architecture to ensure longevity. The 141,000 square feet facility will host ice hockey events. It features a refurbished rink and two additional ones, and is designed to earn LEED-Silver. The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) secured an agreement with UBC to locate a new competition arena for the 2010 Winter Games on the site of the existing Thunderbird Winter Sport Complex.
Vancouver is the venue of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games scheduled to begin on February 12-28, 2010.
