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Site overview from the South-East.

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Integrated landscape and Hub designMuch as the South Parks 2012 Gardens celebrate the British love of plants from around the world, inspired by Victorianpleasure gardens, our landscape palette intends to explore and celebrate our rich ecological heritage. We have takenthe theme of life cycle and ecology to inspire our design approach to the Hub and playground.In response to the powerful and sculptural topography of the wi der North parkland, three tensioned and dynamiclandforms have been set up to respond to this context and take the form of an unfurling leaf, with the Hub formingthe hinge point and focus.Using the design language of the staged timber seating used throughout the wider parkland, which accentuate andtransform the uid landforms and add layers of human inhabitation, the Hub repeats and builds upon these forms todevelop the building volumes. Set back from the street, views of the Hub will be seen across an expansive species richmeadow whose landform guides the visitor to the entrance following a low mound, which forms a threshold betweeneast west connection and park. The mound is overlaid with stepped timber ribbons, which increase in height to form thevolume containing the buildings ancillary spaces. The south facing external seating forms spill out space for the caf,animating the south facade.From this location the Hub will benet from views not only at city level to the Olympic venues, but also past the largescale mound of planted birch woodland and beyond the River Lea and the riverine landscape. A large solitary tree marksthe building entrance and the beginning of the existing line of trees, accentuating pathway and swale beyond.The building is designed as an extension of the landscape, internal and external spaces read together. Local meadowspecies blown in on the wind will naturally colonise the brown roof above the services spine to become a rich ecologicalhabitat in its own right. The smooth but robust weathered hardwood lining forming the external seating and servicespine cladding extends into the interior of the buil ding.

The building has been designed to limit the need for mechanical services by getting the physical form of the buildingto provide most of the environmental control and in this way that building is doing more and architecture is workingwith nature. The caf and multipurpose room volumes are arranged either side of the ancillary spine. Their gentlysloping timber roof planes relate to the dynamic and directionality of the landforms and frame views into the landscape.Generous roof overhangs and the continuity of the paved oor nish blur the transition between inside and outside.The character of vertical structural elements and detailing of the timber cladding are developed in dialogue with thesurrounding tree planting.The interior of the hub is characterised by the warmth and texture of timber. All rooms are naturally lit, key rooms likethe foyer, caf and multipurpose room are lit from two sides. The vertical faade cladding acts as shading device andcreates an animated play of shadow and light. Reception desk and some simple buil t in seating and platforms in thecafe and multi-purpose room storage are designed as an extension of the external seating features intensifying theconnections with the landscape and signalling inhabitation and usability.The external spaces are an extension of the building and have been designed to allow as much exible use as possible.Similar to the southern side the northern elevation of the building forms a generous external caf seating area, whichalso includes space for future building expansion, if the caf proved to be a success. The caf spil l out space is dened bythe mound with stepped seating on the eastern and the line of trees, swale and pathway on the western side. It allowsfor natural surveillance of the under 5s sand and water play area, which runs along the existing swale site boundary.The eastern volume contains the multi-purpose community room, which opens onto a large but intimate grass lawn,enclosed by hazel woodland. The large grass area will become a natural gathering space for families to picnic and enjoythe hub and play space. It is also large enough to receive small scale community gatherings, house stalls or a marqueeand spill out space for weddings and community events.

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cafecafe covered external spacekitchenreceptionfoyeradminstaff accessible WC and showersecurityteapointprayer roompart M WCs and baby changefemale WCsmale WCsservicesstoragemultipurpose roommp r covered external space

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View of hub building from North play area.

Section.

Plan.

View of hub building from South.

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The roof panels are installed as part of the prefabricatedtimber system.

The hub is sited to the north of the servicesno-built zone. Hub, landforms and play

equipment is sited avoiding the haul road.

An array of helical steel piles is installed underthe footprint of the building.

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The piles are connected with pre-fabricatedground beams from which a oor constructedfrom precast concrete elements is suspended.

A panelised timber system of prefabricatedwall (and roof) panels is installed. The systemcan be prefabricated to varying degrees ofcompletion. It can arrive with insulation,nishes and services installed.

The sloping roofs of the caf and multipurposeroom are covered with metal roong. An areaof PV foil is installed to the caf roof. The lowerhorizontal roof of the services spine is constructedas biodiversity roof.

The mound adjacent to the building is constructed. Thebiodiversity roof is planted with the same plant cover as theadjacent mound. All other landscaping work (off the haulroad) is carried out concurrently with the construction of thebuilding.

Environmental performance through passive principles- Ambient air drawn in between beam and block oor.- Thermal mass of ground and concrete at stable temperature.- Air cooled as it passes through the oor structure.- Controlled natural ventilation through low and high level vents.- Building envelope constructed to high air-tightness standard.

- Controllable mix of direct & diffuse natural light for delight & stimulation.

Entering the hub. View through the multi purpose room towards hazel woodland.

Site constraints

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All three building volumes could easily

be extended in both directions.

A new corridor would allow further

subdivision of the multipurpose room.

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cafe cafe

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Troughprovideswindpressureequalisation allowsnatural extract

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Built in multipurpose room subdivision. Performance.

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Rock landscapeThe nal element in our narrative is the creation of a bare rock landscape where our cyclical life cyclestarts once more. Bands of graded shales and gravels set within a textured concrete surface traverseacross the area, bordered by broad bands of meadow and grass planting, low scrub and birch trees,and large swathes of grass. Within these bands remnant industrial artefacts and rusting steel can bediscovered, linking the site back to its former industrial heritage. Set amongst these artefacts are agroup of large scale monolithic boulders which can be used for climbing and parcour activities.The focus of the area will be a large, bespoke, competition grade skate park set in the landscape likea piece of archaeology buried below the surface. This physical and challenging element will appealto older children, teenagers and young adults and could become a destination skate park across theLondon region for competitions and connect well with other activities linked to the Velodrome.

ConceptUsing native ecology as our key tenet, we have created a series of landscape character areas which telllife cycle stories - from the pioneer birch and hazel woodlands through to climax pine forest and thedevelopmental stages in between. Interweaved with this is the play layer which uses these stories toinspire bespoke play and potential event opportunities within each space.

Hazel copseWe are proposing a pioneer copse of hazel woodland to enclose the event lawn to the east. The copsewill be augmented by rich woodland under-storey planting, with informal weaving paths of barkmulch to create a magical play setting to explore and di scover. To manage the hazel wood effectivelyit would be coppiced in rotation every 7 years. The harvested wood could then be actively used bychildren to create dens, undertake arts and crafts activities and encourage children and adults to learnabout the wood and its folklore through environmental workshops and seasonal play activities.

Den making and bug hotelsMoving out of the woodlands groups of hazel and rowan trees are set within grassy gladesproviding space for den making activities. Enabling children to manipulate their environment is akey requirement in rich play making. Long serpentine walls of log piles are proposed to provideplayful hide and seek elements, whilst also performing a valuable role for insects and invertebrates bycreating bug hotels and places to nd and observe mini beasts.

Seed heads playBeyond here, close to the Hub, are a series of large scale artist-craftsman made timber/stone seedheads that have been dispersed by wind from other trees and plants across the Olympic Park site.These are tactile play elements, which children can interact with, take bark rubbings, use as informal

seats, as well as learn about key botanical and life cycle messages.

Sand + water playThe design of the sand and water play is inspired by the industrial heritage of the River Lea as a keynavigation route. The braided landform inlaid with layers of ne gravels mimics the rivers overallmorphology in miniature with water criss crossing the area in a series of riverine tributaries, whilechildren are encouraged to dam, ood and manage the ow of water through a set of weirs, locksand sluice gates becoming their own water engineers. The water is then ltered for sand and re-directed to irrigate plant beds with any excess directed into the existing western swale to be lteredby the marshland habitats.

The life cycle story of plantsAlongside the sand and water play is a long bank of richly banded planting which will continue

the story of life cycle and succession, whilst also providing a colourful and sensory plant-based playelement. Visually this will be a very attractive element of the play environment giving children asense of time, seasonality and successional change, which again could be actively interpreted throughenvironmental education workshops.

The pine forestThe nal climax planting of our narrative is told through a group of Scots Pine set along the centralraised landform. Using a play surface of natural pine cones, the play opportunities here are based onhigh level climbing and platform walkways using timber structures that mimic the form and habit ofthe pine to create billowy cloud-like enclosures high up amongst the real tree top canopies. This willbe a physical and challenging play element attracting the 8-12 age group. Clear views of the widerNorth Parklands would be obtained, giving good observational and orienteering opportunities.

Large scale swingsAlong the edge of the raised landform and pine forest are a series of large scale and robust swings,which groups of children and teenagers can use. These together with the pine forest play installationsand the adjacent skate park and rockscape mark an increase in speed, intensity and physicality in theplay offer to provide meaningful play challenges for older children, teenagers and young adults.

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View of den building area.

View of water play area.

View of pine forest play structures.

View of rock landscape. Landscape masterplan.

Hub buildingEvents lawnHazel Copse

Den making & bug hotelMovement areaSeed heads play

Sand & water playLife cycle story of plants

The pine forestLarge scale swings

Rock LandscapeSkate park

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