The wonderfully adventurous
2012 Velodrome by
Hopkins Architects wins the Architecture prize in the
Designs of the Year Award, run by the Design Museum, London. Inspired by the precise and accurate design thinking, the rigorous engineering, and the craft with which a racing bicycle is conceived and made, the Velodrome seeks not to mimic a bicycle design in some way, but to apply the same principles with discipline and precision to the building's design and detailing.
There are two distinct visual elements to the building. The landscape berms up to hold the bowl of the track and the lower tier of seating. Then the ring of public circulation, effectively at a raised ground level separates the upper tier of seating that is the timber clad element and roof as seen from the exterior. The glazed circulation ring allows views into and out of the building, but more importantly allows the upper tier to visually float above the landscape.
The Velodrome seats 6,000 in both Olympic and Legacy modes, requiring minimal transformation to to prepare for the latter.
