Vancouver's Sustainable Olympic Village

8 May 2009 - 7:00am

With goals of LEED-certification and plans for reuse after the games, Vancouver's Olympic Village is being called a model for event-based sustainability.

"All 16 residential buildings in the city’s 2010 Winter Olympics Athlete’s Village will meet the USGBC’s Gold-level sustainability standards, according to Ian Smith, manager of the development office for Southeast False Creek, the district where the complex is located. Additionally, a 30,000-square-foot community center will be certified LEED Platinum."

"The 1.4-million-square-foot complex will accommodate 3,000 athletes competing in the Winter Games, which start February 12, 2010. Master-planned by the Canadian architect Norm Hotson, the village is being constructed on Vancouver’s last strip of undeveloped waterfront, on an abandoned industrial site."

"...Perhaps the most sustainable attribute is the long-term plan for the site: Once the Games are over, the Athlete’s Village will be converted into a mixed-use development."

Source: Architectural Record, May 5, 2009
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There is lots of theory, and lots of wonderful mathematics, and even lots of dealmaking. But the financial engineers are not real engineers who take responsibility for the bridges that fall down. They have no notion of a safety factor.