Seems like everywhere we turn these days there’s green news on the Olympic front. We’ve written about the London 2012 Olympics stadium and Beijing’s Olympic Stadium. And now, even as the 2008 Summer Games have yet to start, the 2010 Winter Olympics are making headlines with the intent to become the green envy of eco-minded Olympic planning committees everywhere. The 2010 Winter Olympics Athletes’ Village will be built to a remarkably high level of sustainability and meet the LEED standards.
The 2010 Winter Olympics will be the third Olympics hosted by Canada, taking place in Vancouver where both the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be organized by the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC). There will be two Olympic Villages: one in Vancouver’s Southeast False Creek area (Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Village), and the other one within the scenic Cheakamus Valley (Whistler Olympic and Paralympic Village).
The Vancouver Olympic Village in the Southeast False Creek area will be completed during the first phase. The village will have 16 buildings constructed on an area of 1.4 million square feet, and a community center. All the buildings will be built to LEED Gold standard and the community center will be built to LEED Platinum.
All of the buildings will be fitted with solar panels and feature green roofs. Rain water will be harvested and be used for the irrigation of the green roofs and landscaping. In-slab hydronic system will be used for heating and cooling of the buildings, and the latent heat of sewer pipes will be harnessed by an innovative heat exchange system. All parking will be underground, and plans are afoot to achieve water neutrality as it will collect as much rain water as it uses.
The two villages will be connected through latest and state-of-the-art communication technologies, and athletes will travel conveniently between the two. The Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Village will have the capacity to house 2,100 athletes and officials; and the Whistler Olympic and Paralympic Village will accommodate 2,400 athletes and officials. After the games the villages will serve as valuable legacies, and will be developed as models of sustainable community and sustainable living.
+ Vancouver Winter Olympic Games 2010
+ Vancouver Winter Olympic Games 2010 Sustainability
+ Vancouver Olympic Village
Via Skyscraper City
It remains to be seen how sustainable this development will be. There’s a huge shortage of affordable housing in Vancouver and this project could provide some of the required housing Unfortunately some of the project will be sold at “market” rates, meaning “not affordable”
The process of developing the Olympic Village, as well as all of the design features that make it a sustainble community, is being chronicled online in a super high resolution book:
http://www.thechallengeseries.ca
Such an awesome resource!